Robert1050
11-16-2006, 02:25 PM
A little background (or maybe a lot of background):
I finally got a year-round space at the Islander RV resort this past summer & wanted to put in a block retaining wall at the back of my site. A lot of my neighbors have had them put in over the years for various reasons, the main one being to stop soil erosion from under their concrete slabs. My space is on a berm that overlooks the main access road through the resort and for the last couple of months the site below me has been empty, so I thought this would be an appropriate time to get the wall put in.
I went to the office & reviewed the resort's policy on concrete & retaining walls and noticed that they only had 1 contractor listed that met their 'criteria'. I called him & made an appointment to have him come over to my site to get an idea of what I wanted. I drew up plans, got the office's approval & then FAX'd them to the contractor. I checked with my neighbors on what they had been paying for walls and the range went from $1200 - 1800.
Imagine my shock when I got an estimate for $4400! I noticed that the estimate called out that I needed to send in a deposit for $2000 to start work, so I just ignored it & figured I'd get estimates from contractors that had previously done work for the resort & then speak to the office about allowing them to do the work.
This was 1 month ago. I've been busy with other projects & had forgotten about this whole mess, when I go a message on my cellphone this morning. It was the contractor in Havasu calling to say that my wall was complete & he'd appreciate receiving a check for the work he did. When I called him back, the first thing I said was that this isn't April Fool's day, so I hoped his call to me had been a joke......dead silence on his end.....
He went on to say that his crews just finished the job & to him the wall came out looking very nicely. I told him that I had never authorized him to begin work & I had never sent him a deposit. He said that was correct, but he just thought I'd like to have it done. I said that Yes, I'd like to get it done, but thought his estimate was a little insulting for it's high price. He said he could cut a couple of bucks off the job becuase he had mis-estimated the cost of the pavers to do the wall. He calculated that he would need 340 pavers for the job at a cost of $5.00 each and that he actually purchased them for $2.00 each, so he'd knock that cost difference off. I told him that I had only budgeted $2000 for the entire job & that I did not have $4400 laying around to pay him. So he said that he'd take the $2000 & we'd then be square.
Huh? Estimating $4400, then settling for $2000? Did I just get lucky today, or do all contractors in Havasu have that much room to budge on their quotes?
Maybe I should go to Vegas & play some blackjack with LadyLuck looking over my shoulder.....
Robert
I finally got a year-round space at the Islander RV resort this past summer & wanted to put in a block retaining wall at the back of my site. A lot of my neighbors have had them put in over the years for various reasons, the main one being to stop soil erosion from under their concrete slabs. My space is on a berm that overlooks the main access road through the resort and for the last couple of months the site below me has been empty, so I thought this would be an appropriate time to get the wall put in.
I went to the office & reviewed the resort's policy on concrete & retaining walls and noticed that they only had 1 contractor listed that met their 'criteria'. I called him & made an appointment to have him come over to my site to get an idea of what I wanted. I drew up plans, got the office's approval & then FAX'd them to the contractor. I checked with my neighbors on what they had been paying for walls and the range went from $1200 - 1800.
Imagine my shock when I got an estimate for $4400! I noticed that the estimate called out that I needed to send in a deposit for $2000 to start work, so I just ignored it & figured I'd get estimates from contractors that had previously done work for the resort & then speak to the office about allowing them to do the work.
This was 1 month ago. I've been busy with other projects & had forgotten about this whole mess, when I go a message on my cellphone this morning. It was the contractor in Havasu calling to say that my wall was complete & he'd appreciate receiving a check for the work he did. When I called him back, the first thing I said was that this isn't April Fool's day, so I hoped his call to me had been a joke......dead silence on his end.....
He went on to say that his crews just finished the job & to him the wall came out looking very nicely. I told him that I had never authorized him to begin work & I had never sent him a deposit. He said that was correct, but he just thought I'd like to have it done. I said that Yes, I'd like to get it done, but thought his estimate was a little insulting for it's high price. He said he could cut a couple of bucks off the job becuase he had mis-estimated the cost of the pavers to do the wall. He calculated that he would need 340 pavers for the job at a cost of $5.00 each and that he actually purchased them for $2.00 each, so he'd knock that cost difference off. I told him that I had only budgeted $2000 for the entire job & that I did not have $4400 laying around to pay him. So he said that he'd take the $2000 & we'd then be square.
Huh? Estimating $4400, then settling for $2000? Did I just get lucky today, or do all contractors in Havasu have that much room to budge on their quotes?
Maybe I should go to Vegas & play some blackjack with LadyLuck looking over my shoulder.....
Robert