Contractor by day, washboard player by night?

So the columns on our house have never really been completed. We had our soffits fixed and our roof and columns replaced all by the same contractor. We were really happy with the crew that came out to replace our roof. They were fast and neat. On the day they finished the job it was impossible to discern that any major work had been done on the house. I have no idea how they managed that keep our yard so clean while at the same time scraping tons of crap off the top of our house.

Unfortunately the guys replacing the columns where not the same guys who replaced our roof. The roof guys were the elite ninjas of housing contractors. I’m pretty sure the guys who did the columns were the country jug band of housing contractors. The roof was done in less than three days. The columns were a two week project…and that was a couple of weeks ago. Dawn and suspect that the column guys think they are finished. I’m not sure why they would think that though.

Things that are wrong with our columns:

1. They left painters tape all over the place. I’m not sure if they expect me to pull out my ladder and climb up to the top and remove it? That’s not the sort of thing I should have to do if I’m paying someone else.


2. We had metal street numbers on our old columns that we asked to have moved onto the new ones. Those numbers are now AWOL. Dawn asked for them to be returned a week or so ago and we were told that “inquiries were being made.” To my mind this implies the job has been turned over to Scotland Yard (my mind is a strange place that does not often mirror reality); however I suspect the British Police are not actually involved in this issue.


3. We were told any imperfections in the new columns such as pits or knots in the boards would be puttied, sanded, and painted over. This is not the case.


4. The paint job on the columns is not all that great (meh… what can you expect from a country jug band?)


5. THE TWO COLUMNS ARE BUILT DIFFERENTLY. I can think of at least three ways to assemble four boards into a box. They have implemented two of them.

Yesterday I sent an email to our contractor along with photo evidence of our claims against the shoddy job. He replied promptly with an apology and had vowed that they job would be corrected by the end of the week. We shall see. If not, perhaps I’ll have to start making inquiries of my own.