I am looking for opinions on my contractor situation to see if I am being realistic about my expectations.
I contracted a small masonry contracting company owned by a friend of mine to replace the front steps/landing and build a concrete patio on the back of my house. One week prior to the start of this job, the siding on the house was replaced. The mason suggested that the concrete job should be done last - apparently he was wrong.
The job is now "complete" but there are issues. I did not expect perfection but I think that the original cost to me should be less because of these defects. The issue list is as follows:
1. The riser measurements on the steps varies by 1 to 2 inches.
2. The landing area butts up against the new siding. I was told that it would flow below the siding.
3. The siding was cutout to permit the form to pass under the siding. Other siding parts around the site damaged. I plan to present the masonry contractor with the estimate from the siding contractor to repair these problems and have him deduct this cost from the final bill.
4. The landing is not square to the house, i.e. it widens toward the house. Apparently the form spread when the concrete was poured.
5. The height of the patio is about 1.5 inches more than planned. This causes it to mismatch with the back sidewalk, otherwise the patio came out great.
Many of the problems arose after an incident during the patio pour when the concrete truck operator dumped the material faster than the mason could handle it and the ended up with too much material within the patio form. Now they had to hustle to get the excess material out of the form (ruining that part of my lawn). It also caused the guys working in the front of the house to rush building the form for the steps and they made mistakes (IMO).
The crew did a good job in avoiding complete disaster, but the result is not what we agreed on originally.
I plan to ask the contractor to consider these defects and present a new version of the bill. I haven't paid him anything yet, but I want to get this resolved since the contractor is a friend.
My question is can I expect to pay less than what I was originally quoted?
I contracted a small masonry contracting company owned by a friend of mine to replace the front steps/landing and build a concrete patio on the back of my house. One week prior to the start of this job, the siding on the house was replaced. The mason suggested that the concrete job should be done last - apparently he was wrong.
The job is now "complete" but there are issues. I did not expect perfection but I think that the original cost to me should be less because of these defects. The issue list is as follows:
1. The riser measurements on the steps varies by 1 to 2 inches.
2. The landing area butts up against the new siding. I was told that it would flow below the siding.
3. The siding was cutout to permit the form to pass under the siding. Other siding parts around the site damaged. I plan to present the masonry contractor with the estimate from the siding contractor to repair these problems and have him deduct this cost from the final bill.
4. The landing is not square to the house, i.e. it widens toward the house. Apparently the form spread when the concrete was poured.
5. The height of the patio is about 1.5 inches more than planned. This causes it to mismatch with the back sidewalk, otherwise the patio came out great.
Many of the problems arose after an incident during the patio pour when the concrete truck operator dumped the material faster than the mason could handle it and the ended up with too much material within the patio form. Now they had to hustle to get the excess material out of the form (ruining that part of my lawn). It also caused the guys working in the front of the house to rush building the form for the steps and they made mistakes (IMO).
The crew did a good job in avoiding complete disaster, but the result is not what we agreed on originally.
I plan to ask the contractor to consider these defects and present a new version of the bill. I haven't paid him anything yet, but I want to get this resolved since the contractor is a friend.
My question is can I expect to pay less than what I was originally quoted?