What do you do poor workmanship

[Jenn]

Aluminum fence is done: but the details are sloppy. I have to complain that the final product does not display workmanship that the builder should be proud of nor can our family recommend him to others wanting work done. A rectangle and two of the corners are not square and have extra posts thrown in; and because the work was done working from two starting points/sides and/or because of poor measurements at the start the two short ends are different lengths and are both a few inches longer (thus extra poles/ bits panel, and one bit fence angled away from straight) than the exactly 5 panels I believe the workers had planned.

The final effect is tolerable but leaves me with the dismayed feeling that I would have done a better job had I done the work myself.

So what should I do?

DH says don't pay them, and why didn't we just do it ourselves?

They certainly worked several man-days on it and I am not absolutely certain I could have done better but now the posts are cemented in revising it will be awful for us OR them- probably won't bother but it's a shame they weren't more careful. And perhaps they should make up to us with lower price for sloppiness.

[Beaners]

No matter what you do, send a certified letter notifying them. I wouldn't say don't pay for it, but I might say send them a letter saying you are not satisfied with the quality of work, and would like them to either repair their work or give you a partial refund.

No matter what make sure you have documentation. You don't want them to come back at you with a collection agency because you weren't pleased with their service.

Kayleigh

Don't ask for a refund. Set up an appointment for the person that bid the job to come inspect their work. Let him/her know what you feel is substandard. Be nice. Listen to what they say. Evaluate their words and state whether their answer is acceptable or unacceptable. State CLEARLY why you feel that it is unacceptable (in case they missed it the first time. Be nice. If they get rude etc... ask them to leave and file a BBB and or civil suit. Don't be nice, they had their chance to make it right.

Were they BONDED? If so see a lawyer.

[Explorer]

If your state has a Register of Contractors, I would talk to them about your options. When I had my place built they were very helpful a couple of times until my general contractor wised up when he realized they could put him out of business.

[Mike in Pa]

You can't just "not pay them" ... that's obsurd. They did the work and had a lot into it. You could, as someone else said, contact them and let them know your displeasure. Let them offer a discount and if not you can initiate that line of thinking.
If it is truly a big deal, contact the BBB ... this really does help.

Next time maybe try a contractor referral service(usually free to you) or a good reference from a reputable source. Sounds like you might have went with the lowest bid? Thats fine ... often what I do ... but you get what you pay for.

If they don't want to bite on the "discount" ... maybe withold 10% minimum and say "we can do it this way or we can let the courts decide". JMO

[Burbsteader]

than the exactly 5 panels I believe the workers had planned.

Here's a good example of what could be the problem. Did you actually know what was planned, or did you just believe that you knew?
It is up to you to lay out what you expect and discuss clearly with them how you want it to look.
If there was never any clear discussion of expectations, just a belief, then sadly you end up with your result. You got stuck with the fence they believed would be good enough, not the fence that you believed was good enough.

Good luck. Hope you are able to get this worked out.

[e.alleg]

"Good enough is NOT good enough" is my motto. Before you get mad I would have the company owner over for a chat, don't threaten to not pay them, but let him/her know that you are displeased and that you aren't comfortable with a job that you can't proudly show people. When I had my concrete floor done the guys asked me if it was good enough when they were about 80% done smoothing it, I said I would much rather pay full price for a complete job rather than partial price for a partial job and that's all I needed to say they did a great job.

[Jenn]

Today from most angles it looks a lot better than last night- wil prolly go ahead and pay quick before DH comes home and tells me I CAN'T pay them. Thanks though for letting me complain- the work is not so bad nor costly as to hire a lawyer or pay them $0 just imperfect. I hired them as subject matter experts- and not lowest bidder but only bidder on building fence with parts I ordered myself rather than through them. If they'd managed to come on 3 of the 99% of the days I have been home waiting on them instead of this last day the one day in 3 months that I'm working things would've been better. Lucky I got to supervise the first 2 days! I know many of us can barely schedule a contractor at all around work.

This ends I hope (help we may need a new roof- will put off that project as long as possible and DH feels confident to do repairs in the meantime) any contractors working in my yard so I can actually get it where I want it, and WHEW am I glad I am saving $1000, but doing it as I want to slow and careful, on my 1000 ft of chain link fence. Can only imagine the chopped down trees and concerns about the property line as well as where the runoff water is going to go in a few areas- funny because the CLF me doing it is pretty odd looking in places but we don't mind THAT- had hired them for a smaller fancy closer to house area we were afraid my efforts would be too goofy looking to be able to look at every day without crying "WHY didn't we hire someone?!?" Hopefully we will be able to look at it (not too closely) without saying each time "WHY didn't we do it ourselves?!?"