Misadventures with a Drywall Contractor, Part 2: A Rough Start

[Story continued from Misadventures with a Drywall Contractor, Part 1: Getting Started]

Day 1: The Hack Job

Just after 9 the next morning (10/12), Rick showed up with his assistant, Mike.  We discussed the job a bit, he gave me his plan of action and they proceeded to bring in the materials. Two things didn’t sit right with me.  First, anybody who handles drywall knows that it’s prone to breakage and must be stacked neatly to avoid damage.  The drywall stack was anything but neat.  Many panels were offset in the stack by 2-3 inches with a couple around 6″.   Second, to allow a space for the ceiling drywall to sit on top of the wall drywall, he was having his assistant cut the top off of each wall panel . . . by hand—razor and jab saw.  Can you say “hack job”?  I just rolled with it, figuring they knew what they were doing and it would probably be getting covered up later anyway. After all, that’s why I hired someone, right?  When they returned from lunch, they worked together using a combination of cutting blades, a jab saw and a cordless mini-jigsaw.  Did it ever occur to them, that it probably would have just been easier just to unscrew the drywall, take it down, trim it like normal the put it back up? The whole room would have been trimmed in about 30 minutes.  Doubting myself, I let them do their thing.  All they got done in one entire day was cutting the tops off of the drywall in one room. Fortunately, I wasn’t paying them by the hour.

Day 2: The Realization

Next morning the guys show up and starting hanging the Sheetrock.  It was immediately apparent to me that this was not going to be a pretty process—broken pieces, smashed sheet corners, uneven joints.    At this point I was starting to doubt my decision, but in times like this I tend to blame myself.  Anna was noticing the poor workmanship, and starting saying things to me. I very much tend to give people the benefit of the doubt—to a fault I suppose. I made some excuses for them, figuring they had to work around my DIY framing that might not be perfect. At the end two days the only thing complete was the ceiling in one small bedroom and a little more hacking on the walls in the next bedroom.

Not a good start.

…wait it gets better … (cont)