I said, "Oh no, we have a great contractor. He says it will be done in 4-5 months, but I know it's a job that can be done in 2 months if all goes as planned." They laughed and said, "It never takes what they say it's going to take. Plan on it taking twice as long."

I couldn't believe my ears. How is it that such a simple project would last that long? We had plans, we had permits, we ordered doors, windows, fixtures, bathroom stuff (sink, toilet, tub), and all the rest well in advance of the job's requiring them. There is no way this will go astray, I thought. How wrong I was.

No, it's not laughable, so please stop chuckling. It's pathetic. It's the downfall of America, in my opinion, when a person can't rely on the word of so-called professionals and their companies to get a product finished correctly, and delivered on schedule. If you or someone in your family is in the construction industry, please read on and realize how you negatively effect so many lives and how easy it is to change that.

It's not that my contractor was inept. On the contrary, he was pretty good, even though he installed the incorrectly built tub and covered it up and no one noticed the error - and we were not even allowed to see the tub until the bathroom was nearly completed. It was really the subcontractors; the companies from where we ordered lumber, doors, windows, screens, lighting parts, wood for floors, that were the problem. Seven months later and our construction project is still NOT completely finished, we remain waiting for those idiots to get the orders right.

These companies require customers to sign a contract swearing that we will pay them a certain amount even if we don't pick up and use the products we ordered from them. This is supposed to be a legal binding contract so they can sue us and my contractor if we don't pay for what we order. On the other hand, what's to protect us from the lumber company's ineptitude? Even though we are signing this contract on their stationery, and they have filled out an order form and received payment from us, they don't have to stick to THEIR end of the deal and deliver when verbally promised....or even within the vicinity of when promised. (Just TRY to get any of them to put a due date in writing! They don't even trust themselves!) Are there any state or company regulations about a business' obligation to customers?

Do they (or you, if you're in the industry) give a rat's ass that they've held up construction and put a major hardship on lives for months on end because their workers can't read or comprehend English, or because they are poorly paid immigrants, or can't follow simple directions? (Yup - this is the excuse I continue to receive from contractors about why these things go so wrong.) No, they don't care at all. They don't listen to what customers are saying - they do pretty much what they want. They don't care that their top employees can order products incorrectly. They figure we can wait, indefinitely, for the right order to appear. Maņana.*

What I want to know is when did this become the norm, because it sure wasn't like this many years ago. How did those operating construction companies decide that their lives are more important than their customers', whose money they have (and have been making interest from it in the meantime) and that's legal, permissible? EXCUSE ME?!

Because of apathy, laziness, and illiteracy, here's what a few well-known companies did to us:
A professional bath supply company who could not give the proper instructions for a spa tub to be built, and/or a spa tub company that build the tub wrong, (and these are the people who had a big hand in originating the spa tub). We still trying to get clear on whose fault that was. Have you ever heard of a tub built with neck jets and lower lumbar jets at opposite ends of a tub, and the neck jets would be directly below a tub faucet (making it impossible to use)? That's what they did to our order. As a result, we had to redo bathroom tile, the faucet, pipes, stucco, all of it, to compensate for having a tub that was built wrong.
Could not build a window as ordered, nor deliver the proper screens for them (after two attempts), and we're still waiting for the correct screens and hardware.
Could not deliver any window or door when promised.
After getting it wrong twice, we finally got one small window made correctly, but that was four months after ordering it.
Did not receive sink, mirror, toilet when expected. It took an additional month.
Could not get hardwood for floors delivered when promised.
Could not get the structure of one door correct. It had to be remade.
Plumbers didn't install the correct pipes, and even left my dryer's gas line unconnected so I woke up the next morning (luckily I DID wake up!) to the strong smell of gas everywhere. That required me calling the gas company, and being saved from death while waiting for the gas company to arrive by my painters (the experts during all of this work in my home.) When I called the plumbers to tell them what happened, they didn't want to accept any responsibility for their screw-up, nor even bother to come here and fix it!
One lumber employee waited four weeks after receiving our deposit to call in our order for the building of windows and doors, and continued to lie to us about delivery time, saying they were ordered when we paid for them. He got the entire order wrong, by the way, and since he was (without telling anyone at the time) getting another job, didn't care in the least. The company was left sorting through that nightmare, and also did not make any attempt to give us any reimbursements, nor make sure there were rush orders followed through to make sure we got our products as soon as possible. Yes, these were the guys that we had to sign a contract with! Once again, what about THEIR responsibilty, their word?

The only people who cared were those waiting for the products so they could install them in our home, so we could all get on living our lives. You see, when these companies can't get the orders right and in on time, it means many people have to be inconvenienced; it becomes a domino effect wherein the plumbers, painters, tile workers, construction workers, wallpaper people, floor people, etc., and the homeowners must reschedule their personal and professional lives.

Why does this business have to be so nasty? All it takes is care and attention, literacy and respect. The job at my home has been going on since March and is still incomplete thanks to you in the construction industry. Thanks to you, my life has been filled with stress, I and others (who were working on the job at my home) have had to rearrange our lives drastically because of your screw-ups. I've had to take my home off the schedule for a once in a lifetime huge family reunion. I now have to live in an incomplete home with many guests from out of town, thanks to you.

It's no wonder building companies have a terrible reputation and no one trusts them. It's no wonder that people dread having to have their homes remodeled. It's no wonder some people get divorced or have a nervous breakdown during construction projects in their homes. It's no wonder people lose money. All thanks to apathy and unprofessionalism. It's an embarrassment to America, and probably a worldwide joke. Yes, my friends and family are still patting me on the back and encouraging me to live another day because they understand, and ONE day this will be completed and then we'll be glad we went through this. Aha. Guess what? All of these folks also went through hell during construction for the very same reasons. Is it really necessary?

So, if you in the business get cold stares and impatient, angry people, don't be surprised because you've asked for it, you've created it. Don't you want your word, your life, your carrer, to mean something? You can, however, with a little work, recreate it and bring back some pride and quality to the building industry. It will take time and trust will have to be earned. But you CAN do it, if you care enough.

And if you can't get your act together, don't expect me to be making any major home improvements because I can't rely on you for what I order. At the moment, your word is worthless, and it just isn't worth the aggrevation. Or, maybe I'll just tell you I'll be in "maņana."