My contracts always stipulated those details and more. The payment structure for large projects was always dependent upon certain criteria. It was basically 10% the day the lumberyard delivered materials, 20% when it was framed and inspected, 20% when the sheeting inspections were complete and the rest on final inspection passing.
I made use of lien documents for every project and only needed them once when an unscrupulous lawyer decided not to come up with the final payment. He was very happy with the work and said I could sue him if I wanted but he still wouldn’t pay. But he forgot that I had the signed lien that was a regular part of the contract paperwork. As each waypoint was reached I signed over that particular lien doc when the check cleared. I had never signed off on the last payment so I filed it with the county and when he went to sell 4 years later, he had to pay me first.

Wow! I seem to have hit upon one of the most common forms of frustration, Contractors. Having been one of them in the past, I have a larger viewpoint to work from than most people that have hired or contracted with one of them. I have this belief that the two largest problems are dependability and knowledge. Just showing up on time every day until the jobs completed can be challenging for builders. This is especially true when you have lots of jobs in the pipeline and not enough dependable crews to do the work. You learn not to pay your guys on Friday night if you have Saturday as a regular workday because you know they’re going to use that money to tie one on and they either won’t show up the next day or if they do they are totally useless for most of the day because they’re still fubar. Then of course there’s the part about the workers who don’t know what they’re doing and the contractor himself not having the experience or knowledge required to do a proper job. I had hired a finish carpenter once to set case, base, jambs and doors only to watch him struggle to shim up a jamb without the door attached and then making a disaster out of setting the casings. He didn’t last the day before I let him go. Finding experienced knowledgable people is a challenge. In all the years I contracted I have run up against nearly every concievable problem on a project. It takes experience, ingenuity and an honest look at the correct procedures to overcome those problems. Beyond that, integrity is what will keep the business going.

I want to thank you all for the responses. Strange how many people have had nearly identical experiences with contractors and unlicensed scammers. I will continue to document the progress on this bathroom project and post some shots of the results.
Pete

Wow! I seem to have hit upon one of the most common forms of frustration, Contractors. Having been one of them in the past, I have a larger viewpoint to work from than most people that have hired or contracted with one of them. I have this belief that the two largest problems are dependability and knowledge. Just showing up on time every day until the jobs completed can be challenging for builders. This is especially true when you have lots of jobs in the pipeline and not enough dependable crews to do the work. You learn not to pay your guys on Friday night if you have Saturday as a regular workday because you know they’re going to use that money to tie one on and they either won’t show up the next day or if they do they are totally useless for most of the day because they’re still fubar. Then of course there’s the part about the workers who don’t know what they’re doing and the contractor himself not having the experience or knowledge required to do a proper job. I had hired a finish carpenter once to set case, base, jambs and doors only to watch him struggle to shim up a jamb without the door attached and then making a disaster out of setting the casings. He didn’t last the day before I let him go. Finding experienced knowledgable people is a challenge. In all the years I contracted I have run up against nearly every concievable problem on a project. It takes experience, ingenuity and an honest look at the correct procedures to overcome those problems. Beyond that, integrity is what will keep the business going.

I want to thank you all for the responses. Strange how many people have had nearly identical experiences with contractors and unlicensed scammers. I will continue to document the progress on this bathroom project and post some shots of the results.
Pete

So the upstairs shower pan cracked during the last earthquake and since it was over 30 years ago that it had been replaced, “we” decided that I needed a new project. My Lady had said the contractor she hired had replaced the subfloor before he did the work. Said it was water damaged from a previous leak.
Murphy comes into play here quickly. The floor wasn’t replaced, said ‘contractor’ merely laid a few pieces of half inch T-111 siding over the top and did the minimum possible work.
So I ripped all the old floor sheeting out and am now in the middle of replacing it with some 3/4” structural ply. I was careful to note where the pipes were, missed one in my search, but caught it with the sawzall. I can tell that bastard Murphy is still around too because first the floor wasn’t just water rotted, it was full on termite eaten. The layers of ply just pulled apart with my bare (gloved) hands. Plus there is some damage from the termites to a few studs and one area of the shoe. Luckily these are just partition walls where the damage is easier to R&R.
I guess the most astonishing thing about it all is the pieces of siding that the “contractor” used. Siding? Really? Must have had some left over from a job and figured ”Who’s gonna know!” And I can’t even begin to fathom what he was thinking with the shower pan. It was a rubberized sheet that wasn’t even glued together, just layered. I realize that those rubberized sheets work ok in some instances, but not with a weakened sub floor on the second story and it absolutely needed to be sealed. At least the pan I will install is a custom manufactured formed resin pan. It should not ever leak again.
Meanwhile, here’s a shot of my naked room.