On May 1, 12:56*pm, Steve Barker wrote:
On 5/1/2011 11:10 AM, Evan wrote:









On May 1, 11:18 am, "
*wrote:
On Sun, 1 May 2011 05:14:08 -0700 (PDT), "

*wrote:
On May 1, 8:08 am, "Ed *wrote:
*wrote

The part that's most interesting is "This is in spite of my
agreeing to pay their bids. " *I don't know what exactly
that means, but I'm assuming it means he agreed to
pay them for quotes? * Did he just offer to pay them?

I took it as he was willing to pay the quoted price and did not try to knock
down the price.

Yes, re-reading it I agree with your interpretation. *So, it
looks like they no showed to start and/or continue the
job. *Which unfortunately a lot of contractors are known
for. *Some of it is understandable, because they have
to try to keep the pipeline full and if the job they are on
runs into problems, takes longer, etc, they have to
push out. * What there is no excuse for though is when
they do it and don't let you know ahead of time that
they aren't coming. *Of if they do it repeatedly or put
you off for weeks....

There is no excuse for not notifying the customer, as far in advance as
possible, that they're not going to show. *They didn't figure out that another
job was running over the day after. *It's a good reason to fire a contractor.

Was the OP actually a customer, or did he just agree to the
proposed price without putting down a deposit...

With things the way they are, customers who pay get the work
and customers who nit-pick and waiver are allowed to stew a
bit until they realize that they (the customer) are the problem
and not the contractor...

~~ Evan

if he was a savvy customer, and working with a reputable contractor,
there would be NO deposit. *I pay nothing until material is on the site
and/or work at least partially done.

I understand the sentiment, but as someone said one size does not fit
all. If you're talking about some little dinky project, fine, no
deposit. But if it's something substantial you can be rootin' tootin'
sure that I'm getting a deposit when the contract is signed. It's
good business.

If you're painting a couple rooms in a house, there's not a lot of
upfront set up time and expenses, but if you're adding on a room,
redoing a kitchen, building cabinetry or whatever, there's quite a bit
of legwork that takes place before the actual first day of
construction.

It's also interesting that most states and municipalities have
codified what the maximum deposit can be. If your scenario was the
standard, that maximum deposit would have been codified at zero.

R