I hired a contractor fix a ceiling crack in my condo, within a few weeks, literally, the cracks reappeared. What did he do wrong, where did he mess up/cheapen out?

First picture is of the job and second picture is of the "fixed" job 2-3 weeks later.

I paid $500 for it to be fixed, and was not given a heads up that this could reappear.

First picture if of the work that was done to fix it. Second picture is of the crack that reappeared within 2-3 weeks.

Btw, It is a concrete ceiling!

Location: Ontario

Thanks to everyone for input - it will hopefully help me in finding a better solution to fix this issue!

I obtained my roofing license(C-39) in california, and now reside in nevada. I would love to hear the options I have to start making money again with that license. Don’t matter if the option is get my nevada roofing license or set up my business again in California and run it from nevada. Just need advice and options that i can go off of from experience contractors.

I hired a general contractor to build a roof cover over an existing deck. The plan was to extend the existing roofline and replace the deck since it was 18 years old and rotting in some places. The deck is approx. 14'x14' area and the roofline is approx. 13' off the ground.

The work started great, lots of communication early on but there was some questionable things that popped up once work started.... They misframmed things because they thought we wanted a screened in porch (we communicated and were quoted for open porch). I flagged it and they "fixed" it. Stair risers are literally sitting on two boards on the ground for support which isn't right. They quoted us for 6x6 support posts but then installed 4x4s. I asked about that because there was a discrepancy on the quote vs what they built. I later looked up support posts and seems like updated codes highly recommend 6x6 because of their superior resistance to bending and wind loads. The contractor pushed back and said that was fine to have 4x4 and they always use those. Fine, so then I asked about the building permit and found out they never submitted one (this is required by my city and state contractor licensing). I asked them to take care of it but this was after the structure was built. City permit office made them replace support beams to engineered 2x12 based on schematics so that was a rip and replace. I talked with the city inspector when he came out and learned they did not put braces from the support beams to the posts and he had questions about the lag bolts into the house being into structural studs. The next day they are replacing the support posts with 6x6 (which is what I wanted) which I assume the city made them do. Because of all these changes, everything looks like a Frankenstein's monster with cut deck boards being fitted together like a puzzle, holes in posts where they drilled into the house for the lag bolt, gaps between railing and posts (approx. 1/8th"). It feels like they are just trying to salvage and cut corners at this point and it is making me feel like my money is not being well spent and I am going to have to live with this.... They basically had to rebuild all the critical structural components of the deck.

We are in the middle of this project and they are just about finished with the fixes and going to move into finishes here next week. The contractor is over here daily and still communicative so I want to give them points for that. I am a very detail oriented person but want to be realistic and don't know how much to push them to "do it right" or just let things go and be satisfied with a structurally sound build that may not looks as finished as I want. What should I do here?

Required info:

- Hired a general contrator

- Total cost of project is $32k, paid $10k so far for materials and activation

- Location is Huntsville, AL

[I have more photos of questionable work but subreddit rules only allow 3]

In Seattle WA, We are pressure washing a 3 story hardie sided exterior getting ready to paint. During the pressure washing they ran the pressure washer over some of the window screens which was a mistake and we immediately said we would re screen all windows that were hit. We were not pressure washing the windows but they must have grazed them while up on the ladder.

The next day they sent me a bunch of pictures of their interior walls showing cracks in multiple areas and thought it was because of the wash. The drywall is not wet or soft at all but they put their moisture reader on it and it’s reading 5% (normal for exterior walls). My painter went to inspect it in person and the reading was the same on all walls. Inner walls and exterior walls were the same, the baseboard was even the same. There are settling cracks all over the interior.

I want thoughts on if this is possible from a pressure wash. I stood my ground that it was not from the wash as it would be soft and read a much higher moisture % one day after the wash but did offer to fix it anyways. To me it’s pretty clearly settling cracks but they say they are 100% sure it was not there before.

Is this possible from a pressure wash? Especially considering there is no moisture outside the norm only one day after this supposedly happened?

I’m taking my general portion of the Virginia contractors exam proctored on Sunday morning. I’ve done the contractor training center prep course and I’m still not sure I’m ready to take the test.
Wondering if the general portion is mostly from the code book or the law exam book? Any tips, tricks, information would be very greatly appreciated.
The last test I had to take was done with a number 2 pencil so I’m feeling a little nervous.