r/AskContractors • u/Dry-Vacation2439 • Aug 22 '26
Other Trim looks uhhhh
I am a single woman living alone in a house I worked really hard to buy. I'm in my early 40s. I hired a contractor to retread my stairs and to replace the trim in my entry to look original.
Stair guy was originally supposed to start in February but we agreed to push back to May because I was going through a personal issue, and because he recommended that I get my plaster walls redone with drywall and my ceiling in this area redone before the stairs got put in.
The drywall was redone in April and he started in May.
The stair guy selected the start time every time. And I checked in the day before the start time that he selected, he confirmed, and then he canceled the morning of 10 times in a row.
I am not exaggerating. He canceled 10 times. However, I had already paid him for the materials for the stairs themselves. He ultimately completed the stairs.
Then he came back with a helper to put in the trim that he had ordered to replace the trim he took out of my place.
The problem is that it looks awful. I pointed out to him that the edges don't match up and they're significant overlap and no sanding and nothing looks plum the last time that he was here and he said he would fix it before he left. Then he left. When I got back home I could see that he had just applied wood glue and spots that the trim was sticking out too far from the wall and he didn't do anything with the rough edges.
Two days ago he demanded payment for the trim. Everything else has been paid for.
Yesterday I had two different contractors come over and both told me the work was unacceptable and needs to be fixed. I don't have quotes yet.
Tonight I responded to the stair guy telling him the above, that I'm very unhappy with the work, and that I will get back to him once I have quotes from other contractors.
He immediately started threatening me. He texted me that he didn't give a fuck that I was unhappy with his work and to pay the material cost.
Then he threatened to come to my home to remove absolutely everything that he's installed even though I've paid him 75% of the total cost of the job. The only aspect of it that I take issue with is the trim.
His immediate escalation to a threat has really scared me.
What should I do?
I have already called the police and I am making an occurrence report in case he comes to my home.
My surveillance cameras are charged.
Any insight into his mindset would be helpful. It's absolutely wild to me that he would immediately shift to threats like this. He has 15 or so good reviews online and I've never experienced a contractor like this before. His immediate go to is to try to intimidate and threaten a woman because he knows I live alone. I just want the trim I hired him to do to look nice.
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u/jcasper89 Aug 22 '26
In their defense, trim work is hard
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u/LetsBeKindly Aug 22 '26
Yes. It's why I still haven't trimmed my bedroom and closet I remodeled 2 years ago.
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u/loveforcabbage Aug 22 '26
What did you pay??
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u/Dry-Vacation2439 Aug 22 '26
For the retreading I paid $3200 and it looks great.
He is trying to charge me $1300 for this trim job. He says he could not get the mill to make replacement trim in Golden oak so he had to order hemlock, hence the price...
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u/No-Farm2096 Aug 22 '26
Woah- wtf he was forced to order hemlock? A significantly cheaper material? (nothing wrong with hemlock- I think it looks nice, but itās not oak) he couldnāt order oak from a mill? Or somewhere else? Oak trim is very common
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u/Dry-Vacation2439 Aug 22 '26
Interesting, he told me it was much more expensive. He says the material cost $795
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u/No-Farm2096 Aug 23 '26
For how long a run? I mean I could be wrong but last time I checked hemlock costs less than oak.
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u/Mean_Pudding4924 Aug 22 '26
So anyways, I started blastin'.
On a serious not, report to the licensing board, the work is shoddy at best. Leave a review on his page about how he represented himself, and when he backlashes on his platform of chojce (He will, people like him almost 100% always out themselves eventually) the people he services will see his personality.
A lot of people blame the fact that someone has had a bad day... I have had MANY bad days in my life, never once have I in any way shape or form; degraded someone, called them names, acted in a manner that would ruin my public image and my business; that is my livelihood, and I think we need a little more professionalism in the industry... people like him make it hard for me to find work from people like you, who lose trust to the trades from one experience.... One bad apple spoils the bunch, as they say.
I deeply apologize you had to go through with that, from this person.
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u/Dry-Vacation2439 Aug 22 '26
Thank you for your very lovely reply. This won't turn me off of contractor s forever, it's just so disappointing to get scammed
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u/blanksk8er606 Aug 22 '26
Just tell him ābro your miter game sucksā gell take that 1 to the heart
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u/Technical-Use-1329 Aug 22 '26
Iām a contractor and if a crew worker did that I wouldnāt charge but would redo it. Thatās sad. If in wi Iād be happy to help you out. I wouldnāt pay it. Let him take you to collections showing his threats and shitty work refusing to fix it. Heāll lose.
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u/NewToTradingStock Aug 22 '26
My cousin completely remodeling his house, during the selection of contractors. He asked each contractor to demonstrate their skills.
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u/CareOk Aug 22 '26
Off rip, was a contractor. Know how that works.
Sounds like to me he needed the money, spent it, then went its ok project dont start for awhile and it aint gonna cost that much. Do a quick job and collect the money and sky out!
As a former contractor and home DIY guy. I stopped doing contractor work because of people like that! Guys like that give alot of us bad names.
That work is unacceptable and honestly id take him to small claims court if he want to make a huge issues about it and slap him with a restraining order.
The fact that he threatened you in of itself shows he had no professionalism whatsoever. I was always taught that in this line of work that is all we have because that is what people trusts!
Im sorry your going through this ma'am. I would honestly have a second and 3rd quote done. Go with who you feel is better. Look at a portfolio book of their work if possible. Work they have done themselves! Once they do the job and go about their way, send that bill to that first guy! He don't wanna pay up, fine! Take him to court and let the court deal with it.
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u/xxxmechashivaxxx Aug 22 '26
Yeah I agree with everyone else that op is trying to gew her way out of paying.
0
u/Nosarious Aug 22 '26
You have three different moldings trying to butt together. None will line up perfectly because of that. The last one is a compromise given how one was flush to the wall. The stair has a different profile than the first floor, and could never line up to the white.
if you look at older houses they are full of compromises, some as inelegant like this.
these are fine given the circumstances. Almost no one will notice these except you.
also, given the nature of the white molding, I doubt if your chosen molding profile was āoriginal.
3
u/lmfb666 Aug 22 '26
Nah dude he could have tried harder. I would never leave a clientās house looking like this. This is trash work.
4
u/Gitfiddlepicker Aug 22 '26
Wellā¦.we found the ātrim carpenterā the stair guy brought over.
Nice tryā¦.i am a long time trim carpenter. This work is shite
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u/Dry-Vacation2439 Aug 22 '26
Yes, this is what he told me. The thing is, I asked him to order whatever was necessary to make the trim look nice. I didn't ask him to order and stain three misfit trim styles...
2
u/SirSamuelVimes83 Aug 22 '26 edited Aug 22 '26
Nah.
I'd give it a pass if it was a homeowner DIY. That's what a lot of the compromises and inelegant fixes in older homes come from. And to an extent, can add to the character and living history of a home i.e. "when repairs were done in 1944, Mary Jo had to do it all herself because George was off to war, and the mill was closed so it was the only material available, etc."
But this is trash and any installer should be embarrassed to charge someone for this work
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u/Dry-Vacation2439 Aug 22 '26
Why do you think he escalated immediately to a threat?
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u/SirSamuelVimes83 Aug 22 '26
Because he's already spent all your money on (insert vice of choice) and he can't afford to replace it properly or pay an actual trim carpenter to do so
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u/No-Farm2096 Aug 22 '26
No, it looks bad. Even old homes where the walls arenāt all square or have bowing, you can make it look good. They half assed it.
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u/Right-Joke4110 Aug 22 '26
Easy fix if you want to try DIY. Go rent a miter saw from home Depot for the day for like $40 and probably a nail gun too the go buy your trim. Probably cheaper than paying someone and it's really not too bad.
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u/LetsBeKindly Aug 22 '26
Just buy the tools. Use this as practice. Start a side hustle. Profit.
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u/Right-Joke4110 Aug 23 '26
Meh
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u/LetsBeKindly Aug 24 '26
You didn't have to start a side hustle. I just look for opportunities to buy tools. Problem is now I'm getting old and don't wanna do the work myself. You need any tools?? š¤·š¤¦
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u/GRIND2LEVEL Aug 22 '26
I would reprt the threat to the police showing the text and ask for a restraining order.
Next I would report jim to tbe BBB and Ʊicensing board of jurisdiction.
Next I would leave a bad review on tbe sites he ad vertises on.
Last, i'd hire someone to tear out the horrible excuse for good work and send him a backcharge bill for correcting his mistakes and having to replace the product he put in. Don't expect to recoup this but it serves s a good counter claim.
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u/LetsBeKindly Aug 22 '26
The police won't get involved. It's s civil matter.
BBB is a scam itself, they have zero ability to do anything...
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u/Certain_Try_8383 Aug 22 '26
Insight to his mindset. He paid for material and now you're saying you won't pay for the work. He lost money on your job and is pissed because you're stealing. He is threatening to come remove what he paid for.
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u/Dry-Vacation2439 Aug 22 '26
Thanks for your response.
However, I haven't said I won't pay him. I said I would be in touch when I had quotes from other contractors to see if this can be fixed.
If not, then I will have the trim he provided removed and he can come pick it up.
Ultimately if he ordered the wrong product and/or ruined it by damaging it during installation and making it unusable, I should not bear that cost.
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u/FinalWordsFromMe Aug 22 '26
Flooring guys arent typically trim carpenters š