Re: New Build in Red Stick- **pic heavy** 11-26 update
So the pour for the deck was on a tuesday, and Louis told me his crew would be out Wednesday to lay the coping and start on the tile. They would plaster on Friday and get started on the deck on the weekend.
There was not a word of truth to any of it.
Wed rolled around and no show. I was busy with work, and called Louis late in the afternoon, and he told me they had a problem on another job and they would be out thursday. Unhappy but ok.
Thursday... no show. Call, They will be out tomorrow. I am frank with him on the phone, and ask him if this is how the whole project is going to go? Louis says no, no, they just have a really troublesome job. At this point Louis has half the agreed amount for the job. DUH a serious lapse in judgement on my part. I tell him that if they dont show friday, I will consider him to have abandoned the job. I tell him its not the time issue... its the fact that he is telling me one thing and doing another. I am a reasonable person... if things are not going to plan I am not going to freak out... just communicate with me and we can work something out. OK? He says ok, and apologizes profusely promising that he will have workers on site early friday morning.
That was one of those phone calls where I was really angry but really controlling myself. By the time it was over I was having trouble actually speaking I was so mad.
So friday, the contractor shows up! We are excited and relieved. We meet him and he turns out to be the guy who will do the plaster as well. They immediately get started on coping Since I had planned to do all this stone and tile work myself, I had a brand new masonry tile saw sitting on site, the contractor asked about it and I explained, he asked if I was interested in selling it, I said sure, I had no plans for it after the pool work. I was delighted to get my money back out of it. Looking back... I dont think that they owned a tile saw because they used my saw for the duration of the job, and hadn't brought a saw (how had they planned on cutting the coping and tile?!?!?!).
The workers were mexican and honduran, just two of them, with the plaster guy acting as job boss. He set them up, gave them instructions and left. Thankfully the mexican had grown up speaking english so we could converse easily. I had the friday off and kibbutzed and putterred around with the equipment pad.
They set the coping friday and the tile saturday and sunday. The tile is a 1" subway type on a mesh backing so was tricky to set correctly. they took their time and did a nice job. We were happy with it.
I asked the boss (Todd) about the step trim, the trim around the spa, steps and bench seating and he knew nothing about it. Said that would be extra. WHAT?! I pulled out the contract and showed him where it was stated in the contract, and he said fine, Louis just had not communicated with him, but that Louis had not put that in the amount they paid him... he put it in and said he would just bill Louis a little more. Man that did not sound right.
So it came time to grout the coping and the contractor asked us if we wanted white or grey? Well we said we wanted tan or beige to go with the coping and tile. Uh oh... Louis had not bought them any colored grout, and they said we would have to call him to get them the grout we wanted. My wife called and asked him about it, and he started going on about how much more it was going to be, as custom grout colors were sooooo expensive and labor intensive, and it was going to be alot extra to have colored grout. Having done tile work in my past, I knew he was full of baloney and let him know it. The most expensive grout around was about $15 a bag and it would take 4 bags to complete. uh $60 bucks is not expensive. HE then said they had brought the materials they were going to use and they would have to dye it to the color we wanted. I said I didnt care how it got done, but he better come across with some colored grout or I was going to cancel the contract and seek a refund. He showed up about an hour later and dropped off (he didnt even get out of his truck and come around back, he called one of the workers to come and get the dye from him in the truck and sped off, I didnt even know he had come until he had gone) a bottle of dye for the grout. They mixed up the grout and laid it in... we first saw it after they had put it in, and it was ORANGE... I dont mean mildly orange... ORANGE. I wish I had gotten a good pic of it, but it was halloween orange. We told the contractor that it was not ok, and he said they could grind it out and replace it. Sigh. This sucks. Such a small thing and they have to struggle to get it right. The contractor (Todd) had not been on site when the workers laid it in, and he knew we would not be happy with it when he saw it he said. Todd promised that no matter what Louis did he would make it right. Todd seemed to be a bit more of a honest fellow so I relaxed a little. They grouted the tile grey as we asked (to match the plaster) no problem.
He said the trim tile around the seating and steps would be put in in the scratch coat of plaster, and they finished and left. So the tile was not complete in my eyes.
Also during this time in the passing of time and conversation, I learned that Louis had many jobs going on many pools, ALL with very unhappy and unsatisfied people, and that he had cash-flow issues, taking advances on one job to pay for another and all sorts of bad practices that are the hallmarks of bad contracting.
So Louis showed up monday to collect on the coping and tile draw. He did not even go and look at the tile and coping just straight up asked for his check.
I explained about the tile misunderstanding, and that the tile was not complete, and I was unhappy with the coping grout. I told him I did not feel comfortable giving him another 10% with things not completed as agreed upon in the contract. He said the plaster could not proceed until payment was made. I said I was willing to make an addendum to the contract that said plaster payment would not be made unless tile was laid at time of plaster, and he said ok. I paid him. Ugh.
So plaster was scheduled for tuesday. I stressed to him that I wanted to be on site for the plastering and that I had to schedule the day off, so was he certain that plaster would be occurring when he said. He called the contractor and said not tuesday, thursday instead. ok fine.
Thursday... no plaster. Weather was fine, just another lie for Louis. He showed up looking very ill and explained he had been sick and out of action. Ok, fine, can we do fri? Yes. Remember I am having to schedule these days off, and losing a days pay every time I do so. I am lucky I am self employed and can shift my schedule around like this.
Fri am... I get a call from Louis, he is at the doctor and has not been able to have the plaster purchased and delivered. He rambles on for a bit pretty nonsensically, making me wonder if the guy is ok... My humanity kicks in, and I put aside how angry I am over his non-performance (we are now several days PAST when he said the work would be complete, and we are not even 50% done) and express some concern over his health, and the need to put that first. He goes on for a bit talking about his doctor and some test results and some of the things he is saying start ringing bells in my head... I have had a couple of relatives diagnosed with leukemia, and the testing he is having , and the results start matching up with what they had gone through... as well as his symptoms. Holy cow! He never mentions a diagnosis, and not wanting to alarm him, I tell him I think he should focus on his health, my pool is just a material thing and can wait.
Meanwhile the contractor Todd calls me and tells me he is just waiting on Louis to make a phone call to the material distributor and pay for the materials so he can do my job, could I ask Louis to do so from my end? I agree to do so.
Todd has been very appreciative of all the effort and self-education I have put into building my pool, and asks if I would be interested to come and observe a plaster job that will be similar to mine that is not far away from my house. Cool! I go on the following Sunday and watch them plaster this pool, its pretty cool, and I ask all sorts of technical questions and get alot of raised eyebrows and quite a bit of conversaton. Todd seems to know his plaster and job, and I spent an enjoyable Sunday watching his and another plaster crew plastering a large pool at a huge house in a wealthy part of town. Now on a much friendlier basis, Todd confides in me that Louis is a poor contractor in his opinion, knows nothing about the pool business, and he regrets getting involved with him, because he feels his reputation is sufferring. He says Louis does not complete jobs on time and payment is sketchy and his relationships with his subs is deteriorating fast... He also lets me know that Louis was not sick friday, he went to a car show and was out of town.
I speak with Louis monday and he agrees to order the plaster and they will plaster tuesday. I do not let on that I know his call friday was a sham, but I do not express any more sentiments about his health.
Here are a couple of pics of the coping and tile work:
More to come.
I cant wait to hear "the rest of the story". 
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