21 Lame Excuses Contractors Tell Homeowners
I'm not the kind of contractor who likes to give or hear
excuses, but here are a few of them that I have heard, during my career
as a general contractor. I hope you enjoyed reading them, because I
enjoyed finding them.
1. I didn't do it. Some contractors find the need to blame their
problems on other people or even their workers.
2. I'll be right over. How many times have you heard this?
3. The checks in the mail. I don't even want to talk about this one.
4. I can start on your job tomorrow. Until you sign a contract or later
on that evening when the contractor tells you something different.
5. I am licensed and insured, when they really aren't.
6. I have over 25 years of experience, they're just not telling you what
they have 25 years of experience in.
7. My partner has the contractor's license. This one doesn't work very
well with intelligent people.
8. I got pulled over this morning by a policeman. Ask them to show you
the ticket, this usually confuses them.
9. The lumberyard messed my order up. Did the lumberyard make a mistake
or did the contractor, you might not ever know.
10. Of course I have testimonials. They're going to need to go home,
because they can't remember their friends and relatives phone numbers
and address..
11. My contractor’s license will be reinstated soon. I love this one, it
doesn't matter whether they're telling the truth or not, it doesn't
sound good.
12. What time did I say I was going to be there? Some contractors
confuse Eastern, Pacific and Standard Time Zones. Find out which time
zone you're contractors set their clocks to and hold them to it.
13. The building inspector doesn't know what he's doing. Often the
contractor is the expert and not the city building department.
14. We can use something else. Often contractors choose to replace items
specified by engineers and architects, because they know better and have
more experience.
15. Who ordered the wrong windows? It's rarely the contractor's fault
for any mistakes like these.
16. The doughnut shop didn't open on time. If this becomes a regular
problem with your contractor, find out what kind of doughnuts he likes
and your problem is solved.
17. We had to sit in traffic this morning. You could always suggest that
your contractor leaves their house or office a little earlier the next
time.
18. Don't worry about that, we didn't need it anyway. They are usually
referring to important structural hardware that actually is important,
they just forgot to install it.
19. I will get that done by the end of the day. Wishful thinking most of
the time, but every once in a while they tend to pull it off.
20. Who broke what? If you're only working with one contractor, it's not
going to be difficult to figure out who broke your dishes.
21. My all-time favorite and last but not least. I never said that. This
is my ultimate favorite and I don't know how many times I heard it from
other contractors and even some homeowners.
I hope you had fun reading these 21 lame excuses that contractors tell
homeowners.