Quote Originally Posted by bfalls
Good luck on the renovation. We started our Kitchen/dining room/hallway renovation several months ago. Between contractors not showing up or calling, materials not being ordered and cost overruns, some of them are lucky to have two good legs. We're still waiting for the tile contractor to get back to us---- after 7 weeks! Our kitchen is entirely done except for the tile splashguard between the cabinets and countertops.

We installed laminate flooring in all three rooms which flow together. The contractor started the installation from the East wall of both kitchen and dining rooms moving West. They ran out of material with both rooms 35% covered and didn't return for three weeks. We;re still wainting for them to return to install one threshold they didn't have while here.

We had planned Sunroom and bedroom additions, but after local flooding area contractors tripled their prices. We decided to wait until next year.

Overall, after working with four different contractors, only one was reliable and performed according to contract. We thought we had everything detailed, documented and well-planned. Playing "good spouse/bad spouse" helped some. Next time I'll put a safeguard in place specifying "time is of the essence" with a contractural deadline, otherwise they'll put you off as much as possible.

Bitter? Who me? We are enjoying the completed work.
Holy crap! That sounds like an absolute nightmare. Stories like that are one of the reasons that we decided to hire a small family business that does all the work themselves. We don't have to rely on sub-contractors or anyone other than the two men that we hired. And they only take on one job at a time so when they are working for us, they are working only for us. That was very appealing. We were very lucky that they were available the week that we needed them.

I don't know what the laws are where you are, but in Ontario if a job is not finished within 30 days of the completion date in the contract, the contract is void. The Contractor has to return any money that you may have paid for the incomplete work and you can hire someone else. You should look into your local laws to see whether you have any recourse. At the very least you could threaten legal action...that should get them moving.