On 17 May 2004 16:20:30 -0700, (Fran) wrote:

Standard stucco, none of the fake stuff. Philadelphia, Pa. First
contractor put up scratch coat over chicken wire and building paper.
Aggressive rake. Contractor got very sick and had to go out of
business. Comes winter - and it's too cold to put up cement stucco.
This was last November.

It's now May 15th. A new contractor was awarded the job to finish
what the ailing contractor started. I signed a contract for:
1) Bonding coat
2) Second, middle, "brown" coat
3) Finish coat. Penn Crete stucco brand.

Problem: Contractor skipped second coat. The finsh coat doesn't look
as good as the houses around my home. What's more, I'm concerned that
there will be moisture problems and cracking DUE TO LACK of
application of the middle "brown" coat. Finally, because the "bonding
agent" was not applied to the 7 month old scratch coat, I'm concerned
the top layer(s) might break away.

PS: The existing but erroneous finish coat is pretty smooth

Help:

1) How important is the second coat which was skipped? Must I force
the contractor to take all of the stucco off and do the job over
again?

If your contract says you can.

2) Can a third coat be applied over the existing coat to make up for
the error?

Yes.

3) What about that bonding agent? It wasn't done.

If your contract stated it was to be done, you have recourse as
specified in your contract.

The reason this all happened is because the current contractor
subcontracted this out rather than doing it himself though he put it
in writing that he would do all the work himself. I think he didn't
communicate requirements to the sub.

None of which matters. Your contract matters.

Jeff