wood712
Member
This is going to be a long post. I am looking for thoughts or comments from anyone that might have some experience dealing with a similar situation in which I find myself.
For some background, my family and I experienced a house fire in July 2019. Fire started in the attached garage and spread to the attic above the garage, the family room (immediately behind the garage), and into the attic above the second story part of the house. The garage and everything above it (attic and roof) were destroyed by the fire. Most of the rest of the house and contents were destroyed by a combination of heat, smoke, and water.
The garage, first floor attic/roof (above garage and family room), and second floor attic/roof were all completely removed and rebuilt. The entire rest of the house interior was taken down to the studs. Almost all plumbing, electrical, and ductwork was removed and replaced. Fifteen months later, we are still waiting on completion of the rebuild.
That is some of the background, now for some things about the contractor performing the rebuild and wondering the thoughts of others as to whether or not this is just how things are normally done.
1. Windows in the house at the time of the fire, were all double-hung, double-pane windows with internal grids. The contractor never asked about windows, but installed single-hung with no grids. He also replaced two side-by-side vertical opening windows with a single horizontal opening type. When asked about all this, contractor informed me that these are much better windows because they are name brand “xyz” whereas the original windows were not. There are a few other examples of things he did without ever asking. Is this normal practice for a contractor to arbitrarily decide on things without consulting the homeowner?
2. Referring back to line item #1, insurance company allowed $300 per window for replacement. This was mentioned to contractor because he wants to make flooring changes to save money in the budget. He again just brought up that these windows are a specific name brand and much better than the original. All windows he installed are available at Lowes for $128 - $138, and I am assuming that he gets a contractor discount. In trying to sort out the budget, how much should be allowed for the installation of each window? (Approximately $175 per window seems a bit high to me.)
3. Also referring back to line item #1 and the arbitrary replacement of items, we had 2-inch blinds on all the windows. He installed 1-inch mini-blinds. When I complained that they looked cheap, he stated that is all the budget would allow. Insurance allowed $70 per blind, what he installed was less than $10 apiece.
4. Master bathroom originally had a single-sink vanity. Had him replace that with a double vanity. He told me that it took $500 out of the budget for the plumbing for the second sink. All they did was to add a t-fitting to the existing drain line. No wall cuts were required because there was no wall in place at that time. No new supply lines were added because they just screwed double-valve fittings to the existing single supply lines. Is $500 reasonable for this?
5. I have been told that two other items used several thousand dollars of the rebuild budget. The two items are the roof structure and exterior trim. The insurance estimate was written to use pre-manufactured roof trusses (as was original to the house), the contractor decided instead to stick build the roof. As for the trim, he had all that wrapped instead of painting as was in the estimate. The contractor has told me that both of these things exceeded the insurance estimate by about $2000 (for a total of $4000). I did not know about either of these even happening until after they were done, and I certainly did not know that I would then have to settle for something less within the home because of it.
6. He will go days without doing anything on the house. When questioned, he says that he needs a disbursement check from the mortgage company, even though his schedule of payments shows that he is not yet completed all items required for another payment.
I realize that I have done a lot of rambling here. I hope it is somewhat coherent and that some folks out there (with experience from either the homeowner or contractor perspective) can share their thoughts.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!
For some background, my family and I experienced a house fire in July 2019. Fire started in the attached garage and spread to the attic above the garage, the family room (immediately behind the garage), and into the attic above the second story part of the house. The garage and everything above it (attic and roof) were destroyed by the fire. Most of the rest of the house and contents were destroyed by a combination of heat, smoke, and water.
The garage, first floor attic/roof (above garage and family room), and second floor attic/roof were all completely removed and rebuilt. The entire rest of the house interior was taken down to the studs. Almost all plumbing, electrical, and ductwork was removed and replaced. Fifteen months later, we are still waiting on completion of the rebuild.
That is some of the background, now for some things about the contractor performing the rebuild and wondering the thoughts of others as to whether or not this is just how things are normally done.
1. Windows in the house at the time of the fire, were all double-hung, double-pane windows with internal grids. The contractor never asked about windows, but installed single-hung with no grids. He also replaced two side-by-side vertical opening windows with a single horizontal opening type. When asked about all this, contractor informed me that these are much better windows because they are name brand “xyz” whereas the original windows were not. There are a few other examples of things he did without ever asking. Is this normal practice for a contractor to arbitrarily decide on things without consulting the homeowner?
2. Referring back to line item #1, insurance company allowed $300 per window for replacement. This was mentioned to contractor because he wants to make flooring changes to save money in the budget. He again just brought up that these windows are a specific name brand and much better than the original. All windows he installed are available at Lowes for $128 - $138, and I am assuming that he gets a contractor discount. In trying to sort out the budget, how much should be allowed for the installation of each window? (Approximately $175 per window seems a bit high to me.)
3. Also referring back to line item #1 and the arbitrary replacement of items, we had 2-inch blinds on all the windows. He installed 1-inch mini-blinds. When I complained that they looked cheap, he stated that is all the budget would allow. Insurance allowed $70 per blind, what he installed was less than $10 apiece.
4. Master bathroom originally had a single-sink vanity. Had him replace that with a double vanity. He told me that it took $500 out of the budget for the plumbing for the second sink. All they did was to add a t-fitting to the existing drain line. No wall cuts were required because there was no wall in place at that time. No new supply lines were added because they just screwed double-valve fittings to the existing single supply lines. Is $500 reasonable for this?
5. I have been told that two other items used several thousand dollars of the rebuild budget. The two items are the roof structure and exterior trim. The insurance estimate was written to use pre-manufactured roof trusses (as was original to the house), the contractor decided instead to stick build the roof. As for the trim, he had all that wrapped instead of painting as was in the estimate. The contractor has told me that both of these things exceeded the insurance estimate by about $2000 (for a total of $4000). I did not know about either of these even happening until after they were done, and I certainly did not know that I would then have to settle for something less within the home because of it.
6. He will go days without doing anything on the house. When questioned, he says that he needs a disbursement check from the mortgage company, even though his schedule of payments shows that he is not yet completed all items required for another payment.
I realize that I have done a lot of rambling here. I hope it is somewhat coherent and that some folks out there (with experience from either the homeowner or contractor perspective) can share their thoughts.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!
