Althouse: The timid householder.

July 18, 2005

The timid householder.

If you hire someone to do some work around your house and they don't do it right, do you call them up and tell them about it and try to get them to come back and fix it, or do you just resolve never to hire them to do anything else for you? Assume the work left undone is the equivalent of $100 or less.

IN THE COMMENTS: Some excellent advice from people who know how this problem looks to the contractor who did the work.

UPDATE: Spurred on by help from the commenters, the timid householder did call the contractors and had a a completely pleasant conversation in which her view of what still needed to be done was never questioned. The needed work will be done next week.

16 comments:

Meade said...: Right. And then you find someone else, check their references, and try again until you find integrity, competency, and value, at which point you reward the heck out of them. It's the American way.; 7/18/05, 4:42 PM
Contributors said...: I'd ask nicely once. If they show up and do it right, great. Some want a chance to do it right and are eager to redeem themselves.

After asking nice once, if they don't do anything, I'd let it go and find someone else. It's not worth the hassle. Besides, (s)he could be a lunatic.

My possibly provoking a lunatic limit is $250.00. Over that amount and I become the lunatic.; 7/18/05, 4:50 PM
Troy said...: I'm not sure -- housekeeping here in SoCal is always less than a hundred -- cash only you understand.... Nudge, nudge...

Seriously (like the above wasn't) -- I'd ask once too, guage attitude, etc. or perhaps a smaller check than normal. If it was merely an oversight and they've apologized and it's relatively easy, then let it go.

So ivory tower profs get housekeepers? Just in case you get Bush's nomination Ann -- I hope there are no Zoe Baird issues in your closet. ;-); 7/18/05, 5:00 PM
Contributors said...: I was assuming you'd already paid because whether to pay them or not wasn't the question.

If you haven't paid them, send them what they're owed minus the undisputed amount and a note clearly stating what needs to be done for them to get the rest.

Don't send half -- send them what they've earned. Don't let them question your motives for disputing the bill. That can just makes things uglier.

The half and half thing is fine when agreed to in advance.; 7/18/05, 5:13 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: A lot goes into this equation. For some it is the hasslement factor. But others are just not that assertive.

My ex is super assertive, but has a large hasslement quotient. So, in the end, I will fight over lower amounts than she, even though not as assertive.

Another factor, akin to these, is how confident are you in your decision? Some, of course, have never had a doubt in their lives. And others can be overwhelmed when faced with opposition.; 7/18/05, 5:24 PM
Ann Althouse said...: Don't assume it's housecleaning. There are lots of kinds of work around the house that might be done -- e.g., electrical work, plumbing, painting, roofing, gardening, tree cutting, carpentry, pest control, window washing, etc. etc.

My main concern is that I dislike telling someone they've done something wrong. I want to hire people who have high standards, not instruct them about my standards.

I assume that most businesses around here would want to be told and given a chance to meet the customer's standards and would hate to think you'd just never hire them again (and that you'd give them bad word of mouth).; 7/18/05, 5:49 PM
Ann Althouse said...: As to housecleaning, I do my own, actually. I used to hire a service, but I quit using them because they didn't meet my standards. I never hired anyone else because I didn't want the suspense of seeing whether they did things right and the aggravation if they didn't. But don't worry: I was never anyone's employer. I always hired an independent contractor.; 7/18/05, 5:53 PM
Ann Althouse said...: As to not paying: I can't imagine withholding the payment. Too ugly!

GS: If it were a bigger thing, I'd go through the hassle, but I just don't like the unpleasantness. One pays good money for more serenity all the time.; 7/18/05, 5:55 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: Assuming $100 or less: I would call (just in case it was a mistake on their part) and ask. If they argued at all, I would drop it and never hire them again.; 7/18/05, 6:15 PM
Matt Barker said...: What you don't know is whether you have a good worker who just had a bad day, or if you have a bad worker. How you proceed from here depends on how much it's worth to you to know the answer.; 7/18/05, 6:20 PM
Ann Althouse said...: Freeman: I think you have it exactly right. Most of the work was in fact very well done.; 7/18/05, 6:23 PM
Anonymous said...: I never found a housekeeper up to my standards, either. They all eventually clean like me, haphazardly.

As to the present work, call up the worker and say, gee, I don't know what's going on, this and this is happening...that way, he won't feel threatened and will then say, oh, I know what that is. I'll be right over.

Worked for me when I had my kitchen electricity redone and he had to come back. IOW, don't set up an adversarial relationship right off the bat.; 7/18/05, 8:48 PM
Meade said...: A true independent contractor is not only a worker but an entrepreneur, the best of whom take pride in their work and view complaints as golden opportunities to meet a discriminating client's exceptionally high standards and garner positive word of mouth by meeting or exceeding those standards in a select market, e.g., well-paid professionals with disposable income who pay invoices on time and according to agreed upon terms.; 7/18/05, 9:23 PM
Ann Althouse said...: Thanks, JohnG. I think these people would care about making it right, and part of me just doesn't want to trouble them. I kind of just don't want to hurt their feelings. In fact, chances are I'd still hire them again even if I never call and say there's something they got wrong. But I think I should test them by asking them to get to the things they missed. I often am asked for references for various types of workers and recommend people. I'd rather not have to say X was pretty good but they missed a couple things.; 7/18/05, 9:26 PM
Tristram said...: I had a new (partial) roof put on an old addition to the house. THere was some minor leaking after an unusually hard down pour (something 2 inches in 2 hours, over 3 inches over a weekend). I still called the comapany, and they came out an fixed.

They weren't upset/surprised that there could be a problem, and I wasn't embarrassed about get my $4000 worth of work done right.

Of course, I was reasonable, and BEFORE the work was done, I made sure I understood the performance pledges. Thus, no-one felt like anything was sprung on them. It wasn't in the work contract, but small businesses do know about word of mouth, and often have pride in the quality of work compared to big organization.; 7/19/05, 7:12 AM
SippicanCottage said...: It seems the comments are all good and helpful, but are all from the consumer side. Let me offer something from the contractor point of view:

If you're unhappy, and don't tell them, you're doing them a disservice.

In general, people who have unreasonable demands are never shy. Good contractors working for jerks finish the job to the bitter end, and refuse all further work from the customer. Bad contractors stiff everybody, good or bad.

Give them an opportunity to be a good contractor, and do what you required and expected, and if you're a reasonable person, they'll be glad you did, and fix it, and work for you again because you're happy, and they were glad for the opportunity to make you so.

If you're being a jerk, they'll fix it, smile, leave, memorize your phone number, and throw away their head.; 7/19/05, 1:33 PM