Contractor nightmare

12/12/2017 at 10:19:25 AM

Hello. Unfortunately it defiantly seems like you've been taken for a ride. For whatvyou have had done to date without know what exactly was done outside cost to date should only be around $13-$18k. $54000 + $3800 is absurd. You should take a stance to either demand money back and stop work to look for another contractor, by no means am I saying to call me but to make sure you are not at a big loss

12/12/2017 at 10:26:40 AM

Wow... hard to judge without hearing what the actual scope of work so far entailed, but that seems ridiculous. I suppose small claims court could be an option, but if "friend" has receipts and records of monies paid, it seems like he is simply helping his trades "friends" with a cash cow job. Once again, not knowing the particulars, just seems exceedingly high to be half done the job. I have no solutions for you, simply agreeing with the skeptical nature of funds paid to work completed... gives every contractor a bad name. Living in a dialling community , kind of like yourself (smaller anyways) word of mouth is exceedingly important. Both good words, and bad . Your biggest recourse may unfortunately only be to keep this from happening to others, by outing him publicly. Not sure if it counts as slander if it is being truthful. Good luck. 75 an hour per trade + 15 percent? That should have tipped u off immediately. Knowing island pay rates, I would be surprised if anyone saw 35 an hour, probably most between 20 and 25. That, my friend , is greed

12/12/2017 at 10:27:57 AM

You should never move forward with anything unless it's in writing. Eg.

1) Door install mat price/ install price

2) heater install mat $ / install $

Subtotal to do the job

Taxes

Total

If this is in writing from the get go, both the contractor and owner are safe. I usually do a scope of work as well to prevent any confusions as to where paint is going, what tile goes where, etc.

At this point in time you should be getting two other quotes from other contractors to do the work and going to small claims court withall your documentation. I dont know if $75 per hour is accurate in your area. $50 per hour woud be common here, but you should never hire out by the hour of you have a budget and wanted to stay on budget. He could take 10 hours to install an interior door and your paying the cost. By having other prices from different contractors you are able to see what is fair.

12/12/2017 at 11:06:29 AM

It really is hard to know without seeing the full scope of what had to be done but does seem to be high. $75.00 per hour a bit much $50 - 60 would be more like it. It is usually best to discuss what is to be done within your budget and have a contract stating what is to be done and who is responsible for what. I know if I was to charge $75 per hour and 15% on trades I would price myself out of the market. As for showing receipts it is not usually done. Many times things are on account and there is more paperwork involved an additional cost so if you were to want to see them best to let that be known ahead in the contract.

Hope you find a resolution.

Dave D

12/14/2017 at 4:47:34 PM

Hi Tanya

Who is working for $75 per hour? Not a tradesmen that is for sure; if they are send them my way. You can't get a tradesmen to darken your doorway for less then $100 per hour. Now general / unskilled labour is the $50 to $60 range.

Contractors don't generally show receipts to the client because there arrangement is with the GC and not the client. Now if you have that arrangement with the GC that would be a different story. Generally the only time receipts are shown is on a Cost-Plus arrangement. That would be something like cost of materials plus 30%, cost of trades plus 20%, etc. The other cost plus model is a total cost plus which is usually about 50%, so $30K in labour and material plus 50% for a total of $45K.

As far as your costs $5-7K for furnace and AC, $3k for tankless, $1k for door, $2K for landscaping, plus labour so you are $13K plus labour (just guessing) so lets call it $23K. Based on what you are telling us it would appear you are about $11K over right now.

Having said that, I am not a GC and am not familiar with your local pricing on the island.

John Kuehnl-Cadwell

Master Electrician

Datawise Solutions Inc

12/14/2017 at 7:54:00 PM

A tradesman would not darken your door for less than 100 per hour? No market on Canada has that attitude. Congrats if u find yourself in that position, condolences to the homeowner in that predicament. That is not British Columbia attitude, not Alberta, not saskatchewan, not Manitoba, and from what I have seen of ontario, not here either. My humble well rounded opinion, as I work in 5 provinces now as we speak.