You get what you pay for
Sometimes looking for the lowest bidder on a job may not serve you well. When we were remodeling our home in Phoenix, we wanted to add a glass enclosure to the bathtub, rather than just having a simple shower curtain.
We went to Home Depot to look at the choices and after making our decision, called several contractors to get bids on installing this. We were in the middle of many other home remodel projects and we jumped at the low bid for the work that needed to be done in the bathroom.
The contractor was in his mid-20s, his wife answered the phone when we called to inquire on a bid and when we called back to set-up the appointment. Kind of a “mom & pop” business, maybe they were new at this? All I knew was, I was getting a deal on this.
He showed up at our front door at the appointed time and went right to work. I was pleased that he was prompt, as late arrivals or no-shows happened often with contractors during our home renovation.
After a couple hours, I peeked in to see what he was up to. He appeared to be struggling with the track and the job seemed to be taking longer than he had said it would. He made a run to Home Depot, returned, worked another hour and then said he would have to come back the next day to finish the work.
The next day, he spent another couple hours on the project and finally announced that he had completed the job. We looked in at the tub area and there was a nice, shiny new shower enclosure with sliding doors. We paid the man and he went on his way, after dropping the receipt and his card on the dining room table.
Later in the day, I went upstairs to look at the shower again. One of the sliding doors was open, so I slid it to close it. It dragged along the track. It did not close flush to the track on the side of the tub wall. I backed it up, observed that it was on the track, but it still dragged across, only to close with a gap at the top. He had somehow put it on crooked, it appeared either the door was defective, or the tub wall was slanted, I knew that neither of those things were true.
After an hour or so of playing with the sliding glass doors, cursing and kicking myself, I realized I had made a grave error. There was no way I wanted that goof-off back in my house, I wasn’t getting my money back and I was now stuck with a shower door that was little better than the shower curtain it replaced.
The result, we took showers being careful that the shower head was not turned toward the glass door, and always kept a towel on the floor by the tub. If I had paid a little more, I wouldn’t have had to put up with this inconvenience. Live and learn!
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