So we just finished a job we subbed from an aquaintence whose main line of work is refinishing. The job is an older farmhouse with vinyl that had to be removed. We get there to find he's ripped the vinyl up and coated the subfloor with some type of poly - the floor looked wet and glasslike, quite a finish actually. But the stuff he left on the floor and poly'ed over was something else - pennies, pebbles, a balled up latex glove, and lumps everywhere where he didn't fully remove the vinyl and/or the backing & adhesive. So we spent a good part of the day chipping away at all that, got the job done so all's well that ends well, but darn, what are some people thinking?

lol...he didn't even bother sweeping it before throwing the poly down?

Apparently not.

Being the Contractors chat section I thought others would have some "what were they thinking" stories that would be fun to read ....

I'm sure I do but have to think about it. There's always the dragging of the furniture across a newly finished floor. I have probably repaired and refinished dozens of BRAND NEW FLOORS that were ruined by some pea brain that dragged or slid some heavy furniture or appliance across a floor. Then they usually have the balls to blame the finish or the wood. "Wood's too soft or the finish isn't hard enough". Please! No, you're just stupid! Or one time, my brother hired this guy, who's name just happens to be Guy, to install some 3/4" T&G unfinished plank. I show up a day after he's been at it to see how he's doing. You're not gonna believe this, he's installing the wood backwards and nailing into the groove! . Or the time I went to look at a job someone wanted sanded. The guy FACE-NAILED the entire floor of 3/4" T&G strip flooring. No blind nailing; just face nailed the entire floor! What a loon! Another time, I had bleached and stained a floor to be real white (that's what they wanted) and told the lady the stain needed to dry over the weekend and I would be back on Monday to apply the sealer/1st coat. So what does she do? She turns the heat up to like, 100 degrees and turns her house into an oven. I walk in on Monday and about passed out because it was so hot. So I say, WTF, why did you do that? She said she wanted to make sure the stain would dry. Well, it was; and so was that floor. She dried the crap out of it and now there were gaps between every board of my beautifully crafted white floor. I coulda died! I'm sure I got dozens more. When I think of them, I'll add to this thread. In the mean time, y'all chime in on your nightmare jobs.

Don't you just wish you could actually say that...

We were doing a floor in a new home and the homeowner is chatting me up about dealing with the builder. She says there was a scratch in the tub they (the homeowners) weren't happy about. The first person to come look at the tub told them it was no big deal & they weren't getting a new tub. So they (the homeowners) did more damage to the tub on purpose, but when the next person came to inspect, they were told the same thing -no new tub. They purposely marred up the tub beyond it's original scratch in hope of forcing a replacement from the builder!
I couldn't believe she was telling me that! How would we know that she wouldn't purposely muck-up the floor we were doing? Crazy people.

We are commericial builders. Were doing a renovate in the state capital building. plumbers didnt have the time to install the fixtures so they left them in the main corridor for the night after they were unwrapped from the boxes. Came in the next morning and found that someone left a big doogan in the toilet left in the hall. It was a public corridor and there wasnt any paper around. Also there are people in the building all night. Did he/ she really think it was a public bathroom? Was he really that lacking in the smarts dept??

Which state?

Massachusetts

I guess they just couldn't wait. Or, there are people that lacking in common sense.

But isn't that FUNNY, like hilarious, isn't it..........

NO, I dont think it is and neither did the plumbing apprentice who had to clean out some idiots waste. Just thougth that this would fall under the category of stupid things that contractors observe on jobs.

Yeah, that's definitely a "what were they thinking??" Yuck!

I have a few WTF were they thinking......

One customer decided before the hardwood floor guys came to lay her new floor she would clean up the subfloor a little bit....she gets out her mop and bucket and swabbed the deck. Not too happy when I told her that we would now have to wait until the subfloor dried out to lay her floor.

Another complained that during winter she had excessive gaps in her floor, arrived on the job to look at it and get some info, step into the house and it's 90 degrees with humidity of about 5-10% throughout....GEE lady I wonder why your floor has gaps.

I love the people who think because it's "Hardwood" they can roll out refrigerators, drop stuff, have big dogs run all over it then complain that it didn't perform like it should. IDIOTS

I once got a call from a builder who blamed me for leaving a boxful of excrement in the basement of a job. After I explained to him that I would never do that and would at least have the courtesy to throw the box out in the dumpster he admitted that I wasn't the only contractor that was on site that day. Yeah thanks for blaming me to see if I'd admit it. DUMBAZZ..............another poo story involves arriving on a new construction job to find dried poo in a bedroom closet.
I let the builders helper clean that up and decontaminate the area.

NASTY