Increasing "downstream" work?

Mar 02, 2009 1 Replies

I have to rant.



It seems like most of the tradesmen I talked to do not care about minimizing downstream headaches when doing their work.



Example: I have a wall that is a 3/8" plaster on top of a 3/8" gypsum board backing, a total of 3/4" thickness. I am trying to eliminate having to match thicknesses, so I demo to the corners where possible. I hired a guy to do the additional demo work, one wall is about 30' long and previously I demoed from door edge wall edge, and now I decided to remove the additional 2' from the door edge to the wall edge, so a uniform 1/2" thick standard sheet rock may be used. I hired someone to come to do those additional minor demo work. He said why not just use 1/2" thick new sheetrock plus 1/4" new sheet rock to match? or use 5/8" sheetrock and do a think coat of plaster all over to match. So, it easier and cheaper to match 28' of wall or demo the remaining 2' of it?



Another example: I have custom stucco finish on my exterior wall. At one location I converted a door into a window, so I need to match the custom stucco under the new window, as well as a couple of other spots. I hired a stucco expert to come take a look, and he said he can match it and it's a small job. Then he said "why not get rid of this custom stucco, and do a plain smooth stucco, that way if you need to do other work in the future, the matching work would be less". Again, why would I re-stucco 400 linear feet of exterior wall to avoid patching a 2' wide 3' tall spot, especially considering the custom pattern is one I like better than the smooth finish?



I can go on and on.



It just seems like they only motivation is to create more work, whether it makes sense or not.



OK I am done ranting.



MC


I feel your pain.

Looking at it from the other side, I try to give clients all the options before they make up their minds what to do. But I do my best to steer clear of implying that they did something wrong and how I would have done it differently--unless they specifically ask. Even then, I don't imply they're stupid.

Join the Discussion

Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.

Didn't find your answer?

Ask the community — no account required