Kind of a long story.......
A guy that we've done a bunch of work for calls and wants a hardwood floor put in his new house. He's in his mid 50s' and marries a girl he knew from high school who lives in Washington state. She is moving to Illinois. We're going to (hurry) and try to get this floor done so they can move in.
One problem is that the existing floor is concrete. I try to talk them out of a "glue down" wood into a "floating" wood floor. SHE wants a glue down floor. I said okay but it won't be flat flat.
Next problem is there is existing ceramic and vinyl that needs to be torn out. Lots of dust everywhere. She'll need a cleaning crew.
Next problem is ; they/ SHE want ME to put all new baseboard in. 5in colonial mdf. As a general rule I will r/r trim but big new trim jobs are a bit past my job description. They/ SHE insists. I yield. ( and hire a friend of mine :))
Total job with trim and cleanup 18500.00
First day on the job and the wood flooring is bad. A whole day lost. Plus what I paid a 4 man crew for 6 hours. Return the floor and ask the manufacturer to inspect the next floor and;it's bad too. Find another manufacturer and the floor costs us 280.00 more but we eat it. Problem is; it won't be here for 3 weeks unless we "expedite" the shipping for 300.00 more to get it in a week. It's the customers call and they insist we pay for expedited shipping. We split it with them. 150.00 lost.
Expedited shipping means...I get to drive an hour away and pick it up at the terminal. 1/2 a day gone and the fork lift driver runs into my brand new promaster with less than 300 miles on it and puts a dent in the rocker panel. Swell!
Finally we start the floor and realize that we are going to be short on glue (because if you open a bucket; you need to use it all or it goes bad) 90.00.
The floor is in! Yay! The trim guy gets finished, Yay! The cleanup is complete and...YAY!
The next problem is the trim guy missed a spot of caulk on the top of the trim for about 4 feet. Their painter takes care of it but the customer wants 200.00 back! What? 4 feet? (they still owe me 9800.00)
Somebody spills something on the floor and it takes 3 trips to satisfy the customer(HER) . She wants 500.00 off the bill for the headache and she can still see the spot if the sun is up and you get positioned just right. We knock 250 off the bill and agree to collect the rest when we address the little spot one more time. Then she doesn't pay that either. 250 gone!
And if this isn't enough .....SHE pays the whole thing with a credit card after we ask for a check (non swipe 2.75 %) and 499.00 gone!
Total lost on a screwy customer 1820.00 and then some. :mad:
A guy that we've done a bunch of work for calls and wants a hardwood floor put in his new house. He's in his mid 50s' and marries a girl he knew from high school who lives in Washington state. She is moving to Illinois. We're going to (hurry) and try to get this floor done so they can move in.
One problem is that the existing floor is concrete. I try to talk them out of a "glue down" wood into a "floating" wood floor. SHE wants a glue down floor. I said okay but it won't be flat flat.
Next problem is there is existing ceramic and vinyl that needs to be torn out. Lots of dust everywhere. She'll need a cleaning crew.
Next problem is ; they/ SHE want ME to put all new baseboard in. 5in colonial mdf. As a general rule I will r/r trim but big new trim jobs are a bit past my job description. They/ SHE insists. I yield. ( and hire a friend of mine :))
Total job with trim and cleanup 18500.00
First day on the job and the wood flooring is bad. A whole day lost. Plus what I paid a 4 man crew for 6 hours. Return the floor and ask the manufacturer to inspect the next floor and;it's bad too. Find another manufacturer and the floor costs us 280.00 more but we eat it. Problem is; it won't be here for 3 weeks unless we "expedite" the shipping for 300.00 more to get it in a week. It's the customers call and they insist we pay for expedited shipping. We split it with them. 150.00 lost.
Expedited shipping means...I get to drive an hour away and pick it up at the terminal. 1/2 a day gone and the fork lift driver runs into my brand new promaster with less than 300 miles on it and puts a dent in the rocker panel. Swell!
Finally we start the floor and realize that we are going to be short on glue (because if you open a bucket; you need to use it all or it goes bad) 90.00.
The floor is in! Yay! The trim guy gets finished, Yay! The cleanup is complete and...YAY!
The next problem is the trim guy missed a spot of caulk on the top of the trim for about 4 feet. Their painter takes care of it but the customer wants 200.00 back! What? 4 feet? (they still owe me 9800.00)
Somebody spills something on the floor and it takes 3 trips to satisfy the customer(HER) . She wants 500.00 off the bill for the headache and she can still see the spot if the sun is up and you get positioned just right. We knock 250 off the bill and agree to collect the rest when we address the little spot one more time. Then she doesn't pay that either. 250 gone!
And if this isn't enough .....SHE pays the whole thing with a credit card after we ask for a check (non swipe 2.75 %) and 499.00 gone!
Total lost on a screwy customer 1820.00 and then some. :mad: