We needed to hurry home because we had made an appointment with a flooring contractor the day before to come to our house at 1pm and lay carpeting in the two downstairs bedrooms and the two stair cases. We had agreed on a price on Saturday and the amount of work that he would perform the next day. I told him that I wanted it in writing. He assured me that he would go home and work on it that evening and email it to me that very night. I checked my email just before going to bed. No written agreement.
I checked email just before leaving for church - no written agreement.
I sent him a text message just before church services started saying that "I don't do business without a writtent agreement". He sent a text that he would have it by the time he arrived to work.
So, we rush home. He was already there parked in our driveway. No problem. The very first thing I ask him when I get out of the truck is "Do you have the agreement?" He said that the Library doesn't open until 1pm and he didn't have it. He was standing there with a spiral notebook in his hand. I told him that he needed to write it down before he starts. Do you see where this is going?........
I turned and went into the house to change out of my church clothes. I'm down in the bedroom changing when I hear the very distinct sounds of work being done. I found this guy and said "Show me the written agreement". The spiral notebook was blank. I told him "Stop, right now. You have to write down the work that is going to be performed, the labor costs, and what products I will be responsible for buying. He finally wrote it down. I told him to sign it and then I signed it and made him a copy. He said something about an advance so he could go rent the tools to lay the carpet and buy the padding. "What! You didn't bring the tools to do the job? I told you yesterday to bring the padding to the job with you." I then told him that "I don't pre-pay anyone for a job". I also told him that if I was going to have to pay for renting the tools and buy the carpet padding that it was coming out of the agreed to price and that I would be going to Lowes with him to buy it.
We had drug a lot of our bedroom furniture out into the yard and moved the bed down into the basement so they could begin ripping up carpet and doing the job.
Well, about an hour and a half into the job he came into the living room where I was relaxing in a chair. Actually, I was napping. He told me that he and his helper was going to go get something to eat and some drinks. I told him "That's fine".
About 3:15 Tamala comes in and tells me that he's been gone quite a while and she got to checking around and they had loaded up their tool boxes. So I get up from my nap and started looking around and sure enough they had loaded their things.
I told her about 3:45 that they weren't coming back! Yep, that's right, this guy had ABANDONED the job! Take a look at what we were left with:
our things out in the yard!
how he left the downstairs-
But here's the real "kicker" - While I was sleeping his helper had been peeling up all the "peel and stick" tiles down in our entry hall and in the kitchen. You CANNOT imagine the "stickiness" of the adhesive that was left down on the floor.....it was GROSS!
Here we were, a house left in a mess, personal belongings out in the yard and Plan A had just abandon the job. Tamala was showing signs of being really, REALLY upset and I told her that we need to recognize what was TRULY going on here. We are under "attack" from the enemy and he was just trying to steal our JOY! I told her, "I'm just not going to let that happen, he's not stealing our JOY!" So I picked up the phone and started calling friends. Fortunately a neighbor came over and helped me load our belongings out in the yard back into the house. I called a contractor we'd used in the past and told him what had just happened. He said "I'll be there tomorrow night and we'll get this fixed". He was our CAVALRY!
He came out Monday night, Wednesday night and just left tonight. He's got the two bedrooms fully carpeted and all he has to do is finish the stairs. Tamala and I just have to decide what to do with the entry hall and kitchen floor at this point.
But, that's okay 'cause........Sunday's COMIN'! There is an old 'spiritual' that says that "late in the midnight hour, God is gonna turn it around!"
I told Tamala that we can give God praise because "this guy walked away without one red cent of our money. This is a test, and we're gonnna pass this test!"
"In all things, give THANKS to God!" I also know that He is the God of doing "exceedingly, abundantly, above all that you can even ask or think".
1 comment:
nothing like getting a little free demolition work done...fools never stick around long enough to enjoy the benefits of their labor.
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