Rant: Fed up of these shitty Miami “contractors”. Some can’t do shit right, not even gutters.
Gutter Contractor Damaged My Roof, Created Leaks, Then Claimed I Just Didn’t Want to Pay
I recently hired a gutter company and the entire experience has been unbelievably frustrating.
My roof is only two years old. During the installation, the crew cut and bent back sections of the drip edge, altered roof components, and left me with multiple leaks between the gutter and fascia. Instead of directing water away from the house, water was getting behind the gutter system. Bird brain installed the gutter on top of the drip edge.
When I raised concerns, I was told everything was normal. I was even told that you can’t properly test gutters with a hose. That made no sense to me. If a gutter system can’t handle water from a hose sprinkling on a roof without leaking behind it, why would anyone expect it to perform during a South Florida rainstorm?
What made the situation worse was the owner’s attitude. Fucking Cuban chauvinist. Every concern was dismissed, “this is how we do it”. There was no willingness to acknowledge that there could be a problem. It was the classic “I’m the expert, so I can’t be wrong” approach, despite visible defects and active leaks.
The funniest part is that the owner’s Google review response tries to make it sound like I just didn’t want to pay. Meanwhile, I hired and paid another gutter company from Broward that same week. Why? Because I wanted gutters installed correctly. The second company assessed and acknowledged everything the first company did was absolute bullshit. They managed to do the job without cutting up roof components, creating leaks, or arguing that obvious defects were “normal.” That alone should tell you what the real issue was.
If my goal was to avoid paying for gutters, I wouldn’t have immediately paid another contractor to fix the situation the following day. The issue was never payment. The issue was workmanship. But because of my sex and race, I already know why “payment” was the first accusation. Dumb fucks still in a mindset that some of us aren’t capable of making substantially more money than them.
What bothers me most is that many homeowners wouldn’t know any better. They hire a professional and assume the installation methods are correct. But you do not have to damage roof components to install gutters. You do not have to compromise the roof edge to hang a gutter system. And when defects appear immediately after installation, the answer shouldn’t be to blame the customer.
As someone who works in the construction industry, I understand that mistakes happen. Nobody is perfect. What I have a hard time accepting is arrogance, refusing to acknowledge obvious issues, and then publicly attacking a customer’s motives instead of addressing legitimate concerns.
Who else has dealt with this type of contractor? How did you handle it? At times I feel like being petty and taking them to court to replace everything they fucked up, but in litigation we all know it’s the attorney who wins.