Top 3 Contractor Disaster Stories to Learn From

In a previous article, we discussed how to best add value to your home. There are some easy home improvement projects you can do in order to boost the property’s value instantly. While the projects are easy to complete, taking them lightly and not preparing for them the right way could lead to gigantic issues that actually ruin your chances of selling the property.

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Rather than discussing the potential issues directly, let’s take a different approach and look into some of the horror stories surrounding home improvement projects. There is a lot to learn from these top three contractor disaster stories.

The Wrong Contractor

There are a lot of stories about homeowners dealing with contractors from hell, and those stories always begin with getting a deal that was too good to be true, only to run into hidden fees, additional charges, delays, and other problems. One story from 1999, however, stands out from the crowd.

The story, aptly dubbed “Contractor from Hell” by the victims, started with a couple ordering a detailed plan for a home remodeling. The plan was then to bid out to contractors in the area, but the couple found that it wasn’t detailed enough, and no contractor would bid on it.

They then agreed to hire the contractor from which they purchased the plan, and the rest was just one problem after another. Even though the contractor had many positive advertisements, the house ended up with construction defects and problems that were extremely expensive to fix. 

Choosing the right contractor is everything. Before agreeing to a contract, do your background checks, get first-hand references from past clients, and make sure you know your rights.

A Damaged Floor

Things can still go wrong even when you plan for the project to the last detail. One of the most popular contractor disaster stories happened because of insufficient preparation; the contractor did prepare for the work he was doing, but he didn’t prepare enough.

Rather than using high quality surface protection materials such as the Trimaco FloorShell, one contractor used regular rosin paper. In an unfortunate turn, he accidentally spilled five gallons of primer onto a covered hardwood floor.

Yes, the floor was covered, but rosin paper rips easily and that was exactly what happened in this instance. It took more than 80 hours to clean the floor and the surface underneath it, all because the wrong protection material was used.

A Complete Redo

The last story on our list happened because of signs being ignored. Damp walls are always the signs of more problems to come, and simply repainting the walls isn’t going to cut it. Once, a homeowner, trying to save money on a remodeling project, decided to ignore the signs of damp and moved forward with the repainting anyway.

Within days, the new coat of paint started to crack; it just wasn’t sticking properly due to the extra moisture in the walls. It didn’t take long before black mold started forming, and then the leaking pipe – the main cause of this issue – burst for being too old. It took a complete redo of the entire room, plus additional costs on furniture replacement, to get the house to a market-worthy condition.

These mistakes can be avoided by making the right preparations and approaching the project you have in mind with extra care. Do things properly and you will end up with the best result and a higher boost in value.