Started out this morning by firing our concrete contractor. He's been with us since we started the house and did the framing, concrete, dry wall, finish carpentry and the exterior - or part of the exterior. The relationship reminds me of a marriage gone sour, where we are all so irritated with each other that nothing goes right. All respect for each other is gone and each party blames the other for the problems.
We knew we were taking a chance when we signed the last contract with him. We'd advanced him some money because of the economy, because we liked him and he'd been of help to us in a casual way, answering questions and giving us advice on certain issues. After the advance, when the balance of power shifted to him, he made it very clear that he was going to "hold us up" for
more money and generally make us dance on his string. To save the advance money, we went forward and since then, nothing has been satisfactory.
I've never liked having to fire someone and didn't in this case either. I've always felt that the shortcoming is mine...if I hired someone and made a poor choice, then it's clearly my fault when it doesn't work. So, I felt bad on that account. On the other hand I felt very good that we are free of this guy and his constant complaining and whining. He always underbid jobs to get them and then blamed us because he wasn't getting enough money. We couldn't win.
So now we are delayed a few weeks finding new contractors to finish the job, but that will be easy compared to the daily torture of dealing with Ken.
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