I am a self-employed construction worker in Utah. I was recently asked by a person whom i've worked for here in Utah if i could travel
to Idaho Falls to work on a property that he and his sister had purchased. This property is divided into multiple units and i believe all units within are rented with the exception of one apt. where he wanted the work to be performed. His intention is to make this unit available as a short-term vacation rental or bed and breakfast. He talked about replacing kitchen cabinets and countertop as well as replacing the bathroom sink, faucet and vanity. For almost two years, my hourly rate as well as my sons has not changed. I've never had any problems obtaining payment from him regardless of the project or the time involved to complete any project. in other words, he has always been fare and at no time have we ever had in place any type of contract for services performed or a set dollar amount expectation. After three hours of driving, i arrived at the property eager to get started on the work. His daughter is an Idaho Falls resident and it became clear that her role was to supervise and report back to him. Before we were allowed to start the work, we spent 5 1/2 hrs. clarifying the details and expectations for the project as well as insuring all product availability. i was asked to provide him with what he called a'hard number' of hours i expected to take to reach a satisfactory completion. I explained to him that i could not provide that number because the very nature of construction, specifically remodels, potentially harbor unknowns and things out of my control. By the way, this property was built in 1910. He persisted and made it clear that he was going to delay the start until i gave him a hard number. He pushed a number of 33 hrs. repetitively. At no time did i ever say this was a bid, rather it was an estimate which by definition is subject to change. We spent 42 hrs. working until two such things out of my control occurred. The first was a wrong size wall cabinet width and the second was a warped countertop. I explained the situation to the owner who was disappointed but said he understood. I let him know that the countertop issue was correctable by simply exchanging it for one that was straight but the cabinet issue would take 10 days to correct per my conversation with the supplier. On the tenth day, the supplier said it would take an additional 5-7 days to correct their mistake. My persistence as well as some good luck produced the correct cabinet in Utah that same day. The owner asked for an email with a list of all that was needed to be completed and an estimate of the additional hours needed. I supplied that list and my hour estimate was 16. After the 3 hr. drive my son and i worked for 21 of the next 24 hrs. which included some additional items thrown at us by the daughter at the end of the job. On the second day after arriving back in Utah (the first day was spent sleeping) i put together my bill and submitted it for payment. The next day, i was told a check was ready and when i received it, it was for 33 hrs. of labor. The owner said that was all he would pay because i agreed to bid the job for 33 hrs. I have since attempted to appeal to his sense of decency citing the 12 hrs. drive time, the associated gas cost, meal expense, consideration for motel, and the time we spent working out the specifics and logistics of the job. That attempt was made by phone conversation approximately 1 week ago and subsequently my phone calls have gone unanswered and unreturned. ...Read More