Guess who’s back in our life. Dead-beat contractor! For those of you who haven’t been following along, here’s the summary.
Our involvement started three years ago when he was hired to put electric and lights in the barn. He said that it would take 2 days. He was so sure that it would take two days that he promised me that anything over two days would be free. He was right. He worked for two days. He put up two aisle lights and two stall lights (in a 130 x 84 barn). Then we didn’t see him for a few years. Left some equipment here and everything.
Then the husband rehired him over my objections to do the basement. Started last November. Not done yet. Has done some more barn work but done it so badly that it has to be all redone now.
So why does he get to come back? Well, what is done in the basement is beautiful. We could never have afforded to hire all the people to do what he has done. Because he is a friend he works cheap. In return for cheap labor we need to put up with never having anything finished.
A few months ago he was offered a real job. That shut down work here. But now he’s back because (according to him) the new boss “screwed him out of money.” The husband and I are convinced that means that the new boss wanted him to actually complete projects on time.
He came back yesterday and put in another aisle light. These are new lights. It was fluorescent. After you flip the switch it takes 2.5 minutes to even think about starting to turn on. Not acceptable. It has to come down. He also started to put one of these aisle lights in a stall, even though he was not supposed to. The husband called him last night to tell him. He hasn’t shown up yet today. It is 2:00 pm. I think the thought of all that work (read sarcastically) from yesterday being for nothing has driven him to his bed. I wouldn’t be surprised if he won’t be back for at least a week.
