is the plumber correct?

[Derek & Jacqui]

Tod,
I had five years of being slapped round the noggin for doing thins wrong,anybody looking at me thought I was an apprentice boxer. If I had been shorter and standing at the bar you could have rested your glass on the top of my flat head.

[Steven Hauser]

Hi Cathy,

When I moved home and opened my own firm I found that I was underbid consistently and consequently do less production than I used to.
I would work for anybody as long as I do it the way I know works. What I typically find is that they have their own ideas or thier contractor told them it is unnecessary.


So the drama continues....

Steven

[OnAMission]

Sonnie ... Steven ...

I certainly see your points ... and can understand how things end up as they do ... but I sure WISH things were different.

Cathy

[John Bridge]

I wish things were different, too. It's the main reason I wrote my first book. My wife got tired of hearing me go on and on about "sheetrock showers" and other shortcomings in the business. One day she said, "why don't you write a book?" I said, "I believe I will."

I don't really see how we're ever going to get straightened up around the Houston area. As you alluded, almost one hundred percent of the folks who work on track housing are from south of the border and have a hard time with English. They are paid by the job and are interested in getting as many of them under their belt as possible so they can send money home to the wife and kids.

So yes, I'm sorry to say that the only new homes I work on are for "rich" people. Everything that goes into the houses I work on is first class.

Most of my work, however, has to do with tearing out things that were done improperly years ago.

As Davy mentioned, the pre-slope, while it's part of the ANSI standards for tile installation, is not necessarily in local building codes. Why would a builder of inexpensive homes want to do something that's not required?

[OnAMission]

Originally posted by John Bridge
...
Why would a builder of inexpensive homes want to do something that's not required?

Because they can get by with it ... since the resulting problems aren't usually evident until after the 'warranty' period is over???

Hey ... and I don't even think my home is inexpensive ... not a mansion ... but not the typical 'starter' home either.

Cathy

[John Bridge]

I didn't mean to imply that tract built homes are hovels.

I happen to live in a "starter." I added onto it years ago, and I now have the largest house on the block. It's barely over 1500 feet. So don't think I'm not appreciative of middle-class type housing.

I'll be tearing a bathroom out of a very nice home out in Cinco Ranch come Tuesday morning. I would imagine the house is around 4000 feet. Still, the same crews work on those houses as on the smaller ones.

We'll rip everything out right down to the slab and the studs and start over. We'll install a new drain and do a pre-slope. We'll put in a pan where I'm sure none exists now (the slab is depressed in the area of the shower). We'll tear out the tile around the adjacent garden tub, too, because we can match it. While we're at it we're going to pull out the carpet the builder laid in the bathroom and replace it with ceramic tile.

P.S. You misunderstood my rhetorical question in the last post. What I meant was why would a builder put in something that's not required when his objective is to keep costs to a minimum?

It's a sad state of affairs, Cathy, but it's pretty much universal.

[OnAMission]

Originally posted by John Bridge

I didn't mean to imply that tract built homes are hovels.

I realized that ... I just am not quite over my dismay that even in homes more expensive than mine (the 4000 square foot one you will be working on would qualify ... I'm sure) appear to be hit or miss as far as the quality of work that went into them ... not just tile related either.

And I really did understand the 'rhetorical' question ... in my frustration ... I was being sarcastic. I'm sure that builder in Cinco Ranch is not footing the bill for your 'renovation' ... right? And if the homeowner is getting all/part of the cost taken care of by filing an insurance claim ... I wonder how soon before their premiums go up? The home is ... what ... a couple of years old and the homeowner is sinking money into it that they shouldn't have had to? I realize it's bread and butter for you ... but ... geez ... it shouldn't outta be that way!

Cathy

[John Bridge]

I doubt the people will file a claim. You get blacklisted around here for even thinking about it.

The same guys from south of the border work on the houses in Cinco as the ones in my neighborhood. The showers are exactly the same.