You guys need a Professional F-up fixer!! So back in 96 we put an addition on the house and my wife hired the contractor and it went fairly well. But on the first day the crew pulled into my driveway and hopped out and came into do some work. They spotted all my tools hanging on the wall in my Garage and started using them!?!? WTF moment here. Now I used to be a GC and I was pretty good at it but I did mostly commercial stuff.
So now after the 1st day on the Job they take all my tools and stick it in there Van.
So I had to go out and sort thru all that, and get my stuff back.
By this time I had stopped doing the Commercial buildings and such and I worked for a Truss rafter company. I designed roofs for the residential and commercial buildings.

They got the addition done and in the kitchen when the back splash went up it covered the outlets.
Then in one room I wanted to avoid a lot of filler putty in the Trim so I said lets do Plinth blocks.
They were the nice Anderson ones that look like a Daisey in the center. So these guys put them up and the trick is to put them up first and not the trim then fit the trim to the P-block. So they actually cut thru the P-blocks to get the trim up, I took them down, they would put them back up and so on. The glued them up next and so I took them down and clamped them together and tossed them under the sink. Now they couldn't find them!?! So then when I got home one day they were looking for them and the contractor says to me have I seen them. That is when I blew up and they knew I was PO'd and I gave them a lesson in finish carpentry.

Today I am retired and my son has kinda followed what I did and is a construction/project manager. He deals with Bozo's all the time. But he wants it right and gets it that way or they don't work for him.

I got a ton of stories too. Some stuff so obvious that a beginner could see it. I asked the drywall guy if it was his first job?

Now last year we had a big Hail storm here and getting contractors to work was difficult.
The guy I got was great been doing it for years and he was thinking on the same lines as me. He put in New windows and Siding and did a wonderful job, I got to be the gofer
He just happened to be a big Dale Earnhardt Fan, so I showed him my collection and he was impressed. So one day he answered the phone and was talking with
somebody and they must of asked him what he was doing ?
He said I am over at Dale Earnhardts working on the siding job. I had to laugh.

I just finished a new storage shed that the old one got destroyed in that storm, for a 72 year old guy I was happy with the final result and my biggest worry was i would get hurt. but I lucked out and the Good Lord protected me from injury.
Some of these guys actually got licensed, I don't know who tested them but they were dummies too.
I might a few more to follow as well. Stay Safe

 

What's wrong with people? We had something similar with our floor tile installer. I had nearly zero tools at the new house (as we were living in a rental while we wrapped up the major reno stuff), but for some reason they felt it was ok to use / take whatever I had laying out. They took home my flathead screwdriver, a hammer, a masonry chisel, my razor blade dispenser, and my furniture dolly.

I was certainly shocked when I saw them using them, but figured they aren't hurting anything and they'll certainly put them back. Just like with your story - cleaning up at the end of the job and they literally all disappeared. I was pretty ticked as that's theft.

Oddly enough I ended up with more tools than I started with from the situation. The company sent the final invoice and I short paid it by the amount it would cost to replace the stuff they took - about $100. They reached out asking why via email, so I told them. I also included a couple pictures before they started (showing those tools at my house already) and a couple pictures of after they'd arrived with those exact tools being used by their guys.

It was clear they were my tools as the screwdriver and hammer had paint drips on them and the furniture dolly isn't something normal tile guys would have (they were using it to ferry boxes of tile / grout back and forth without carrying them).

Magically the next morning, I ended up with about 10 tools on my doorstep including the furniture dolly. I let the company know about half that stuff wasn't mine - but never heard back. I went ahead and paid the rest of the invoice.

 

Next few are about inspection on our latest place. Drives me nuts when an inspector has a giant 50 page report and its almost completely filled with ticky tack garbage that's clearly just filler to make it look like they did something.


First one I had was the guest bath toilet. Absolutely zero noted about it in the report, but it definitely had a draining issue. Just flushing water alone it wasn't a hard rush down the hole, it was more of a 'fill the bowl' followed by about 2 seconds of slow-ish draining. Even flushing a few squares of toilet paper brought it to nearly a halt.

Turns out it was a root problem. Someone had reused the wax seal and it was definitely leaking out with each flush. As its a slab house and the pipe wasn't necessarily sealed against the slab hole, the water would just collect around the flange and drain out under the slab. This attracted roots from the dirt that grew up the pipe, through the hole in the wax seal, and down the pipe about 18". At the flange itself, the roots nearly 100% blocked the opening - hence the near total stoppage of draining whenever TP was flushed.

Luckily it was less than a $50 DIY fix (new seal and a new flange), but still would've been nice to have the sellers pay for it. The roots hadn't damaged anything thankfully - they just went through the wax. Once I cut them off at the flange, the ones in the pipe pulled right out.

 

This story is the water leak Id mentioned before that I paid a plumber to come fix.

Theres an outside hose connector (that also feeds the pool auto fill) supplied by a pipe run under the house and up the center of the ~10" thick block wall.

I noticed after the inspection that it was wet on the exterior wall and at the concrete butt joint between the house and patio slabs. I assumed the inspector had tested it and didn't have a hose / bucket and just let the water splash out. This water line is under the covered patio so it would never normally get wet - even in a heavy rain storm.

Next time we went to the house though (after we'd closed of course), I noticed it was still wet (the house and slab) even though the inspection was done weeks prior and it hadn't rained at all. Didn't know how the piping was run, so I went to that spot inside. Oddly enough, the tile around there was exceptionally cool. It was late summer and 100+ out, so the tile around the perimeter of the house tends to run noticeably warm - except this 6 foot wide spot. I also notice the outer few grout lines are also abnormally dark (in a spot that would have 0 foot traffic).

You can probably see where this is going... touch the baseboard, it's absolute mush. Touch the drywall - soft and floppy.

We tore out the drywall immediately and you could clearly see the issue. From the point the pipe passed into the wall, that block and every block below in a pyramid shape (about 3' each way) is soggy. The house slab was also wet about 18" in roughly in a half puddle shape that lined up with the wet blocks.

Since there was no access hole and Id never worked with block house, we had a plumber (who was great) come open it up and do the repair.

Just drives me nuts this inspector spent so much time documenting squeaky doors, drywall dings, and other dumb stuff that he missed the really important things.

This also reinforces to me that every home inspector should use a FLIR / temperature camera. They're not that expensive these days and it makes spotting any kind of water leak inside super easy. All of this flooring and drywall would've lit up like a Christmas tree due to how cold they were from evaporation.



Pic after the pipe was fixed. Drywall and 1x2s torn out, floor tile stripped out (already planned for a different project). Had set up fans on it to help speed the dry out process.

 

Last one for the inspector complaints.

So the main house inspector had a few areas he wouldn't touch where he suggested his buddy's companies to come do added inspections if I wanted them.

One was the main drain inspection (which went well), and the other was the pool (which didn't go as well). The pool inspector comes out, pokes around for 15 minutes and leaves to write the report.

Report has just a few items:

• Waterfall pump won't prime. I don't know how he checked this or what went wrong, but it has primed perfectly for me every time since we bought the place. Maybe it just needed a few more seconds to get the water going and he shut it off too quick?
• Main pool pump is fixed speed, suggest replacement with variable speed pump for greater efficiency (is this an inspection or a sales pitch?).
• Cool deck coating peeling, suggest replacement (while not untrue, there are a total of like 3 square inches combined around the whole pool that have peeled off - no reasonable person would strip and re-coat that on a used pool).
• Concrete decking is cracked, suggest replacement. This is also true as IMO the design is poor. The pool deck slab runs from the overhang on the pool (a few inches) as far out as the deck goes (in some cases 7-8 feet) with no break/control joint. It doesn't appear the soil was compacted around the pool as that slab has sunk a bit all the way around the perimeter. But since once side is firmly bonded to the pool walls which can't move, the deck cracked all the way around the entire pool. Again, he's not wrong, but the settling isn't alarming given the age of the pool as its clearly been cracked for a long time. Its also not really a tripping hazard as there is no lip/ sudden drop-off. Quote was $25k to replace, which again is pretty absurd given its really just a cosmetic issue.

Interestingly, he also supplied a quote to fix all of the items above with the report which again made it feel more like a sales pitch. "Hey, try to get the seller to pay for these and we'll come do the work"

Then the last one that rubbed me wrong - minor plaster cracks, unknown severity.

I talked to him about it, and he said that it wasnt abnormal for older plaster to have minor cracks, but said there was no way to check how bad they were without destructive means. The pool had also been recently painted (which having never owned a pool before didn't realize that alone is a warning sign), so it looked beautiful (but of course faded to crap over a year).

Comparing our water use to our previous house though, this place was way higher. I know evaporation is some of that, but it seemed like more. I bought a $10 bottle of fluorescent leak check off Amazon and hopped in to squirt the 'minor plaster cracks'. Sure enough, one of them is cracked all the way through the shell and gulps the dye right up. Runs from the top edge of the pool down about 2 feet, and I notice even the water level tile is broken there.

Really ticks me off that the guy was so worried about making sales on cosmetic stuff that he completely overlooked the fact that the pool was physically broken.


This was a not so fun DIY experience, but it's held up perfectly now for 2 years with zero leaks. At some point in the fairly near future, we'll need to do a full plaster chip out, and I strongly suspect I'll need to do more of this before we re-plaster. I suspect there are hairline cracks in the concrete where both the deep end and shallow end have begun to split from the center core of the pool. There are sporadic plaster cracks in these areas that are suspiciously linear from rim to rim, but it just hasn't broken through to become a full leak yet.

 

Wow that toilet drain is enough to make you want to vacate the area.

Back to my contractor guy they never came back to finish the outlet F-up and a few other things. They would send a Bill and I would return it marked in Red to fix this punch list.
Then on day I saw the contractor down town and he came over and asked me if I was ever gonna pay the Bill.
I explained that the check had been made out since he left the job over 135 days ago.
But he needed to fix the stuff before i would give it to him. I also reminded him, because I was in that same business that once you leave a job and are gone for 120 days in my State you can no longer file a lean against the property for that job.
That got immediate action to finish the repairs as I told him if he didn't finish it I would back charge him for the work and hire some one else to get it done.
Problem Solved!?!?!

I remember a time when I visited a Lumber yard and they asked to to go and check on the progress of the Truss roof I has sold. So I get there and it was looking good.
I heard some noise in the basement and I went down to check on it. The HVAC guy was down there.
So looking stuff over I mentioned to the guy that the wood I joist were cut and they made a slot for the heating Trunk line. Can't cut those! he was like who the F are you and told me to leave it was none of my business.
Well this will cause the floor to collapse so I told the lumber yard guy and he told the Home owner and contractor and those had to be replaced that were cut.
So sometimes its not the Contractors men but the Subs as well.
Some of that stuff if you have a conscience you can't let it go, because it could kill some one.

I remember that in the Military being warned that your weapons are supplied by the lowest bidder.

 

This statement right here, I would have been FURIOUS!! When you hire a professional to do a job, they are to bring all tools/supplies to do the job, NOT dip into your collection. I am reasonable, I get something may break, got lost or otherwise a tool not available. If you want to ASK the home owner, that is one thing, NOT helping yourself.

When my current home was being built, during the weekend, I had a crew of friends help me run CAT6 network wire all over this place. To my surprise a couple of guys arrive to do some pre-insulating work, such as caulking all seams on exterior walls top/bottom plates and expanding foam in spaces. When we finished, two paddle/spade bit sets I had, a cheap case of Harbor Freight washers and a new roll of duct tape went missing. Not sure when or how. I am positive it was none of my friends helping. And I know the guys pre-insulating didn't use any tools or material like that... But some how, they are gone. I am bugged most about the paddle bits (they were IRWIN brand, nice case and seemed to be great quality).

 

I was upset for sure!
I called them Spade bits back in the day! I always grab those at a flea market or garage sale.
When someone steals your stuff you feel violated for sure.
When we moved in the house we live in, it was 1980 my daughter was just learning to ride a bike.
We bought her a Strawberry Short Cake cheap Huffy bike but it was brand new and she loved it.
I was going around the neighbor hood with her riding it.
We came home and parked it in the Garage but left the door open when lunch was done she wanted to go riding again and it was gone.
So we went looking and there was another little girl up the street about 5 Doors, that liked it and she stole it. Now they could afford to buy one for there daughter they had a boat, 3 cars and belonged to the country club. We had words needless to say and I said bring it back or I am calling the cops.

The worst thing I have dealt with is when a neighbor borrows something from me. For instance we had a straight line wind come thru in 1994 blew down trees and stuff. So I had a Chainsaw and cut the one up that landed in my driveway. So then I got asked by a neighbor if they could borrow my Chainsaw. When they returned it it would barely run and they gave me Bar oil and a thank you for my trouble. Turns out they let another neighbor use it as well, maybe more.
So my Father taught me that if you borrow somebodies stuff and you break it, I t is up to you to replace it with some thing brand new or like new. I just gave it to the local charity Thrift Store.
I wouldn't be able to sleep at night if I did that kinda stuff.

 

If you borrow something, it is not yours to loan to someone without permission of the original owner. And I was raised the same way, if you break it, you replace it or at very least tell the owner and work with them to make good.

 

Last one from me for this thread. Ive got probably a dozen or so more, but no pics so it would just end up as a wall of text.

This is about our garage door at our current house. It was in poor shape when we moved in. The opener was 50/50 at actually closing, and the metal support the pull bracket was bolted to was literally tearing the sheet metal on the door. I DIY fixed both of those to get by, but it was an old door and not in the best shape (typical dings / scrapes in the thin sheet metal).

Finally got forced to do something about it though. The spring broke, but it was one of those tiny springs that sits inside a ~2" diameter metal pipe across the top of the door. Of course no one local seems to have a replacement for it in stock and they few places that came to quote were hesitant to agree to doing a spring conversion to a typical spring given the damaged sheet metal on the door (which I totally get) from the original attachment point.

Looks like its time for a whole replacement. Ended up doing an insulated door as an added bonus. Figured it would be nice not to have to worry about it again.

I was wrong... Door shows up on install day and its tan, not white. They claim their supplier had it stocked under the wrong PN and they had no white. They said they had a painter that could come out soon (at my expense with "their discount"), but I still thought that was pretty crappy to drop on your customer. Given supply chain shortages at the time, I rolled with it (and luckily their 3rd party painter was fantastic) as I had a completely broken door at that point. Also bugged me a bit that they asked to 'borrow' some of my wood to replace the cracked header board (its a masonry house, so the board above the door is just masonry screwed to the blocks). Its not a big deal, but still not thrilled about them needing me to provide supplies for the job when they quoted it in person/ on site.

Things went well and worked great for a couple weeks. Then it happened - door was opening and started to go crooked about halfway up. Opener forced it the rest of the way. Roller on the top left fell out and dropped the top corner of the door. Roller on the bottom right bent up the track where it originally got lodged and almost fell out by the time it came to a stop. I was livid aa it almost hit my wife's SUV where the door drooped.

Ended up having to sit in the garage in the summer heat for 3 hours waiting for them to come fix it (as we're on a fairly busy road, so I don't really want all of my tools and car parts exposed for anyone to walk by and take). They come and say the bolt slipped on the left pulley which let tension off that cable (but it pulled itself up by the right side). They retightened it and claimed it would never happen again.

Fast forward a couple weeks and I again noticed some light shakes coming down one time. Hit the button to open it again (as luckily the SUV was out of the garage) and sure enough it starts making the whole door go crooked. I was ready this time and immediately closed it again, but there was all kinds of slop in the left cable now.

Done with screwing with this place, I figured I'd play with it myself (after fixing the cable / loose bolt again as Id seem them do last time). Un latched the opener and ran it up and down a few times by hand. It's absurdly tight on the tracks rolling up. Noticed some serious wear marks on both the outside of the tracks and even in the normal roll area where it was putting some serious pressure on the wheels.

Spent half a day adjusting both tracks to make sure it rolled nice and bind free. Its been over a year now and zero issues again. Still bugs me to pay that kind of money just to have to redo it myself (back to the original post / comment from that FB video). I'll definitely be installing my own doors on the new garage.