Jobs Done Wrong or Poorly
Poor workmanship or aspects of a job done wrong are often problems with communication. You must communicate the level of craftsmanship you expect from your general contractor and make sure he in turn hires workers who are capable of it. He must communicate an intolerance for sloppy or shoddy work and find replacement sources for poor craftsmanship, at his expense. When you inspect someone’s work and find problems you must respect the ‘chain of command’ involved and go to the general contractor to resolve the problem. This is one of many good reasons for having a reputable contractor between you and problem workers.
If you’re dealing directly with the problem, ask the worker why they did the job the way they did and if the explanation doesn’t make sense tell them they must either get it right or you’ll have it done over. You can only do this if you made it clear from the beginning that you would not tolerate poor craftsmanship. It may be that the worker is in over their head and you need a more skilled contractor. If you hired them its probable that you didn’t check their references well enough or didn’t make sure that they had done a similar level of work previously.
Work that does not meet previously agreed on specifications is a different manner. Some workers will patiently listen to your plans and then go ahead and do the job the same way they always have. The only way to deal with this is to insist that they stick to the plan and have them redo the job at their own expense. The best way to deal with this is to write out a brief memo explaining exactly what you expect (see Change Orders). If they try to tell you that the work can’t be redone or that it’s too late having your wishes in writing can give you the clout to make them redo it.
These kinds of problems are often the result of a contractor not having done the kind of job you want. We’ve seen several instances where a cabinetmaker was hired to build custom cabinets who had never built kitchen cabinets. While they were skilled craftsmen they were not familiar with the conventions of kitchen cabinetry, conventions that often dictate how other workers will prepare the way for installation, how manufactured inserts will fit and other typical problems faced in a kitchen. They built structurally well made cabinets that did not function well in a kitchen environment. Find out if the worker has worked on a kitchen before hiring them.
