The Shower Disaster of Cassidy Contractor, A Tall Tale

Spring came early that year and Larry Landlord was looking forward to his many renovation projects. Chief among these was a shower renovation to replace a plastic surround with tile. Little did he know his renovation would be a case study in how not to hire and manage contractors.

Larry heard about Cassidy Contractor through his local landlord network. Cassidy had presented at a meeting and came recommended by a non-landlord homeowner with a beautiful mansion. Certainly anyone with a mansion would only hire a good contractor. Larry called Cassidy to meet at the property and give a quote.

“We don’t give quotes,” Cassidy said when he arrived at the property. “We only work to estimates, because we don’t know what we’ll find when we demolish the walls. The job could be short or it could be long.”

Larry thought that seemed reasonable. He had an old house, maybe the walls underneath would be partly rotten, or uneven, or who knows what. Larry listened while Cassidy looked at the shower and explained everything he would do.

Larry had a list of questions written down in advance. Cassidy answered some of them during his sales pitch, and then Larry asked the rest.

“Are you keeping the shower rod? Do you tile all the way up to the ceiling? What will it look like here at the edge of the existing wall?” Cassidy answered all of these questions to Larry’s satisfaction.

This apartment was occupied by long-term tenants. The renovation was a thank-you gift for renewing their lease. They were looking forward to their new shower! They were there listening as Cassidy and Larry spoke, and then they asked their own questions.

“What color tile will it be? Can we have a new showerhead? Can we have a stripe of different colored tile?” Cassidy pointed the landlord to a local tile supplier and said the landlord could pick all this out. Larry told the tenants he’d get some samples and show them. Larry was such a good landlord!

When all the questions were answered, Cassidy explained that he did all his estimating on Fridays. He would prepare his written estimate on Friday and would send it over the following Monday.

Well, Are you Ready to Start?

Larry was delighted to see the estimate come in under $2,000 including the tile, which he felt was low for so much work. He called Cassidy and said, “Let’s do it!” Larry hadn’t thought to check Cassidy’s insurance or contractor registration. He hadn’t received multiple estimates or quotes from multiple contractors. He trusted the recommendation and his gut feel. He didn’t need a written contract. This approach had served Larry well in the past.

Cassidy said that in order to schedule a job, Larry would need to send $700 as a pre-payment. Larry mailed a check that morning and waited.

The check was cashed but Cassidy didn’t call.
Larry waited. And waited.

After two weeks of silence, Larry called and left a voicemail. Cassidy still hadn’t told him the start date. Larry called back two weeks after that. Then he called every week for three weeks. One morning in May, Cassidy rang him at 7:30 am. Cassidy apologized and explained that he had injured himself. He would be able to start the work in July.
Larry was so relieved to get back in touch that he merely said, “Oh, I’m so sorry you’ve been injured! July is fine!” He never thought to ask what had happened. Cassidy had stubbed his toe.

Larry asked Cassidy to schedule the work with the tenants.

Renovation Day One

Cassidy and his assistant showed up at the job site at 7 am on Monday, July 6. He knocked on the tenants’ door, and one of the tenants answered bleary-eyed and in a bathrobe. They hadn’t received notice of the start date and refused to let Cassidy in just then. Cassidy called Larry.
“Didn’t you schedule this with them?” Larry asked, very annoyed. Cassidy said he had left the tenants a voicemail before the 4^th of July. Larry then realized that he never should have let Cassidy be point-of-contact with his long-term tenants. Cassidy knew nothing about the rental business!
After a quick dial and a long apology to the tenants, Larry re-scheduled the job for the following week. The tenants had their notice and Cassidy could start work.

Renovation Day One, Again

The first day of demolition went smoothly. The walls underneath the surround were in excellent shape. There was a problem with the shower faucet being set to the wrong depth for the new tile, but that could be fixed with light plumbing. Cassidy left for the day with the shower area as exposed studs.

The tenants had been told to expect no shower for four days. Larry initially thought this was too long, but after consulting with some other landlords over his local message board, he realized that this kind of tile job could take seven to ten days. Four days would be a good outcome.

Meanwhile the tenants had arranged to shower at a friend’s apartment.

Renovation Day Two

On day two, Cassidy called Larry early in the morning to apologize. He explained that he had an emergency at another job and couldn’t work on Larry’s place that day. Larry was very unhappy to hear this, but told Cassidy to do what he had to do.

The next day, Larry heard nothing. He called over lunch time to see if Cassidy was back at work. No answer.

Cassidy didn’t return to the job site until Friday. The shower had been out of service now for five days, and only one day of labor had been put in. Larry was now furious.

All Cassidy said was, “I’m sorry, but this is why we don’t sign contracts with late penalties. Sometimes we have emergencies we can’t control.”

Larry talked to the tenants to try to smooth things over. They were understanding but getting concerned.

Renovation Week Two

Noise from the prior week’s early morning demolition had disturbed the neighbors in the building next door. The City Building Inspector had been notified, and drove to Larry’s building to see the work for himself.

The inspector was as kind as possible to Larry. “I’ve known you for years, Larry, and I know you’re a good landlord, but this is a major bathroom renovation. City code requires me to cite you for not pulling a permit. Think of it this way:  if this job is not done to code, the permit helps you to pursue the contractor.”

Cassidy took offense and said, “Of course my work will be done to code!”

The inspector thanked Cassidy and Larry for their time, said he could get them a permit if they came downtown, and was on his way. Larry left the building feeling somewhat queasy. This project was going very badly, and the citation made it far over budget.

Renovation Week Three

After the permit dispute, Cassidy seemed not to be working very much. He would show up every day, do what looked like a couple hours of cutting and setting, then take off. It was hard for Larry to know. The Tenants would let Cassidy in each morning, and Cassidy would lock himself out each evening.

Larry confronted Cassidy about this. Cassidy explained that the job was more difficult than he thought, and he had other jobs with emergency things happening, and he was still hurting from his injury. “This is why I said we only work to estimates,” he said, rubbing his shoulder. “My shoulder injury is really bad.”

By now the tenants had become deeply upset. They had worn out their welcome showering at a friend’s house, and had consulted with a housing attorney about whether they should get reduced rent. The attorney had told them about the state sanitary code. The landlord must provide either a working tub or shower. They had been without both for weeks. There was no end in sight.

For the first time in six years, the tenants did not pay Larry August rent.

Cost of a Hotel

Larry was furious at himself for hiring Cassidy without a written agreement. There was nothing he could do except fire Cassidy and bring in another contractor. But the job was so close to being done! He paid for the tenants to have a room at a nearby motel.

“You’ll reimburse me for this hotel cost!” Larry shouted at Cassidy. Cassidy apologized and said he was doing the best he could. “My hand really hurts.”

“Your hand?” shouted Larry. “I thought you hurt your shoulder.”
“Both!” exclaimed Cassidy.

Larry left in a huff.

Tying up Loose Ends

The tile job was finished in mid-August. Larry thanked his lucky stars that the tenants were happy with the quality of the work. He had settled with them for 25% off their August rent.
When the bill from Cassidy arrived in the mail, Larry nearly choked to death on his morning bowl of corn flakes. The bill had invoiced for 80 hours of labor, plus materials. The copy of the receipt included what looked to him like a brand new tile saw from Home Depot. It didn’t acknowledge the $700 deposit.

Larry called Cassidy’s cell phone, but Cassidy didn’t answer. Larry left a very curt voicemail asking Cassidy to call him back as soon as possible. Larry set the bill to one side of the kitchen table and determined not to pay it.

Larry didn’t pay it for many months, but Cassidy never replied to Larry’s calls. Larry decided to send a check in the mail for less than the full amount. He calculated what Cassidy should be paid for the original four days’ work, plus materials, less the tile saw and the deposit, and mailed Cassidy a check and a letter.

Larry and the tenants lived happily with their new shower for many years, until one day, Larry decided to sell his property. He discovered that way back in August, Year of the Shower, Cassidy Contractor had placed a lien on his property. But that, my friends, is a tale for another time.

And The Moral of this Story Is

Even good landlords and good contractors can have terrible experiences with one another. Try to get a written agreement that matches the size of the job. Hire only with a warm fuzzy that you’ve thought of all the ways the job can go bad, and that expectations are aligned.

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