Mark42
Fleet Admiral
- Joined
- Oct 8, 2003
- Messages
- 9,334
I am sick and tired of finding problems and having to fix them myself or pay a second time to have things done right because of shoddy workmanship. <br /><br />I am especially angry about the oil tank in my house and it is a good example. The guy who installed it did not tighten up the fittings on the oil lines and that caused lots of noise in the system. They could not figure it out. I lived with that racket for a year or more before I grabbed my tools and found the loose fittings. Tightening them sealed a vacuum leak and all is quiet. <br /><br />Twice the tank has run out of oil. Both times in the evening causing me to have to wait up late at night for a delivery. The reason the tank runs out is because the siphon tube is too short. It doesnt reach low enough in the tank to suck up the remaining 60 gallons of oil. So in a 175 gallon fuel tank, I can only burn about 115 gallons. That is strictly incompetence on the installers part. He just cut the copper tube too short.<br /><br />Every time it rains hard with high winds water drips out my electric service panel. The company that installed it has sent out their man 3 times to fix the water leak. They claim that water isnt getting in. I have gone outside in the rain, removed the cover of the power meter (I know, super dangerous) so I can see what is happening. There is water dripping down from the inside of the cable jacket, around the meter, following the braided ground, and back down inside the jacket of the cable going out the bottom. That cable carries the water to my service panel, and it drips out there all over the circuit breakers. They dont believe me. They wont come anymore to fix it. Now I have to pay someone else to fix it.<br /><br />The builder put crappy cross bucks between the floor joists, had to rip them all out, then replaced them with 2x10 that just didnt do the job and I ended up having to fix it myself.<br /><br />The local garage that USED TO fix my car was going to charge me hundreds of dollars to figure out why my wifes Mountaineer is issuing an error code that says the motor is running cold. He wants to trace wires for shorts, remove the intake manifold to get to the harness, and replace sensors. I listened to his B/S for 20 minutes and left. On the way home I picked up a $10 thermostat and replaced it myself. The thermostat had broken, was wide open, causing the motor to over cool itself and not reach operating temp. Hello! Its issuing a cold code because it is running COLD! Not because of a short or bad sensor! Duh!<br /><br />The local paving company did my driveway. I told them I wanted a pipe under the driveway so I can run electric wire and water lines at a later date without having to cut up the black top. It is in the estimate. When they are nearing the part of the driveway where the pipe should be I check their work. No pipe. I remind them of the pipe, make them stop work, go buy one, bring in a backhoe to dig the channel, install the pipe, backfill with crushed stone, tamp and continue. HELLO! He included this in his estimate, but just forgot to actually do it without being told!!!. WTF is that????? <br /><br />I do have good experiences too. But they usually require me to act as the general contractor and hire the backhoe operator, order the concrete, hire a mason, etc. Good people ARE hard to find. <br /><br />One job where I was really happy was the central AC. Got a good system installed that actually worked right, cools the house as it should even in extreme heat conditions, and great follow up service. And it was almost HALF the price that I got from the big names installers estimates (Sears, Lennox, Speer, etc). This was done by a local heat/AC contractor.<br /><br />Had a new well pump and tank put in. Paid for high end parts that were sized right for the house. It works great. But I paid a premium for this guys service because he has a reputation for doing it right or not at all.<br /><br />Unfortunatelly, the quality of the service people seems to continue to decline. I am relieved when a tradesman shows up a my house and he is 50 years old or older. These guys almost always know their business, do it right the first time, and dont mess anything else up. <br /><br />My son is 14 years old in the local high school. I know all his friends and have spent time with them off roading on motor bikes. Some I like and others are less than OK. I noticed that its the lower performing kids that are going to the VoTech to become our next generation of electricians, plumbers, mechanics, etc. Why are the lower functioning kids shuffled off to VoTech? Are there not any bright kids who want to be their own HVAC contractor? I see a low quality kid being our next generation of tradesman. <br /><br />I hope I am wrong.<br /><br />Mark
