If all they've done is tape and bed for 4 days it sounds like they have found a home. A good drywall crew (2 guys) would tape and bed this in a day or less. Part of a second day for the second coat, and if needed part of a third day for the third coat. The successive coats could take more elapsed time if the humidity is and drying slow, but on those days they work on another job.
Boden
Doc wrote:
I'm having some hurricane damage repaired (in Florida, from last year). Replaced drywall includes the entire ceiling on a 2 car garage, and 2 spare approx 10x10 bedrooms both having closets, ceilings and 3 out of 4 walls, and one approx 8x5 wall between the bedrooms.
How long would you expect it to take with 2 guys doing the tape/joint compound work? Tomorrow they'll be on their 5th day, it might go 6.
The guy's are there working, it's an insurance job and they won't be looking for more money, you trust them enough to let them have a key, one of them has arthritis, it's pretty much standard to hit the center joints before the perimeter (assuming you mean corners), it's a father/son team and they have been in businesss for a while and seem decent, they worked on a Saturday and on a holiday. That about sum it up? What are you complaining about?
There's an old saying - cheap, fast or good, you can get any two out of the three. If you wanted faster, you should have paid for faster, but since the damage was from _last_ year, I don't see why all of a sudden it has to be done in a rush. They may be a little slow, but you just sound impatient.
R
Well, since I can't tell from here, unless you ask them directly you'll never know if there was a reason or not.
Made a couple of phone calls in the late afternoon and called it a day. But it's not really about my work hours or yours, is it? They're there working and not taking days off and leaving you in the lurch. If the guys worked more quickly, but didn't work on Saturday and/or Monday, would that have been preferable?
I hadn't realized that you were using a GC. You hadn't mentioned that. Aren't these questions better directed at him? He's the one that hired the guys and can motivate them.
You had written in an earlier post that they had originally said it should take about four days to do the work, and now it looks like it might take six. Two days difference. Getting bothered by that small difference in time does smack of impatience. Particularly when there's still trim and painting to do. Sentences such as "Of course, the trim and paint still has to be done, if these finishers get done before they die of old age." (this on a week long job), tells me you're impatient.
If you had a strict schedule you should have included a "time is of the essence" clause with stated damages. Of course, that would have caused the price to go up and/or the GC to tell you to take a hike, but it's the only way to insure completion on a schedule.
You could also have specified that you wanted the first coat to be a setting-type compound, such as Durabond. That would have eliminated almost all of the drying time as the later, thinner coats dry much more quickly.
I rarely check other people's opinions before I formulate my own, but again, that's besides the point. You seem to have misunderstood my meaning. Should it have taken less time? Probably. So what? What difference does that make at this point when they're finishing in another day? You're getting upset over nothing.
In general, you should probably ask your questions before the work takes place. It's impossible to prevent headaches after they have already occurred.
R
I hope you are paying a flat price for the job, not by time...they are taking way too long.
-- dadiOH ____________________________
dadiOH's dandies v3.06... ....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that. Get it at
Client to Teamster:
How many men, and how long will it take to move this furniture?
Teamster to Client:
Who cares?
You got a problem with that?
Messing with a sub makes as much sense as messing with your barber or cook. If you don't like him, just fire his ass and get another.
Steve
I tell that one slightly differently: How many Teasmsters does it take to change a lightbulb? Six. You got a problem with that? No! Just asking...
R
It's an insurance job. They're subs working for a general contractor so it's not costing me any more. It's a father/son, one of them apparently has some sort of physical disability, says he's getting over Hep C and has arthritis. I was only here the first day and the father's favorite topic of conversation seemed to be all the bad decisions he's made and the various people who have screwed him over in business. At least he seemed to keep working while he's blabbing.
It took a couple of guys about 2 hours to unload the drywall (around 30 12ft sheets) , then 2 other guys about 4 hours to hang it. These finishers started last Thurs. and when they first got here they said they figured it would take 4 days. and worked on it thurs, fri, sat, yesterday (mon.) and am expecting them back today. On the wall between the 2 b/r's they hit the joints in the center but for some reason didn't start on the joints around the perimeter until I left a note yesterday pointing it out. For some reason there was also a large gap in the joint at the wall/ceiling in one b/r which I also mentioned in the note. Since they only put the initial coat on those joints yesterday, obviously they have to put another coat on today so I'm guessing they'll have to come back tomorrow, which would be 6 days.
Initially I was going to only have them be here when I was here on my days off but they seem decent enough and have been in business for some time, so I have a key hidden for them to use. Valuable/sensitve stuff is moved into my master b/r which I keep locked. Geezus, I'm glad I did, they'd have been here bloody forever if I'd limited it to days when I could be here.
The drywall was ripped out long ago by the mold remediators. The day before the finishers started, it took 2 guys around 2 hours to unload and stack the approximately 30 sheets (having to do some artful maneuvering inside the house), and another 2 guys about 4 hours to hang it. Of course, the trim and paint still has to be done, if these finishers get done before they die of old age.
They get paid by footage instead of time, so what difference does it make unless they're holding up some other sub?
They hit all the other corners at the same time. It isn't apparent to me why they couldn't have done these at the same time. It's going to take just as long for it to dry and by not doing it when they started everything else, they've unnecessarily added even more time to the job.
How many people besides bank, gov't and school employees didn't work on the "holiday"? Did you work on Monday? I did.
Now that I don't have the rooms to use even for storage, my house is turned upside down until the work gets finished. I paid the GC, there wasn't any checkbox for "faster, able-bodied sub". And from what I'm seeing, they're not beating their brains out to make a neat job of it, at least not the part that the father is doing.
I asked a question as to how long it should take. Yours seems to be the minority view.
Sorry to hear that. I'm in manufacturing and had the day off.
You should be getting on with it anyway. Regardless of how annoying you find the few days of dealy, having a malfunction over it won't make it go any quicker, won't make you any happier and will most likely make things worse for everyone involved.
You are learning a lesson, free of charge. If you have specific requirements they need to be addressed, agreed upon and documented ahead of time.
If you have problems with the schedule and want to bitch at someone, try the guy you're paying.
R
Yes, but you're not paying extra for it. Hence, free of charge.
Which business?
Is this the first time you've had work done on your house?
R
They don't sound like seasoned pros, certainly. Given the scarcity of almost any construction labor in the SE these days, that's probably not surprising. A little mess and stuff to stumble around is pretty good conditions for many. Not that that makes it any less irritating, granted...
Are the other subs actually waiting on them? It sounds like a pretty small job which may well be part of the problem--if it were my house I'd probably just work on it when they aren't and keep track of what areas they don't finish and dock them on that area.
Your head is screwed on straight.
You know, you think you have seen and heard just about everything. You've watched probably two thousand episodes of Jerry Springer. You listen/watch Howard Stern. You watch the newspaper for man bites dog stories.
It takes a lot to turn you on. You figure no one in the world can come up with anything so stupid that it catches your attention.
Then comes along ..................
Some unidentified soul wrote re: the drywall guys .........
Heeeere's yer sign.
Obviously...but are they actually standing around twiddling their thumbs was the question?
There's waiting and then there's waiting. You know somehow that the other subs aren't tied up on other jobs? Or that the GC actually scheduled the job instead of just winging this small job?
If you do know for a fact, well, yeah, then I guess the question might seem questionable. If you don't know, your post is the one that seems a bit stupid. I guess that comes with the territory after watching a couple thousand episodes of Jerry Springer.
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