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Old 07-21-2008, 11:16 AM   #21
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I can't drink cheap jug wine anymore either, but I sure do appreciate the better (not outrageous $) stuff.-ERD50
However this turns out, treat yourself to a good bottle of wine when it's over
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Old 07-21-2008, 11:42 AM   #22
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
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Join Date: May 2005
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ERD50 View Post
People will spend $$$ to go to a big name concert, bad sight lines, lousy sound, etc - but the band is 'famous'.
-ERD50
Then, they'll blab to their neighbors or on a cellphone through the entire show...
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The meeting:
Old 07-21-2008, 05:18 PM   #23
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The meeting:

OK, step one went pretty well...

The guy kind of dug himself a hole. I'm trying hard to be as polite and open as I can (DW was riding shotgun on me, just to be sure). When I pointed out the problem, he stressed that they cut that line to project straight out from the structure, and parallel with the foundation wall. He tried to dismiss the 'pie shape' a bit, saying that with the random block pattern, you don't really notice it, but I kept pointing out the 1.5" filler at the wide side of the pie, going to nothing and then going to a cut into the blocks. I *do* notice it (as did my neighbor when I asked him about it).

So I move on to some of the minor things (A/C pad joint and some small filler pieces), he agrees re-cut/re-set those, then I come back to this edge, emphasizing that the reason it is crooked in relation to the patio is that the patio is crooked by 2" in 12'. And that I can see that it is crooked. He started to go back and talk about re-cutting the line to make it align with the patio, but that is where I caught him on his original statement, that would make the edge crooked with the house.

Then I stressed again that 2" in 12' just didn't seem like reasonable accuracy to me, esp since they held the edge cut to ~ 1/4" in 15'. He took a deep breath and said that it looks like they need to reset the whole thing. I actually felt kinda sorry for him (well, just a little), but it needs to be done. I said, I wish there was another way, but it seems like that's what it needs.

So, he seems resigned to this... then he says it might be 4 weeks before they can get back out (grrrrrr). They actually got the thing done in one day, they had a double crew because another job got held up, and he put the guys on this job (too many cooks maybe?). So considering that took getting started, digging, hauling gravel, compacting, etc, I don't think it would take more than 2-3 guys a day to re-do this. But of course, he has schedules to deal with. But 2-3 guys for a day shouldn't completely kill his profit on this job, if he had eight guys on it for one day.

I could feel myself getting just a bit testy at the 4 week comment, so I just decided to kick back, I let him know that didn't set with me, but I didn't want to argue then and there. I suspect the 4 week comment was a bit of a test, to see how badly I *really* wanted to have this re-set. I think I'll cool down for a day or two - who knows, they may get a day open up and it'll be done soon. If it really is going out to a few weeks or more, I'm going to feel like pushing for something. It's not my fault they did it crooked, and I'm losing time this summer, because I can't do some of the trim work I wanted to do, for fear of being in their way.

So, the 'battle' seems won, hopefully there is no war to follow.

Thanks for the comments - it helped me to feel I had the right to ask for this.

-ERD50
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Old 07-21-2008, 08:19 PM   #24
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Good thing you still owe them a lot (2/3?) of the payment for the job. I guess if he wants to get the additional payment he'll be back to do it right.
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Update: looks like it ended well...
Old 07-28-2008, 07:43 PM   #25
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Update: looks like it ended well...

OK, it got fixed today (Monday). About two weeks after the initial install, and just over a week since I brought up the problem with them.

It looks WAY better! Some of the little filler pieces were all because of the crookedness - they were more careful with the layout and getting it straight of course, and using almost all full sized blocks, so it made a big difference.

And this only took them a couple hours with 5-6 guys ( 3 or 4 workers, two guys supervising), so it's not like this cost them a whole lot of profit really.

The really odd thing though - Last Friday, a *different* guy from the one I had dealt with shows up with 4 workers. He doesn't knock on the door, he had not scheduled a time to come out, and they just start working on the patio. After 10 minutes or so, I go out, introduce myself, and start talking over the problems with the 'new' guy. He's apologetic and all, but he actually seems confused about what exactly is wrong, and what to do to fix it. He starts having the guys lift out and reset some of the blocks, but I'm not feeling like there is really a 'plan'. I'm getting uneasy. This goes on for almost 2 hours (!), and he seems confused about some of the things I'm showing him, how the guy set the block patterns, etc. Esp when I insist I don't want some of these small fill pieces - cut a *little* of a few larger blocks to take up any differences. Well, he decides to come back Monday with more blocks....

I guess he must have been thinking about it over the W/E, because this AM, he shows me what he wants to do, they get to work, they are done in two hours, and it looks great. Whew!

Thanks for the feedback on this issue!

Of course, now *I* need to get to work and trim out the decking, get the window well all dressed out...

-ERD50
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Old 07-28-2008, 08:14 PM   #26
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Great news!
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Old 07-28-2008, 10:42 PM   #27
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I'm glad it went so smoothly!
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