Advice needed

[Longhorned]

I'd appreciate any thoughts you have on this question. I signed a contract for a $3500 job to rip out my home's front door and sidelight, and put in a new front door and sidelight. The contract is pretty general, just giving the cost of the labor and materials for a door and sidelight ordered from a certain company (ThermaTru).

One of the items leading up to the quoted price and the contract is my email to the contractor, which specifies all of the details of which door and sidelight to order, and their configuration and color. To avoid any possible confusion, I attached a picture from the manufacturer's website of exactly what I was requesting to be ordered.

Once I signed the contract and sent the contractor 50% of the total quoted cost, he ordered the door and the sidelight.

As scheduled, this morning the contractor showed up with the door and sidelight all packaged in cardboard (because it had been shipped from the factory), but he dropped off the package in my front yard and left the scene. Three hours later a crew showed up and identified themselves as the workers hired by my contractor to install the whole outfit. One of the guys said, "For verification purposes, is the color of your door blue?"

"Yes," I said.

"What kind of glass does it have?"

"I don't know," I said. "Regular glass."

He was satisfied. I left the scene and went upstairs and worked. Four hours later, I came downstairs, and the job was finished.

Wrong door, wrong side light, wrong configuration of the two. Not what I had ordered.

These guys have to start over with the door I ordered, don't they? And this shouldn't cost me any money, should it?

Thanks.

[wyo-cat]

They should have shown you the door before demo-ing the existing door and creating this mess.

[Longhorned]

They should have shown you the door before demo-ing the existing door and creating this mess.

Thanks. As part of that, and in retrospect, I think the contractor himself should have looked at the door and confirmed the contents before handing the whole thing over to the crew he farmed out the job to (???)

[PieceOfMeat]

Should it cost you anything to get it fixed? No.

I just hope you have a good, honest contractor.

Although I would recommend, next time, to at least stick around the scene long enough for them to unbox it, before going upstairs until the job is done.

[wyo-cat]

They should have shown you the door before demo-ing the existing door and creating this mess.

Thanks. As part of that, and in retrospect, I think the contractor himself should have looked at the door and confirmed the contents before handing the whole thing over to the crew he farmed out the job to (???)

Right. His wham, bam, Thank ya ma'am way of handling this job is going to bite him in the ass. I don't know all of the legalities, but common sense would be to "measure twice and cut once" for the front door - and that means getting your approval before demo.

[Merkin]

Assuming he is a licensed contractor there are recourses with the state board. The laborers perhaps not so much especially if he picked them up in the Home Depot parking lot.

He may and probably will offer some sort of financial settlement to keep the current configuration, so need to think about that.

[Alieberman]

If your contractor screwed up and you have paperwork to prove it, he is responsible. Can't believe he didn't open it up and have you verify before he left. That's not good.

Every time I've had any kind of contracting job at my house, I always make sure to check things out as they are happening to avoid obvious screw-ups.

[Longhorned]

Assuming he is a licensed contractor there are recourses with the state board. The laborers perhaps not so much especially if he picked them up in the Home Depot parking lot.

He may and probably will offer some sort of financial settlement to keep the current configuration, so need to think about that.

I think he'll try that, too, but I'll have to decline. It looks really, really bad. All kinds of wrong. You'd wince. Not worth any amount of settlement to keep it and then just feel awful about the appearance of your house, and to know that it's the first impression to potential buyers down the line.

Can you imagine living with a wife who will notice that door aloud every day for years and years?

[Longhorned]

If your contractor screwed up and you have paperwork to prove it, he is responsible. Can't believe he didn't open it up and have you verify before he left. That's not good.

Every time I've had any kind of contracting job at my house, I always make sure to check things out as they are happening to avoid obvious screw-ups.

It honestly never crossed my mind. According to the contractor's office on the phone this morning, it had never crossed their mind, either, and they've been doing this for 40 years.

I did check out the progress enough to know that the crew completely removed all of my materials, and did the unavoidable collateral damage of doing so, before even opening the package.

The contractor will be here in an hour with the sales rep from the distributer who provided the materials.

[PieceOfMeat]

I think he'll try that, too, but I'll have to decline. It looks really, really bad. All kinds of wrong. You'd wince. Not worth any amount of settlement to keep it and then just feel awful about the appearance of your house, and to know that it's the first impression to potential buyers down the line.

Can you imagine living with a wife who will notice that door aloud every day for years and years?

Is the workmanship shoddy as well, or just the design of it is so bad that it makes you want to vomit when you look?

The contractor will be here in an hour with the sales rep from the distributer who provided the materials.

Hope it goes well *fingers crossed*

[Longhorned]

The installation appears top-notch. The door and sidelight combination and configuration look like somebody has no idea what he's doing, or has such limited funds that he's combining discounted materials and hoping to pull it off in the eyes of the non-discriminating. Simply put, bad design looks cheap, and this is bad design. The first rule of upgrading a front door is to create "curb appeal" for future buyers.

[gumby]

You can get those doors cheaper at Trader Joe's.

I'm so tired of people coming out to my house and not having the right equipment or the right tool or the right instructions or whatever. And it seems everyone is a subcontractor for someone else, which makes accountability harder to nail down.

The carpet crew I had out recently was so different, I almost wept. Same guy who showed me the samples directed and participated in the installation. Not that any direction was needed. Crew barely talked to each other. So efficient. So good at their job. Finished four rooms in half a day.

So different from the boiler installation that took an entire summer. Or myriad other things that always came with a snafu.

Home ownership -- Living the dream!

[Merkin]

The carpet crew I had out recently was so different, I almost wept. Same guy who showed me the samples directed and participated in the installation. Not that any direction was needed. Crew barely talked to each other. So efficient. So good at their job. Finished four rooms in half a day.

Did you tip them?

[Longhorned]

Thanks for the advice, all. The contractor and the sales rep guy from the distributor showed up with this attitude like none of this was my fault and that they're going to fix the problem to my full satisfaction. Both had already investigated the chain of ordering and production they had oversight for. They both emphatically expressed how wrong the configuration looks, and the distributer said that it was a factory production error on the part of ThermaTru, who will eat the cost. It will take another six weeks before our door arrives. Hopefully the factory will get it right.

Long story short on the contractor's responsibility is that checking through the materials prior to the start of the job wouldn't have made any difference, because he had to pay the installers regardless, and now the construction is in place for the correct materials. It's all properly fitted just to "pop in" the correct configuration.

[Alieberman]

Hopefully they didn't take the old door away, six weeks is a long time to be doorless.

[Longhorned]

Hopefully they didn't take the old door away, six weeks is a long time to be doorless.

They grabbed the door and my pants. Six weeks is a long time to be pantless.

[catgrad97]

Hey, that door needed those pants more than you did.

[gumby]

The carpet crew I had out recently was so different, I almost wept. Same guy who showed me the samples directed and participated in the installation. Not that any direction was needed. Crew barely talked to each other. So efficient. So good at their job. Finished four rooms in half a day.

Did you tip them?

[PieceOfMeat]

Thanks for the advice, all. The contractor and the sales rep guy from the distributor showed up with this attitude like none of this was my fault and that they're going to fix the problem to my full satisfaction. Both had already investigated the chain of ordering and production they had oversight for. They both emphatically expressed how wrong the configuration looks, and the distributer said that it was a factory production error on the part of ThermaTru, who will eat the cost. It will take another six weeks before our door arrives. Hopefully the factory will get it right.

Long story short on the contractor's responsibility is that checking through the materials prior to the start of the job wouldn't have made any difference, because he had to pay the installers regardless, and now the construction is in place for the correct materials. It's all properly fitted just to "pop in" the correct configuration.

Glad it went well, but sucks that it will take 6 weeks to correct.

Long time to be walking into your home and hate how it looks as you get to the entry.

PS you should recommend that contractor to people. Honest contractors are awesome.