Moral Question about using tools a mason left at my house..

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Not sure if this fits in the landscaping section or not.. but I figured it was the closest since my question deals with the front of my house..

My house has flat rocks stuck on to it instead of siding, they are flat on the back and stuck to a metal lath.. back sometime in the 2000's.. the previous owner had an addition put on, and i guess by the time they got to the front of the house he was running out of money, so they were put on in a less than stellar way.. with big gaps between them. So in the 10 years or so that's passed, a lot of the mortar between them fell out.

I hired a mason to fix it/fill it in.. I didn't really wanna have it ripped off and put back up the right way. I figured since I'm busy with everything else and this guy has experience so he could probably get a better finish than I could. The guy was a friend of my fiance's father from the union. Supposedly he was out of work and needed some cash.. so I hired him to fix the front. We agreed on a price per day and he said it would take two days.. at the end of day 2, he underestimated the amount of time it would take, and we got to day 3 and hes only about half done... so before I could talk to him again about the cost skyrocketing.. he disappeared.. shame on me for doing a deal through someone else.. I don't even have the guy's phone number.

I heard he went back to work with the union and would finish my house when he had time.. this was over a month ago. And my fiancee's dad can't even get a hold of him. Which is making him mad now too since he gave a good word for the guy.

The guy left his tools in my yard. A wheel barrow, bag of trowels, shovel, buckets.. a ladder.. stuff like that.

Which in itself kind of confuses me.. because.. wouldn't he need this stuff to work on other projects???

So I'm pretty sure he was just using quickcrete mortar mix with a little lime mixed in and smushing it into the gaps and smoothing it out with a poiting trowel and some kitchen spoons.

Now my question.. would it be wrong of me to use his tools to finish it myself and then whenever he gets around to remembering where his stuff is.. he can just come pick it up?
 
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yeah i paid him at the end of each day.. so I'm not really out money I guess.. but I shoulda been smarter about the deal.. as far as I'm concerned.. we are done.. I just wanna get the bricks fixed before the winter comes and starts freezing them off and then I can put up my shutters. if he comes and picks up his stuff..thats fine and I wont have to look at it anymore. but I figured if its just sitting there.. maybe I could get some use out of it.. he certainly isn't, but not sure if I'd be morally wrong to do that.. not really a big deal either way.. i could always buy a few trowels.. but just running it through you guys see what you think
 

Gary Swart

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I'd go ahead and use them. I would be sure to clean them when finished, but you don't owe this guy a darn thing. Chances are he'll never even know you used them, and if he does, so what's he going to do? Now if it was power tools, cutting tools, and the like, maybe not, but trowels and shovels?
 

Dlarrivee

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Maybe they are your tools anyways, what is to say he will ever come back at all?
 
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Finders Keepers right.. lol..

Maybe after I use them and clean them.. ill just go and give them to my fiancee's father and he can deal with it..
 
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Hey guys,

I forgot to update this thread. I finished off most of the project myself and realized how easy it really was, and that this guy was an even bigger hack ripoff than I thought. He's around again. He didn't attempt to talk to me. Screw him, I'm keeping the tools.
 

Rojo

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Wow, he didn't even ask for his tools? Now you know abandoned property and you did the right thing!


Hey guys,

I forgot to update this thread. I finished off most of the project myself and realized how easy it really was, and that this guy was an even bigger hack ripoff than I thought. He's around again. He didn't attempt to talk to me. Screw him, I'm keeping the tools.
 
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It was over 6 months before he remembered to ask for them back. He had left a 2x12 there he was using as scaffolding. I got tired of looking at it, I cut it up and threw it away. He then proceeded to throw a hissy fit about me throwing away his stuff.. which apparently is only ok for him... I shoulda charged him for storage.
 
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