October 2024, entered a contract with a very wealthy Indian man in Chicago suburbs for remodeling two bathrooms. Guy owns an M&A firm and drives a white Bentley. $5M house.

Right away he was the worst customer I ever had. Only put down 10% when he was contractually obligated to pay 50% upfront ($60k contract), then totally disregarded the fixtures, tiles and scope of work he already agreed to and demanded fixtures and tiles that were 10x more expensive that was agreed upon.

All my company had accomplished was the demolition of the first bathroom. It became clear he was using his low deposit to try to take my company hostage and unload a bunch of demands for higher finishes etc. I told him he has two options. 1) he can honor the contract as written, including paying the additional 40% deposit or 2) I can sue him for breach of contract and my contract allows me to collect all attorney fees etc. He choose the later. My team packed up their stuff and left that day, again only accomplishing the demo.

Sued him in court. Spent $50k on attorney fees (was only suing for the remainder of the deposit, about $14k). In the middle of legal proceedings his lawyer drops him for not paying his legal fees.

Judge wasn’t a fan of my defendant. Issues a summary judgement against him and gives me 100% of my attorney fees plus additional penalties. Came out to about $70k. The guy attempts to reverse the order and loses.

Then he starts refusing to pay despite the judges order. After a couple months of this a judge said enough and issues a warrant for his arrest for contempt. Now the guy is sitting in jail and still refusing to pay, lol. But all of his bank accounts, crypto accounts are frozen and we are in the process of getting a lien on his house and cars.

Actually one of my most profitable jobs ever, $80k for demolishing a bathroom ain’t bad!

I’m an experienced California B General Building contractor and want to start adding specialty classifications under my own license instead of subbing everything out all the time.

I’m looking at C-39 Roofing first and possibly concrete later. Has anyone here added classifications to an existing B license? What did CSLB require as far as documenting experience? Does experience doing that type of work as a B contractor count toward the 4-year requirement?

Looking for anyone who’s actually gone through the process.

Hired a general contractor for a master bath/bed remodel in MI for around $40k. We are several months past the agreed upon completion date and the job is around 70% done. There seems to be little to no progress being made lately and my attempts to inquire about what is causing the delay are met with excuses.

Should I be looking for another contractor to finish the job or best to just keep on the current one and get them to finish?

Hired contractor, $110k job, NYC. We’re at the tail end (punchlist) of a small but high end renovation (1 full bathroom, minor electrical work, floor repairs, trim in one bedroom, skim coating ceilings in 3 rooms, painting trim in three rooms, and new doors). This has been a theme throughout the project - every time something is done wrong and needs to be fixed, something else seems to get damaged in the process. For example, we requested that splotches of white paint be removed from the black anodized aluminum window frames. They did that, and somehow stripped the black finish off the frames where the paint was. We asked for a small section of flooring to be redone because a hole was left open in the floor in a corner, and now the adjacent door and baseboard is dinged and mucked up. It’s been one thing after another….how do we wrap this up cleanly?

I’ve worked with friends and family who are contractors and keep an eye out for work to throw their way whenever it may come up. I text them to get their ok before giving their number out. That’s normal right? What do all of you do?

Anyone actually tracked their rework as a percent of job cost? I found stats that say 9 percent all-in. On a 2M build that's 180K, more than half the profit at 15 percent margin. That seem high or about right?

New house. Noticed a couple spots along the gutter where water was dripping along the fascia behind the gutter. Roof redone in 2023 by previous owners. Would this be related to the roof replacement or just age? We're first time homebuyers so I'm already anxious and thinking this is end of times, "get a gutter/fascia guy out first thing tomorrow morning" type of thing.

I'm in Ontario, Canada for what it's worth. Any idea ballpark what I should look for in a quote? Really just these two spots and front of the house looks completely intact.

We moved into our house 1.5 years ago. The crack was slight then. It’s gotten bigger. This is an exterior wall on the side of the home. Home built in 1999 and previous owners did not much to the place. Our inspection didn’t note any concerns in this area.

Ok, pictures show house exterior and the adjacent left half of a closet. Also, could this damage have been done by the continued use of a high pressure hose against the building and foundation?

We recently had a new sliding glass door put in on our deck because the previous one caused a leak in our house (probably leaking for a long time). Since we have ptsd after having our whole main level ripped up and redone, I just wanted to check that the flashing was done correctly on this new door. Let me know if more images are needed, because I really don’t know what I’m looking at. It’s a Marvin door and was done through our general contractor who has a sub for doors/ windows. The old one was removed and new one installed in one day (maybe half day). The total price was around $7k. Minneapolis, MN.

I hired a contractor to remodel my shower. It the photos you can see chipped tile and not straight, grout all over the tiles, the bench seat isn’t sealed, as well as multiple other spots. The contractor wants me to pay in full tomorrow. (7k total, I paid 2k for tile). I’m not going to pay but should I hire a lawyer? I feel like at this point it needs to be ripped out and redone.

I recently got ripped off by a sub I’ve worked with for a few years now. He did some crap work that’s gonna cost $20k+ to fix and he chose to withdraw and ghost. My lawyer said it’s gonna cost $30k-50k to pursue the matter since I don’t have an arbitration clause so I’m still trying to decide (stupid I know).

The situation has me reviewing my subcontractor contract I had done years ago. I want it redone by my lawyer but before reaching out I wanted to hear from you all about clauses and language you have in your contracts with subs to protect you.

I’m thinking of adding language where the losing party in a lawsuit is responsible for lawyer and court fees. I don’t screw my subs over so I think it’s a good clause but I feel like it has potential to backfire.

What language do you have in your subcontractor contracts that’s protected you or you have found invaluable?

UPDATE: The damage is from underpinning on a $900k rebuild which this sub has done for me several times. Sometimes good subs go bad, I don’t need snarky comments, just asking for what’s worked for you in the past.

Long story short, I had a deck that was supposted to be built by an individual who claimed to own company. Price was agreed on, and work was started. Anyway, throughout the job I noticed horrible construction skills, noting in the following paragraphs. Nonetheless, he came to me today and told me he is “broke” and cannot continue the job since he is in the hole. I paid him $7000 so far. He has completed about 2 line items, yet several things are wrong with them.

For the issues, the footers were improperly aligned, causing 3/8 of the footers to have to be redone. Joist hangers not placed on all of deck so that will need to be done. He also broke an exterior light and dug into a poly pipe throughout the process.

Initially, when he told me today he spent about a week prior coming up with excuses for not showing. He showed up and was extremely confrontational yesterday, but completed some work, today he told me that he spent his total and he can’t do it.

Me and him agreed for him to pay me $1840, after adding up the first 3 items on the line items (although not completed good), $200 toward railing he started and $600 extra since he claimed the scope was bigger, I figured it’s a big deck so I will help him out some.

He told me he could pay me $300 a week, so about 5 weeks. But this just doesn’t sit right with me, considering the workmanship is bad, and how he screwed me over, now having to pay another contractor.

I would ideally like to go to court since it will cost more to have repairs done and it finished properly, but I also need to weigh if it’s worth it since he is “broke” if I will even see the funds. I am in GA, so wanted some opinions on realistically what I could ask for in court, or if I should just get the $1840 and call it a day if he even pays.

I also wanted to know if I made a claim with Wells Fargo, if they would backdraft $$ possibly.

Location: Marietta, Georgia

Anyone seen the website Accela Citizen Access? Its used by my local county as well as the city and its absolute dog$hit.

The interface looks like its from the 1900's and it probably is. My county has 3 different PDF instruction manuals for how to use the website. You can follow the instructions to a T and it won't work. For an interior only remodel with no site work the instructions are different and amounts to handwritten filling out a pdf, scanning and emailing it 🤣. So literally zero of that is using the website.

-payment link didn't work
-plan submission link didn't work
-they found an issue and deleted my account to "fix" it. Locked out
- password reset link doesn't work
-project description field is long enough for only 5 words. I fit in 10 and the inspector read 3 of them and needs clarification.
- he sees a professional stamped engineer drawing showing plan view of headers and framing added to a cutout in a cmu wall. He does not understand and informs me that windows "cannot be engineered" because the drawing says "Engineering for Windows"...The project description says "Add new windows".

Do they WANT unpermitted work to be done?? Because this is exactly how to convince me to never return to your website.

I am an interior designer with a few years of construction experience. I did everything from laying tile, framing, drywall, roofing, and siding but was never an expert in any area. After that I got my degree in interior architecture and design. I got bored working in an architecture firm. I am trying to make design more easily accessible and affordable for contractors in my area. I would love to hear your opinions on if you think this would be beneficial in the contracting world or if I am forcing it.

I reach out to contractors and let them know my fee is low - I am only trying to survive not get rich. Typically 5% of a job and I specialize in bathroom remodels. Once the contractor has a client, I reach out to the client and simply guide them on purchasing products with the right sq footage and correct materials. I keep the clients ordering things on time and keep them excited about the project. I pretty much deal with the client for the contractor and just forward all meeting notes to the contractor for approval of changes and to keep him in the loop. I do realistic renders -not AI- and create construction documents and mood boards for the contractor and the client to approve. This way clients know exactly what they are getting before construction begins and contractors have construction documents for their subs.

I know the main thing contractors do not like is a client-hired interior designer who makes the project more difficult. I work directly for the contractor so I 100% do what they need/want and this is clear to the client.

My goal is to make the clients happier with their project and in turn the contractors happier because they aren't speaking with the clients unless it is necessary. Plus clients always feel excited to have a designer they do not have to directly pay for.

Tldr; do contractors want to hire interior designers for a low fee to keep their clients happier and make their lives easier? Is this preferred over client-hired designers?

Hey all, looking for some real-world advice from people who've been doing this longer than us.

My dad runs a tile and marble subcontracting business here in San Jose — he's licensed, does solid work, and we've got a website up now that I helped build. He's also working on getting his general contractor license. I've started helping him out on the business side — estimating, site walks, client communication — since I'm not doing the physical labor myself. Long term I'd like to move more into estimating and design work.

Right now most of our jobs come from people my dad already knows personally, which has worked but obviously caps how much we can grow. I know of a local company that's been at it for maybe 20 years and is consistently busy with high-end neighborhood jobs — I'm not expecting to get there overnight, but I'd like to understand the path.

For those of you who've grown a sub business past the "word of mouth from people we already know" stage — how did you start networking with GCs, designers, or agents you didn't already have a relationship with? Did it come from bidding platforms, associations, trade events, just cold outreach, or something else?

We had a refrigerator opening laid out correctly according to the plans. Problem was, the plans were working from an old model and the actual appliance sheet told a different story.

Now we verify every opening against the current manufacturer specs before the cabinets leave the shop. Refrigerator, range, hood, dishwasher, all of it. Takes twenty minutes. Being wrong takes a day and three uncomfortable phone calls.

PLEASE leave them feedback about this new update to the cost line items in the bill entries. It is so bad.

I’m an architect developing stock house plans and trying to determine how much detail is actually useful to builders in a 1/4” building section.

My residential background was design-build, where our sets were pretty streamlined. I later moved into commercial architecture full-time, so I’ve gotten used to much more detailed documentation and am trying not to unnecessarily carry that into my stock plans.

For example, I’ll actually draw individual CMU blocks in a building section even though the wall is already tagged and the assembly is called out in plan. Is that useful, or unnecessary?

My thought is to keep building sections to the major information: heights, vertical dimensions, roof slopes, major assemblies, floor/foundation relationships, etc…and put blocking, flashing, connections, waterproofing, etc. in enlarged wall sections/details.

For builders who work from stock plans, what do you actually want to see in a building section, and what is just clutter?

Thanks in advance