Part Five: The Final Chapter

GOODBYE, GOOD RIDDANCE
True to my word, I called contractor #1 after my doors were installed to let him know he could come pick up the ones he damaged. I called Friday morning. He didn't know what his schedule was like for Saturday. Huh? How can you not... oh nevermind. He said he'd call me Saturday morning to set up a time when he could pick them up. During the phone call, I also informed him that I would be expecting him to sign a lien waiver. He mumbled and stumbled before saying, "We'll figure something out." Uh yeah we will. In light of what happened, I wasn't going to take a chance of him putting a lien on my house for nonpayment when he damaged TWO doors.

Today at 8:45am, he calls. Says he's on his way. Ummm, OK but I have an appointment at 9am (and he was at least 20 minutes away). He said he had a few other things he could do. Fine. I reminded him that I expected him to sign a waiver (which I drew up -- a job at a land title company comes in handy!). This time, he didn't seem to have a problem with it.

10am... I'm sitting at the dining room table and hear him pull in. I waited for him to ring the doorbell. Never did. I got up to look out the window to see what he was doing and I caught the tail end of his rusty pickup truck pulling out my driveway! So, I grab my phone and called him. He said he didn't think anyone was home because the garage door was shut. OMG... Of course it's shut. I wasn't going to open it until after he signed the waiver. So, he tells me he'll be right back as soon as he can turn his truck around. By this time it's pouring down rain, LOL.

I had two copies of the waiver, one for him and one for me. We got the paperwork out of the way and I watched him try to load the doors on the truck. I almost had to LOL when he was concerned about breaking the window of the door he damaged. I mean, seriously! Ya'll saw the pics, right? For the storm door, he just threw the pieces in the back of his truck. That door was actually OK except he put the hinge and door knob on the wrong side for my house. He cut his hand on the broken trim pieces and was bleeding all over the door in the pouring down rain. Then his wife called... apparently wanting to buy something because I heard him say "That's all well and good, but we have to have the money to do it. I'm trying to load doors in the rain. I'm getting wet." I did take pity and help him load the doors and disassemble the door in order to take the glass out so it wouldn't get broken. Once the doors were loaded and secured, he simply said "Take care", got in his truck, and pulled away.

I was happy to see the tailgate of that truck. Goodbye, Good Riddance, Won't be recommending you to anyone.


IF YOU NEED ANYTHING ELSE
True to his word, contractor #2 called this morning to set up a time to come switch out the trim for the threshold at the front door. He even called when he was running late.

After he installed the trim, he chatted a bit. Remember that he hit my garage door with his truck? Then he replaced it. He told me that was the worst week in his entire life. It started with the garage door. A day or so later, he lost $50. After that another thing happened (he couldn't remember what it was). What followed after that is unbelievable. He had a green light at an intersection of a residential area (think 30mph). He saw a silver car go through the red light in front of him, he checked to make sure he had the green light and proceeded through the intersection. He was T-boned by a car going 60mph chasing the first car! The driver didn't have insurance either! So folks, the next time you think you're having a bad week ... I told him he was lucky he didn't get hurt.

Before contractor #2 left, he shook my hand and said "If you need anything else done, I'd be happy to help you out." I thought it was funny because I was going to ask him if he would be willing to come back if I needed more work to be done. Even with what happened with the garage door, he said "With work, stuff like that happens sometimes." I expressed how happy I was with the doors and that I thought he did a good job.

Yup, job well done. He's trustworthy and does a good job. And he will do what he promises.