This is the first time that I have hired a contractor to build a deck, so I have no idea if this is normal.
Can those of you who have technical expertise advise if this kind of crack shown in the picture in a brand-new pretreated cedar-tone board normal?
My contractor said that he would use some kind of party to fill up crack and then stain it. Is that an appropriate way to handle?
In my contractor’s original quote for building the deck, the original quote for the material was $800, and then he said he couldn’t get the materials for $800, so I paid $1800 to buy the materials from Home Depot myself. Then he said that he also spent $550 on the smaller pieces like nails. So, the total cost for the materials became $2,350 instead of the original $800.
Here are my questions about how you would deal with the situation for those of you, especially those of you who have experience or contractors yourself:
Is this okay and standard practice for general contractors to increase the price so dramatically?
Now he has built the deck, but it still needs to be stained. Since pretreated cedar-tone wood is used, according to my research, it should be sanded first, which was also what he said he would do at the beginning. Now he is saying that he does not want to sand it first; instead, he would just stain it without sanding. My research says that is a bad idea. In addition, he wants full payment now, saying that he would come back to stain the deck when the time comes. If I’m afraid of him not coming back to do his work, I can call his insurance company to get him to do the work. What should I do?
Finally, he also painted our house. Before he started, he said he would put the frames of the doors and windows in a different color, but then tried to back off. Even now, our front door frame still does not have the same color; in addition, the pipes still have sections that do not have the same color. The frames of the back and side windows are not even painted because he said that he cannot paint the frames due to the material. Is that true?
He keeps telling me that he is not making enough money because his bid was too low.
I would appreciate any recommendations on how I should deal with this, especially his request for full payment now. I personally think that it is unreasonable for him to even ask for full payment now.
Thank you so much in advance.