Wow, some of you guys went from Master Plumber to Licensed Real Estate Broker in one quantum leap. Amazing.
Ian, you aren't sounding very reasonable with an estimated $65K for the home in the picture, assuming nothing is devastating in the home itself, or its location to adversely affect its market value (like next door to a busy air port). Exaggerations like that won't make you sound very credible. That being said, Washington State's foreclosure percentage has increased by 71% this year.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27329406/
Even still, I think the Gaussian distribution of depreciation of high end homes would be more like an approximate 33% at its peak. You can thank all of the inflated appraisals, subprime lending, and no money down mortgages for that.
I
am licensed as Real Estate broker with my own firm, so I can speak with some credible level of authority, but knowing real estate is a local market, and not knowing any more about the Washington area other than what's on the news, I'd have no other idea what home values are like in Washington, nor would I pretend to without a proper market analysis on a specific subject home. I'd need to go inside as well.
Terry, the wages being different in Augusta is neither here nor there. I gave the agreed upon amount for completion of the job; $2,000.00 labor total both baths. I also said that new construction homes are going for roughly $50 per square foot including the lot. Labor, materials, and home values are way down in Augusta. Unemployment is way up. Everyone here wants to work. The problem is sifting through the bad ones - even the "reputable" plumbing companies while they send the new guy out.
Scope of work? Remove the inserts that were installed by the first crew, remove some drywall from above and beside the inserts (bathrooms are very small at about 6'X7'), remove the shoddy plumbing work in the first set of pictures, install new plumbing to manufacturer specs shown in second set of pictures, build out a wall roughly 2'wide by 8' tall in both baths to make up for the new inserts not going all the way out to the far wall where the wall tiles were removed by the first crew, install drywall, and mud, install new baseboards and quarter round in both bathrooms. No sanding, no painting, no floors, no haul off. Since room was very limited, they had to remove both toilets to have room to move. They also had to cut out both valves to the toilets and install new ones since the drywall was removed from behind the toilets.
I got one vote for not giving them a thing. I think that's a bit extreme. But I did just get finished explaining to them about the last group of clowns that were there. I also explained to the second crew that the first crew didn't have insurance, worker's comp, didn't pull a permit, no business license, - the GC does this type of work for the State (he's got health insurance but his workers don't). So what did the second crew do after I told them that? Didn't pull a permit (probably because they don't have a business license, and likely don't report income, etc. etc.) You would think they'd either do it right, don't do it at all, or take extreme caution. I'll take some heat for it not going down so well. I'm not new to any of this. I usually get way more than what I pay for, and I don't even take the lowest bid. This time I got burned a little, not bad though. I always, I mean ALWAYS come out ahead after I think things through (coming here for opinions helps). Just trying to not get burned again and be somewhat fair at the same time. That's why I'm here asking you guys at this point of the fiasco.
Thanks again.
P.S. Never been a fan of the phrase "you get what you pay for" although you did qualify it with "sometimes." The goal is to find a happy medium - not to find the most expensive bid out there as if the price directly correlates to the end product. I've been using an EXPERT HVAC guy for over a decade now. That guy is as good as gold. Will go out and put 1 to 2 pounds of freon, recharge units for $50 a visit. He does this on his own time on the side. Everyone else (via the company) charges about $160. I haven't had a single mishap with him or his work. And even if I did, with all the money I've saved over time with him - I'd just eat it. I haven't saved a thing with these new guys- as they started screwing up the moment I took my eyes off of them. I'll promise you this - the 3rd crew will be licensed, bonded, insured, pull a permit, and will come highly recommended by several builders. But I can almost promise you I'll have a different set of crazy crap happen with them. Plumbing companies know as well as I do that good workers are very hard to find and keep. I'll be back with the newest set of pictures soon enough. Wait and see. ;-)