Caution, Warning

Late one Saturday afternoon I received a call from a homeowner that had just fired his contractor. My first thought was :

Danger-Danger!!!   yellow flags     Warning- Warning!!!

He wanted to hire me to finish things up. It turns out he had fired his carpenter which is an entirely different thing.

This doesn’t happen very often and being a contractor myself I was worried that there was a difficult client rather than an incompetent general contractor at the root of the problem.

Turns out the client was right and the carpenter was having all sorts of problems that made it reasonable to take over the project.

1. Chief among the problems was that they were not showing up.
2. The carpenter was used to working for a contractor and had no idea about what being a general contractor is all about.
3. They were giving bad advice that didn’t make sense to the client’s “common sense”

The best part about things is that the client and his contractor parted on amicable terms.

When I arrived I found a bathroom update project that was on the verge of going sideways and was easily altered to create a great finished project.

The root of the issue was that the owner decided to be his own general contractor and had depended upon others to work out the plan to begin with.

He was a veteran of a major remodel and it seemed like a fairly straight forward project. No walls to move, no stairways to build, or anything too complicated. His trades people were doing their thing but there was no leader. In a leaderless environment, everyone does what they think they should do causing commotion, confusion and a bad result.

As I have said in past articles, I applaud homeowners who call individual subcontractors to fix problems associated with their specialties IE: a Plumber to fix a faucet, or an Electrician to fix a switch.

“When it comes to several trades working together to accomplish a goal it is time to call a general contractor.”

Tools of the General Contractor

Here is what I as a General Contractor bring to the table:

1. Experience. This comes from making lots of mistakes over the years and learning from them.
2. Talent. This comes from assembling a group of talented employees that, like fairies and elves, make a lot of work seem like a little.
3. Credentials. Licenses, registrations, certifications, and insurance.
4. Subcontractors. these are the trades people that work well with the general contractor, have a relationship and communicate well together. They also guarantee their work.
5. Relationships. With vendors and subcontractors that get results.
6. Trust. This is the key to the relationship. Trust will ensure a great project.
7. A secondary guarantee. This means that it is the general contractors guarantee also covers the subcontractors work.
8. Organization. This comes from creating a structure, systems, and documentation that handle these sorts of projects year in and year out.
9. Knowing the law and having a contract. It is the general contractors responsibility to make sure the codes are followed to ensure a safe project is being done in your home.
10. Piece of mind. When I as a general contractor say “I’ve got it”, by golly that is what I mean.

At Levco Builders LLC. we are general contractors that specialize in remodeling in and around the Boise Idaho area. It is what sets us apart in the region. We make adding on to your home or upgrading it an enjoyable, collaborative, journey. Get rid of your general contractor phobias, let us show you what a great remodeling experience can be like. 

Your comments are welcome. To ask questions or get more information about remodeling, email me directly or visit our contact page.

If you only knew what could go “Rong” (I think wrong should be spelled r o n g, don’t you?)  in a remodeling project. Anyone who says this sort of thing doesn’t happen on their projects is either lying, hasn’t been remodeling long enough, or has been fired by a client and never got the chance to fix their mistake.

Oh No!

This is a tale of  dismal results that spiraled sideways nearly impacting the ground before we finally pull it out at the last second.

I recently had the misfortune of dealing with the fallout of a very bad paint job.

We were this close to finishing our project and the painting was basic stuff, it was only going to take an afternoon to complete.

The next thing I get is a 5:50PM phone call from my client reporting that the painter had just left but “the paint job didn’t look very good”. I suggested we wait till morning and look at it together.

Next morning I showed up bright and early expecting to see a single fixable flaw.  It turns out that “not looking good” was the understatement of the year. There were runs, streaks and rough spots throughout the project.

The New Mantra

My gut reaction was to have the painter return and fix it immediately. My client was willing and I showed the painter the deficiencies. ” No problem he said” ” I’ll fix it up right now” That triggered  my second visit to check up on how the fix went, still shabby. The pattern continued. The painter was not happy with his results either but I’ll be darned if he could fix it.

This next time he assured me, it is under control, “Joe don’t worry I will come back and make it great, I’m not happy until you’re happy”.

The third time out, I brought my new Project Manager, Josh with me. “Rip it out, we need to start over” he whispered to me.

Being one to give the benefit of the doubt to the professional painter, I allowed him one last time to fix his problem. That is when the client called and said she had had it with the painter. She went as far as to prohibit him from returning.

This could have easily been the end of the project for me. Thankfully, our client gave me one last chance to take care of the problem.

Bottom line is, Levco decided to rip it out and replaced the finish work. We employed a different painter to do the job and it all looks great now. Turns out, there were some valuable pearls of wisdom to be learned.

Let's Start Over

1. Even professionals make mistakes they can’t fix.
2. I could have saved time, and money, had my tolerance been lower.
3. We eventually found a great painter.
4. I got to see what kind of finish carpenter Josh is. (great and fast!)
5. Josh has the personality trait I lack and is not bashful about telling it like it is and getting results.

I have always said, “the highest level of customer service can not be achieved unless there is a problem”.  I am especially proud that we eventually turned this catastrophic failure into a happy ending. In other words, “we always win”  We also got to “show that we care” to our client who is very happy with the results of our problem resolution.

Your comments are welcome. To ask questions or get more information about remodeling, email me directly or visit our contact page.

Disclaimer: Some of these images came from the WEB. If they are yours, and you object to them being used, please claim them and I will gladly remove and replace them at once.

What does being a client advocate mean to me. It is more than just words… It involves taking decisive action sometimes.

The Depot

The design phase was done and the components were selected in a small bathroom project. The construction phase was in full swing. In an effort to save a few bucks the clients selected a mid priced bathtub from Home Depot. They left the store feeling good about being frugal.

One of my favorite rants is “Like Pizzas, all (fill in the blank) are not alike.” The bathtub came in a box that I recall feeling light but it had a nice picture of a good looking tub. In questioning the plumber after the install, he said “I thought it was flimsy but didn’t want to say anything because the owner had selected it.”

Fortunately, I stopped in at the job site for something and was pleased to see the progress and leaned up against the tub. Although it looked like a tub and acted like a tub it was the flimsiest plastic thing I had ever seen or felt. I thought to myself, in whose best interest is it to leave this tub in place. NO ONE is the correct answer. I immediately told the owners that if we allow this thing to stay it would not last and cost lots of money to replace in the future. Luckily I was able to round up an acrylic one right away so we are in the process of scheduling the replacement early next week.

The Owner is not the expert in our field, they had no idea what they were getting into. Had we built the tub into the tile wall before we brought it to their attention (or worse they brought it to our attention),  I would have felt horrible. The momentary embarrassment the client may feel and the awkwardness of the conversation is nothing compared to the potential upside of being a true client advocate. Sure, it could have gone the other way. My client may have insisted upon leaving the tub but at least they would have been made aware of the situation and made an informed decision.

Cracked Bathtub

I have nothing against The Depot, to be fair, this quality of tub is unfortunately seen in modular homes. My feeling is that it was totally out of character in this application. In my opinion, a shampoo bottle falling would crack this tub. In followup questioning, the display was 7′ up in the air and from that distance it looked like a typical bathtub that you would see in any home.

Did it hold up the project? yes for a little bit. Did it avoid a huge problem in the future YES. This was an Owner Furnished item. There was no warranty on my part other than for the installation so why should I care? Because that is who we are. I define integrity as ” once you know the right thing to do… that is what you do.”

My dream is that with my team at Levco we would have caught this prior to installation and we are working towards that but for now I am especially proud that we were acting as the experts in our field and behaving like true professionals. I often say that we are always on the lookout for examples of “showing that we care”, well this is as bold and obvious as it gets.

Perhaps I am especially sensitive to this issue because I am working on a project where both a tub and the shower are fractured in a modular home. Talk about inconvenience, we will be fixing them one at a time.

This story is especially apropos because many of my remodeling clients are looking for ways to stretch the budget. When I was looking for the replacement tub I asked my sales person at Ferguson, sell me a tub that you would not be embarrassed to sell or soak in yourself. Time will tell, but I believe this story will have a happy ending.

Incidentally, in a post script, The Depot took the tub back no questions asked.

There have been several glaring examples recently of issues related to warranty that I would like to discuss. It also pertains to why you should use a professional installer for your remodeling projects. At Levco we use subcontractors proudly because they specialize in installing their products and are certified by the manufacturer. What does this mean to you? It means that although it may not look that difficult to install a particular roofing material or flooring for example, in many cases the manufacturer won’t warranty the product unless it was installed by a certified installer.

flooring

Case in point a builder installed laminate flooring to save a buck but the floor cracks and pops when you walk on it. The owners had no idea and are frustrated that their floor has essentially failed. Could it have been faulty product? Possibly, but the manufacturer is off the hook because a non certified installer put it in. In another example, a potential client called to have me look at a roofing job that went sideways. Turns out the roofer made recommendations on having a porch roof rebuilt “while they were at it” and went beyond their permitted scope and ended up screwing up the guy’s house in a historic district. In addition, a membrane roof was also installed by this company that was chosen because they had the best price.

Roofers in action

Did the roof get put on, “you bet” looks like they knew what they were doing to the owner. Upon careful scrutiny by the city inspector there are some very suspicious areas that are sure to leak not to mention multiple code violations. The contractor was clearly not certified. We live on the edge of a desert and although it is raining right now ( and is predicted to all week) we don’t get much rain here. Two years down the line when there is a problem and the roofing company is not around, theoretically the manufacturer would cover the repairs by another certified installer. In this case the  the product wasn’t installed correctly and there is no warranty. The owner is out of luck. At Levco this does not happen because although there are not many rules for roofing installation, we understand the importance of having subcontractors that are certified in the materials they are installing. Although I laugh when I say “we live in America everything is warrantied” The truth is that when your read the fine print, in most cases, the product is only warrantied when installed by a certified installer. Buyer be ware.