I am having a house built and am sick and tired of my builders lines of BS he feeds me. This is a 1700sq ft house. We started back in Sept last year and we still have not finished the rough framing. He keeps feeding me lines of BS as to why nothing gets done, but it all falls back on the fact that he is trying to start /run another business that is going to make him a millionaire. (sure ) He just doesn't have time to build my house. He doesn't call to get subs or material there when needed. He drags his feet through every step. I'm sick of it.

Anyways, to get back at him before I fire him, I thought of an idea. I makes signs as a side business and would like to errect a 4'x8' sign in front of my house saying something along the lines of:

The EXTREMELY SLOW progress of
this house is due to XXXX Building.

My house is being built on a VERY busy road, so a lot of people would see it. I'm more worried about the reprecussions. Could he try to sue me for slander or such? I'm just sick and tired of his BS. He has cost me a lot of money by taking his sweet time, and firing him would not be enough to make me happy.

I'm open to other suggestions too.

Kris

Burn it to the ground.

Make the sign and post pics

Quoted: Burn it to the ground.

Why. That would be covered under MY builders risk insurance. I don't think it would effect him.

It has to be false to be slander.
In any event this would be libel. Still has to be false however.

I'd just fire his ass and be done with it.

1700 sp ft.?
With trusses 10 days max for framing. Fire him. Move on.

Quoted: I'd just fire his ass and be done with it.

Yep.  If the jackass has been working on the house for the last 6 months and doesn't have it finished, he's due for a good kick to the curb.

You have far more patience than I.

Btw
In wisconsin they call anyone with a pick up truck a
Building Contractor

I'd say do it, but IANAL and you may very well get sued.

Quoted: Quoted: I'd just fire his ass and be done with it. Yep.  If the jackass has been working on the house for the last 6 months and doesn't have it finished, he's due for a good kick to the curb. You have far more patience than I.

A lot of it is just not knowing. I've never built a house before, so I wasn't sure what is involved. I have learned a lot since then from here, people in the know, and the internet. I'm still not sure what firing him will require, but I have a lawyer that is going to look over my contract.

Make a big sign that says something like " Days since construction began" Then little hooks where you can add/change numbers, like on old scoreboards. Then print the contractors name in big bold letters.

Simple facts nothing else.

Quoted: 1700 sp ft.? With trusses 10 days max for framing. Fire him. Move on.

No shit.
Is he gonna have his grandkids finish the dry-in after he retires?  

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: I'd just fire his ass and be done with it. Yep.  If the jackass has been working on the house for the last 6 months and doesn't have it finished, he's due for a good kick to the curb. You have far more patience than I. A lot of it is just not knowing. I've never built a house before, so I wasn't sure what is involved. I have learned a lot since then from here, people in the know, and the internet. I'm still not sure what firing him will require, but I have a lawyer that is going to look over my contract.

Is there some kind of time frame in the contract ? or was there some sort of verbal discussion on when the house would be completed when you signed

American houses have wooden frames!

Quoted: Make a big sign that says something like " Days since construction began" Then little hooks where you can add/change numbers, like on old scoreboards. Then print the contractors name in big bold letters. Simple facts nothing else.

+1  No way you could be sued, since you are stating facts.

Quoted: American houses have wooden frames!

What do they use in England? Al-yu-min-ee-um? Or do they just make a new stonehenge and build the house around that?

Most contracts for construction will have a clause that allows either party to terminate it after a certain amount of time and notice to the other party.

I'll bet you dollars to donuts he comes after you for more money when you do, though.



Tell him to fuck off.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: I'd just fire his ass and be done with it. Yep.  If the jackass has been working on the house for the last 6 months and doesn't have it finished, he's due for a good kick to the curb. You have far more patience than I. A lot of it is just not knowing. I've never built a house before, so I wasn't sure what is involved. I have learned a lot since then from here, people in the know, and the internet. I'm still not sure what firing him will require, but I have a lawyer that is going to look over my contract. Is there some kind of time frame in the contract ? or was there some sort of verbal discussion on when the house would be completed when you signed

There was nothing in writing. Verbaly, he said we should be done around the end of March. At this rate, I'll be lucky to move in by Winter.

Hide his caulk guns?  

I think that you should f*ck his wife. That will show him who is boss.

James

Quoted: Hide his caulk guns?

I'm about ready to punch him in the caulk gun.

Well if their still drinkin beer on sight like one of your past threads, fill up some beer bottles with piss and drop them off with a bow on top

Quoted: I think that you should f*ck his wife. That will show him who is boss. James

She just had a kid (one more distraction slowing the build). I'd wait until drops the weight first. Plus, I don't know if I could convince my wife that it was just to get back at him.

I know this is too late to post but I had a customer once that asked a contractor "How long will this take?" Contractor says "6 months"

My customer says, "I'll tell you what. I will give you 7 months and, for every day short of 7 months I will GIVE you 100.00 cash... but for every day AFTER 7 months, you give me 100.00 cash"

Contractor said "fuck that!"


Even WITH extra time AND an incentive program, contractors STILL dont have faith in their work.


I like the sign idea: "Days this project has been going" and add the numbers on every day.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: I'd just fire his ass and be done with it. Yep.  If the jackass has been working on the house for the last 6 months and doesn't have it finished, he's due for a good kick to the curb. You have far more patience than I. A lot of it is just not knowing. I've never built a house before, so I wasn't sure what is involved. I have learned a lot since then from here, people in the know, and the internet. I'm still not sure what firing him will require, but I have a lawyer that is going to look over my contract. Is there some kind of time frame in the contract ? or was there some sort of verbal discussion on when the house would be completed when you signed There was nothing in writing. Verbaly, he said we should be done around the end of March. At this rate, I'll be lucky to move in by Winter.

Even though it is only rough framed, he is in a respectable time line ,still only April and a month or two over is common. Firing him is a option if you have another builder ready to  take over, if not
just talk to him . A house can be built  pretty fast if he gets the builders on it.
Some  I'm sure will post just fire him , but if you don't have someone to take his place right now,might be a mistake
just think about it first.

Quoted: Well if their still drinkin beer on sight like one of your past threads, fill up some beer bottles with piss and drop them off with a bow on top

Even though they drank on the job, the did descent work. They just couldn't do it quickly due to supplies not getting ordered (I checked with the yard he orders from) Even the framers said they will never work for him again.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: snip Even though it is only rough framed, he is in a respectable time line ,still only April and a month or two over is common. Firing him is a option if you have another builder ready to  take over, if not just talk to him . A house can be built  pretty fast if he gets the builders on it. Some  I'm sure will post just fire him , but if you don't have someone to take his place right now, just think about it first.

Well, from this point forward, I am very confident that I can finish it by subbing it out myself. I've got enough people with good references that are ready to work. I have tried talking to him about it, but it just ends up being a bunch of empty promises. He has even admitted that he has too much to do and sometimes he forgets.

In that case , If  you already tried and he has responed like that, And you have the guys ready to
I would fire him also.

6 to 7 months to rough in a 1,700 sq ft home?  Is it some kind of custom floorplan?  That seems like an enormous amount of time to me.  How many framers does he usually have on the site?  

And no timeline with penalties for exceeding the including percentage?  See, usually there is a completion date per stage - UG and slab; rough framing; interior rough (electrical, plumbing, HVAC); enclosure (decked, rocked, exterior); and rough completion (ready for plumbing and electrical trim, inspections).  Finally, there is a move-in date.  Every time you institute a change order, the allowance of time goes up (just a tiny bit, but they add up).  

Every contractor does this differently, but I have never submitted a bid that didn't have a specific timeline already built into it.  It's part of the bid:  know what you're building and how much time you have to complete it.  Shorter time lines mean additional labor, and if the labor pool is slow you have to adjust for temp labor, which is inherently expensive and assumed sloppy.  So there is more time needed for corrections.  The time line is also the billing stage dates, so without one the contractor has no idea when what installments are coming in.  And that's extremely important to get the credit lines paid off to avoid interest penalties.  

Obviously this guy is a very small contractor.  Like myself.  I don't even have any permanent employees, LOL.  

My suggestion is a contract revision that sets timelines and completion dates and penalties for exceeding the allotted time frame.  If he refuses that, go ahead and fire him, deducting the percentage of completed work so you know what it has cost already.  He should be paid for all work completed.  

Sorry you're going through all this frustration bro.  Best of luck in a happy resolution to you.

He could sue you...

If he will win or not is another matter...

In 4 weeks time I can take a graded lot and have a 1800 sq ft house ready for final inspection, less landscaping.  That means once inspected, you move in, period.

Your "builder" isn't a builder, but he knows how to cash those draw checks.

How on earth could you try to build a house without a signed contract?

Make sure the builder is paid up, throw all his property off the site, and have him arrested for trespassing if he shows up again.

The only way you will resolve this is to get another contractor.  Now that building season is here, you will have a harder time finding crews, unless you hire latinos that do the work US citizens won't, and maybe not even then.

I have a feeling you're going to court, anyway - probably you, the contractor, and the subs that haven't been paid.

We went from a bare lot to a 1500 sq foot house over a full basement in ~90 days.  Kick him to the curb.

Well, after more research, I'm finding out that he isn't relaying any of the changes I wanted made to the subs. Now, they have to go back and fix crap because he didn't listen. This guy is sooo toast!.