Comments on: Granite Contractor Mistake: Who Should Pay?

By: Todd

Todd — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 16:16:53 +0000

First off the Contractor is a FOOL for not getting it in writing first. We don’t DO ANYTHING without a written contract. Your friend John was more than nice, in fact, if it was me I could have fought tooth and nail against paying it at all. More than likely the contractor thought he was going to pressure him into the edge. The story offers a good reminder to EVERYONE about making sure that communications are very clear when working on home improvements.

By: southsideandy

southsideandy — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 00:38:57 +0000

ON PRINCIPLE, whether John was planning on getting the edge cut or not, the contractor was stupid to do something, and thus, the onus was on the contractor. John was kind enough to offer to split it, in my opinion.

If I were John, I’d go home thrilled that he got what he wanted for less a price and never deal with this contractor again. For anything.

It’s like taking your car in (my dad’s a mechanic) and telling them, “I’m going shopping, don’t do anything to the car more than $100 without calling me first,” then coming back to find new brakes, new tires and new alternator and a pine-shaped air freshener in the car. You’re stuck, so you try to strike a deal. If the guy/gal won’t do it, you pay and take your problem to someone who can do something about it (if there is someone) and your business somewhere else.

John told them to hold off. They didn’t. Therefore, it’s their loss, whether he decided he really wanted it or not.

By: Fred

Fred — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 23:56:14 +0000

I wondered if anyone would bring up the issue of whether John had already settled on the product in his mind. I think the contractor put him in a pretty difficult situation. By having the granite fabricated with the edge, it puts John in a very awkward position… He was honestly caught off guard. It’s impossible to “un-learn” information once you know it, so it would be impossible for John to take that knowledge out of the equation.

When I talked to John about it later, he said he was leaning towards getting the edge even at the full price — but he still wasn’t sure. In this case, the installer really lost out. If John would have paid in full for the edge, he would have made a good profit on it. Since John only paid part of the price, the installer probably lost all of his profit and potentially some of the cost.

By: PlantingOaks

PlantingOaks — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 16:22:59 +0000

Hmm, I think whether it’s ethical really depends on whether he was planning to get it anyway. If he’d already decided to get the edging, then bargaining with insider knowledge is a little shady.
But if he decided that he didn’t want it (or didn’t want it for the price) I think it’s perfectly reasonable for him to say that, and accept whatever deal the contractor offered.
But, I wouldn’t think less of him whatever he did, (and he certainly shouldn’t have paid full price for it if he wasn’t willing to originally). The onus is definetly on the contractor here.

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 14:25:25 +0000

More than fair… he could have rejected it for being NOT what he wanted, even after he saw it. It was very nice of him to offer to split!

By: Corey

Corey — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 13:42:39 +0000

He was more than fair. John had every reason to reject any price increase, and even the granite, since they did it without direction.

And what vendor does a more expensive option without approval? That sounds like they were almost trying to bully him into paying for the ogee…