Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with contractor

Does my husband qualify for unemployment?

otherwordlyglow — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 11:26:44 -0800

Will my husband qualify for unemployment in California after a long-term temp/contract position is over? My husband was hired for a three-month stint in an engineering position at a major electronics manufacturer to replace a guy out on sick leave. He is paid through an agency (payrolling.com) and receives a W-2. So I guess he's technically an employee of Payrolling, placed in the electronics manufacturer's office. Because the guy he was replacing ended up having complications, my husband has been there for 14 months and was recently told that the previously sick dude will be back as of the end of January so they'll no longer need my husband's services.

Can he receive unemployment compensation from the state of California? In total, he will have been there 15 months full time when he leaves.

He'd really love to stay there as a full-time employee (not through Payrolling.com) and they have suggested that a position may open up to hire him, so he certainly doesn't want to make any waves but if he's going to be out of work, the unemployment compensation would be welcome.

Any recourse for a shorted work contract?

KevinSkomsvold — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 08:18:45 -0800

I'm a contractor. In October my contract was extended per an email from my recruiter, to Jan 31, 2010. This was a bit of relief since X-mas is always a tight money situation. Yesterday I got a call from my recruiter telling me they "revised" the contract and it will end on December 30, 2009. This puts me in somewhat of a bind. Am I fucked in terms of recourse?

Contractor in Madison, WI

echo target — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 10:56:05 -0800

Looking for a contractor in Madison, WI to get an estimate on a kitchen remodel. I'm looking at an older house in Madison that's very nice but for a small kitchen. I'd like to get a ballpark figure on how much it would be to knock out a wall, build a breakfast bar, and move the sink.

This would be our first house, and I'm not sure where to begin. I'm hoping that the contractor can walk through with us and give us a figure that we can use to see if we can afford the place.

Can you recommend any particular contractors to hire, or to avoid?

Installing Radiant Heat Flooring

crush-onastick — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 11:10:18 -0800

Chicago home improvement filter: We'd like to get an estimate for installing radiant-heat flooring in our condo (6-flat built at the turn of the last century. We own a duplex down, with the primary living area being on the ground floor) or possibly replacing the HVAC with baseboard heating. Anything, really, because the conversion from whatever-it-was to the gas furnace HVAC it now is was badly done and the place is freezing all the time. Any business or contractors you recommend? Suggestions for going about this the right way? Dire warnings? Our condo is two bedrooms, three baths, living room with a separate dining room and an enclosed sunroom. There is a small finished basement. The living room and dining room are hardwood floors; the rest of the house is carpet (except the baths and kitchen, which are tile). At a minimum, I'd like to put radiant-heat flooring in the kitchen and baths, but I'd like to find out if it's possible and financially-viable for us to convert the whole place to radiant-heat flooring or baseboard heat because the furnace doesn't do it. We've had the furnace inspected, cleaned, tuned, but it's not efficient. When it was installed, the duct-work was poorly placed (for one thing, the vents are at the *top* of extra-tall walls, so all the heat floats up to the high ceilings).

No, we have no interest in doing this ourselves. None. Not even touching up the paint afterwards. But I don't know where to begin finding someone to assess the possibility and doing the job for us. I have asked a friend--who is an architect--but he was not much help.

Help a soon-to-graduate PhD find work in Iraq or Afghanistan

jchaw — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 22:01:02 -0800

Hi! I will soon graduate from a top computer science program with a PhD. I am interested to work in Iraq and Afghanistan for a year or two. Clearly, I prefer to work in the "green zone", but am willing to work alongside troops in the combat zone. I am quite versatile and can do alot of stuff, e.g., teaching, designing software, engineering work, testing, maintaining complex systems, etc. Does anyone know how I can go about this? I tried looking at KBR's and FLOUR's job postings for contractors. But they primarily list jobs that are in food service, transportation, warehousing, etc. I like to get a job that is intellectually fulfilling. Oh. One more thing. I am a foreign national from a country that is friendly to the US and the NATO countries. Thanks! :)

you're fired! sort of…

violetk — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 19:43:23 -0800

Was i fired? my boss scheduled an appointment between her, me and the head of HR today at 5p. my first thought was a meeting with HR at 5p can only mean that i'll be fired. this was not entirely out of the question due to many factors including, but not limited to, the fact that half the time i go into the office, i think i am going to be fired (and i am not the only one at the company who feels this), our company sales were down 30% in sales last quarter (and in fact, has never turned a profit), the sudden firings that have occurred within the company, etc.

when i walked into the meeting, the head of HR gave a monologue about how they liked me, thought i was a good person, am very talented at what i do but that there have been ongoing issues that they didn't see improving. there were some accusations made about my performance as of late (some true, some not true—but i was not interested in defending myself against them, for reasons made more obvious below). he went on to tell me how he and my boss have been in meetings about how to make things work with me and the company, that i didn't seem to be thriving within the corporate environment there and then told me they would like to switch me to contract status (though not full-time). he asked me what i thought of the idea. i said that sounded great—pretty much solely because i had been so miserable at this company since january that it was beginning to affect my health. and believe, me i am relieved and feel as though i have been given approval for release from the asylum. my last day won't be for another few weeks as i wrap up projects and after i work out with my boss the logistics and fee structure for my new status.

i view this as being essentially fired or let go from a full-time position and therefore will be eligible to claim unemployment benefts (the head of HR also let me know that i would be eligible to receive COBRA benefits as well). whether i am hired in a contract capacity later or not (though i believe i will be getting contract work from them) but i have never trusted this company and wouldn't put it past them to try to deny me unemployment benefits in the end.

so my question is, essentially, i was fired, was i not? and thus, i will be eligible to collect unemployment, am i not?

Contractor vs. salaryman: Two types of worker enter, one gets work less often than the other in the current economy

ignignokt — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 14:49:06 -0800

Are contractors and salaried workers being affected differently by the slow economy, specifically in the IT industry? So, it appears the US economy is still worsening, but at a slower rate. However, unemployment is still going to hit 10%, according to that article. Who is it worse for: salaried employees or contractors? Any relevant stats?

Help us help our neighbors with their contractors

Ladybug Parade — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 12:02:47 -0800

Our neighbor wants to hire my husband to act as a sort of general contractor to oversee some repairs on our neighbor's house. Before we say yes to this, what questions should we ask? Our next-door neighbors, who have been friends of my husband's family for decades, are moving out of state soon, and they have not sold their house yet. Before they do, they'd like to have a number of repairs done -- some electrical and plumbing work, as well has some floor refinishing -- to raise the value. They're ready to move into their new house, though, and don't want to wait around for all this work to be done. (We're in Arlington, Va.; new house is in the Florida Keys -- go figure.) So, they're offering to hire my husband to oversee the work for them.

My husband has the summer off from grad school, and the money would be a help. But he's never done any kind of general contracting work before. We imagine this would be a matter of calling contractors and hiring them, being around while they're working on the house, and calling our neighbors to ask them about the inevitable cost overruns. But, what details aren't occurring to us? Before we officially say yes, what questions should we ask?

I want to fire my temp agency

Anonymous — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 16:40:52 -0800

I work through Kelly Services in a long-term temp position at a huge multinational. I got a phone call today from Kelly Services saying they were giving all professional employees at the MNC a 5% pay cut, effective June 29. What can I do -- besides walk? Though, of course, Kelly Services is claiming that the MNC directed the change, a manager (not my own) at the MNC tells me that is not the case at all. MNC (at least, at this location) has a hiring freeze, but employees have not had pay cuts or layoffs. I would walk out over this, but I have to feed my kids.

I think my boss might be willing to work with me to get around it. My employment is at-will. How would I become an independent contractor? Or come in through another agency? How would I find out whether that is possible? This being a MNC, I can't imagine I'd get too much help from HR, but if I can figure out how to do it, I believe my boss would be willing to undergo some hassle to get this done for me.

Secondarily, another time Kelly Services did something dodgy, with our vacation pay, someone filed a class action lawsuit and I got a notification in the mail that I was part of the class unless I opted out. Is it possible to fight this pay cut? How? Is it significant that we are all getting individual phone calls, but nothing in writing?

Please assume I know nothing at all about negotiation or employment law -- because I don't. Thanks for any advice you can give me. Throwaway email: firingkelly@gmail.com

Hiring a roofing contractor, prefer to avoid disaster

HotToddy — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 10:01:02 -0800

Best practices for hiring a roofing contractor, please. Like, do I care what brand of shingles he uses if I'm only planning to be here for a couple more years? How do I ensure my landscaping isn't destroyed? What sorts of things should be covered in the contract? Any and all advice, cautionary tales, etc., welcome!

Shaka, When the Walls Fell

anti social order — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 05:26:05 -0800

Leaking something in an upstairs bathroom leads to ceiling falling in. Now what? Last night the ceiling under an upstairs bathroom in the townhouse where I am staying collapsed with a torrent of water. It's cleaned up and not currently leaking. I think the water is coming from the toilet or close to it. I shut the water off on the tank, I don't see any other water flowing or dripping. The drywall around this new hole is wet and sagging and the wood above looks wet/rotted/gross/moldy. Now what?

I am clueless with home repair, but it looks fairly serious. There's the leak to be fixed, drywall to be repaired, and god knows what else if the wooden floor beams are damaged. I'm especially worried about mold in the walls and hidden damage elsewhere.

My question is what kind of person do I want to take a look at this? Bonus points for recommendations in Montgomery county maryland.
Also what should I expect or ask of them? do we talk costs upfront or after they've done stuff. The house is insured - do we call an inspector like when it was storm damaged? Is it better to eat a grand or two repair bill or make an insurance claim?

I'm at a bit of a loss about what else to add. Ask anything that you need. Thank you.

marketer contract rate before full0time

umlaut — Thu, 14 May 2009 08:39:03 -0800

I wowed folks at my job interview for the full-time position being a webmaster / graphic designer / marketer. But they want me as a contractor first due to the economy. Thoughts on compensation? Folks at my job interview for a full-time position being their webmaster / graphic designer / marketer were "very impressed" with me. Their prior person was a jack-of-all trades and they feel I fit similarly. At the moment the current economy has them seeking me as a contractor – before the ultimate goal of me being full-time. They mentioned they had foreseen my requested salary of $60k at the job interview. It's not far off from this question, except adding the marketing and subtracting the coding. In the past, I feel I've been too flexible on pay in the interest of compromise and avoiding tough negotiation. Thoughts on discussing compensation with them (tomorrow morning)?

Consulting - am I doing it wrong?

Anonymous — Tue, 05 May 2009 12:37:04 -0800

I'm just starting out as an independent network and systems contractor and I think I've agreed to a bad deal. What are my options? This all came about as I got what sounded like a cool job offer and the recruiter offered to help me setup a contracting gig rather than hire me as an employee. But the more I learn, the less it sounds like I'm in a good spot.

Backstory: Senior windows/cisco IT guy, damn good, (mcse+messaging/ccnp skills, but no certs) 14 years experience implementing all manner of microsoft and cisco products in a midsize environment, done management and budgeting, like the job but hated the non-technical parts. I was let go last year and after failing to find a good fit locally I wanted to switch over to consulting in a new larger market so I moved to Washington DC a month ago.

One company responded to my resume within an hour (!) and I was asked to come aboard after a short phone interview on a sunday (!!) to bring up an office for a federal agency as a subcontractor the following monday(!!!). Sounded quick and easy on the phone last week. Well, things have been "held up" and there are no servers or routers except a leased line to a single hosted box. So I'm doing helpdesk grunt work for ~50 users with no end in sight.

So on to the help setting myself up. I was asked and agreed to quote a flat monthly rate (which now seems low (works out to be ~$200 for an 8-hour day, less the more I work)), at net 30, for this on-site support. There is no set end date. I have to be on-site 8a-5p every day unless I make arrangements for another guy from the same agency to cover me. I cannot leave if there is no work, but if there is extra I'm expected to stay until it's completed. If it matters I have no contract or SOW only an NDA, so I think I'm free to walk away at any time.

Questions:
1) Is the money range low for my skill sets in the area?

2) Is this a normal contract structure for federal IT contractors or this area?
2a) How do I get a feel for the norm in this area without actually trying to hire people?

3) Can / Should I try to renegotiate the verbal deal?
3a)How do I best go about renegotiating without burning bridges? I'd like to do the actually implementation work if it ever happens, but I really want to get away from desktop support.

4) Where can I learn more about starting out as an independent so I can avoid these mistakes in the future? There were some links in other contractor posts, but they seemed aimed at designers so I'm not sure how much applies.

Any other resources or help with starting out as a newbie consultant would be greatly appreciated. A good contractor community site would be ideal.

Thanks in advance.

anon to avoid attaching my real name to the mess I've made. I'll happily followup in mefi-mail or with a mod if needed.

So you'd like to build a garden wall...

rileyray3000 — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 06:00:52 -0800

Is there an 'ask metafilter' on the internet for home/yard projects? Not that I'm disputing the collective mind here, but I'm looking to build something in my backyard and it seems to me there must be some group of contractors who all get together somewhere on the internet to tell amateurs that they're doing it wrong. Of course if you KNOW how to install a yard retaining wall, then, by all means, speak up. So here's the thing: I'm renting a house with a backyard. A very sloping, bumpy, uneven back yard. And I'd like to put some gravel and picnic table down. But to keep said picnic table from sliding down the hill to the neighbor's chain link fence, I thought I'd try to even it all out.

So here's my plan.

Put in some deep posts - like five feet tall - along the bottom part of the hill slope. Sink them halfway down into the the hill. Then, put some boards from one post to the next. nail em in. Fill area with dirt.

Then, after, I figured I'd get some fruit trees from that orchard that's always giving them away and put them BELOW the posts and aim them so they grow towards the fence and eventually support it.

All in all? I'd say it's a fool proof plan. Except when it comes to this sort of thing, I'm kind of a new fool to the arena. Some have told me I need a specific kind of lumber. Others said I have to put the posts in concrete. Which I'm guessing I have to make. Others said the opposite, pointing to the non concrete much MUCH smaller version of said wall that stood for a long time previous.

So do you know the answers here? And if not, do you know where I can GET the answers?

Yay! I'm a contractor! Now what?

Anonymous — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 07:49:10 -0800

I'm being asked to do a freelance project and I have no idea what I'm doing! I was recently laid off like everyone else seems to be these days, and I still don't really have any solid job prospects.

A former colleague sent me an e-mail this morning asking if I would be willing to do a programming project on contract for him, with the possibility that they might have more upcoming work. I really need the money and told him I would be happy to. I sort of jumped the gun because I was excited and quickly sent him an response containing some details about what I would need to do to accomplish the job, how long I thought it would take, and based on that (and what I used to make at my old job that was similar work) I enclosed an estimated quote, which he said looked good.

I said I would get back to him for specifics later in the week after I took care of a few other commitments. But I've never done this before, and I'm not quite sure how to proceed with a few things.

Specific questions I have that I can't seem to find concrete answers to:

1.) For those who are self-employed and do a lot of small-ish jobs, how do your contracts look? I know I need one, but am unsure what needs to go in it. Should I use one of those websites that you can download forms from, or can I write it myself in "plain English"? I don't have time to get a lawyer to look anything over for this particular project, but if I see a possibility of more freelance work, I will definitely do that.

1a.) From a legal standpoint, is there a difference between contract and freelance work? If so, how do I know which one I am?

2.) What is a good way to bill them so that I ensure I get paid, and in a timely manner? This is a small business of about 20 people, if that matters for some reason.

3.) Do I need some official record keeping for tax purposes, or will a spreadsheet suffice?

4.) What is the normal flow of processes that I should have done or should be doing? I'm not exactly sure how to ask this question coherently, but it occurred to me that if someone e-mails me asking me to work for them, there's probably some kind of protocol aside from, "Ok, sure. You need X done, I'll do it this way and charge you $Y for it." I'm sure that doesn't look as professional as it should.

5.) What are some considerations that might seem like common sense to experienced contractors, but that are easy to overlook at start up? What do you wish someone would have warned you about when you started contracting or freelancing?

Sorry if these are obvious questions. I've Googled in a panic and found most of the information I need, but just can't get a solid answer on these few details.

If anyone knows of some good, reputable sites with advice for contract or freelance workers where I could find this sort of thing, I would GREATLY appreciate that too. It seems like I sifted through a lot of "Maek mony at home~!!1!" scam type sites looking for information.

Anon because I don't want to look completely unprofessional under my real name. Again, lots of thanks in advance for any and all advice, I'm sort of freaking out about what I've gotten myself into!

How Can a Freelancer Safely Fire a Client

Anonymous — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 13:27:02 -0800

What's the best way, once I tell a client I'm done with her, to protect myself from claims of unauthorized access or sabotage on the systems I configured for her? I'm breaking off relations with a client I installed and configured a number of software packages for. I have ongoing access to all the software I installed -- shell accounts, database & other passwords -- because I agreed to do hourly support once the software was up and running.

My first thought is to prepare a notarized letter and send it via registered mail, providing a list of administrative accounts/passwords and advising the client to change them. My second thought is that I'm overthinking this and should just e-mail my point of contact with the information she needs to reset the passwords for herself, assuming that if she eventually does something foolish and breaks something she won't do anything vindictive and shift the blame to me.

I do have reason to believe a certain amount of vindictiveness is worth planning for in this case. Even if it's not, this seems like the sort of thing I should know in the future: The sort of people I do work for are not hiring extra technical help when they contract with me -- I am the technical help -- so there's not an in-house admin or engineer to close and lock the door behind me.

Looking beyond this instance, are there standard contract clauses or procedures among technical contractors that deal with this sort of thing? I'm more of a shade-tree mechanic than a high-speed consultant, but if it means setting up an LLC or something similar I'll do it if that's what it takes to keep relatively lucrative side work coming in.

Is this a good time to do a home remodel?

Xazeru — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 18:30:54 -0800

How has the recent economic situation affected the cost of a house remodel? Is it cheaper because of the soft housing market, or more expensive because more people are fixing up the places they own instead of moving?

Labor law help needed for socal govt contract employee

Anonymous — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 08:38:47 -0800

I believe my company, a government contractor, is using alot of grey areas in their employee time cards to get away with paying as little as possible. For example, I am listed with them as "salary", which by my understanding would mean I get x amount of payment per pay period. However, they still have everyone fill out a time card, and pay us per the hours we have worked. However with widely varying schedules each week due to employees being sick, or managers (who do not get paid by hour but really are salaried) taking our shifts, it means our paychecks can vary by several hundred dollars either direction.

Now this means on the upshot, I have some weeks I get to pull in more hours, and to be honest this happens more often than not. However, since they list our positions as "salary", any overtime is treated as a normal hour. We do not get 1.5x for hours over 40 per week, and do not get 2.0x for holidays, etc. We just get the same rate for every hour we work no matter when it is.

At this time let me point out that everyone's shift here is, by virtue of the fact we have 12 hour shifts for 24/7 positions and the number of people we do, a minimum of 84 hours per 2 weeks. Thats broken into a 60 hour week, and then a 24 hour week. I can provide more details on how that breaks down if it seems relevant to the issue.

Even though I'm not totally comfortable with the setup as is, I can deal with it for the most part. Concern grows however, when in the past several weeks, a sub-contractor to our company, who supplies some of the employees I share shifts with, determined our jobs to be "hourly" and has granted their people 1.5x OT and 2.0x Holidays. Our company will not grant that to us, and has now infact, cut that sub-contractor's employee's hours down to 40 per week max to avoid having to pay higher rate hours. They are now "reviewing" our entire job description in an internal investigation to find out if we are salary or hourly.

My first issue is that the people doing the review are all pro-company managers, who are NOT accountants, lawyers, or have any qualifications that I can see to carry this out. My second issue is that pending the outcome of this "investigation" we have now be subject to many rule changes.

Sick time, even though our normal shift is 12 hours, can not be used more than 8 hours at a time (per day out sick), and can not take you over 40 hours in a week. This means a day I was sick last week and took off, which I rarely do, I have lost half of my pay for, despite having 100+ sick hours saved up. If I had come in, I would have been paid 12 hours. I was too sick, so I only get 6, because the other 6 would have put me over 40 hours that week. We have in the past ALWAYS been able to use up to our "expected scheduled shift" worth of sick time per day we call out. After the fact, and after I challenged this with my manager/pay-approver, an email was sent out explaining this new rule.

So, how can you help? Thanks for asking.

I need to know, specific to Southern California, or Government contracts, as much as I can...

A) How can I get a *real* investigation into they payment practices started, by a labor board or such?

B) Is there any recourse you know of, or could see, for me to get my 4 hours sick time. I admit its more of a principle issue than the 4 hours of pay, but I'm really really pissed over it.

C) If our jobs some how are declared truely hourly, is there any precident for possibly getting the past 2 years of my life here reviewed, for a chance at pack pay for all of those 1.5x and 2.0x days I've put in?

I know no one here is a labor lawyer, or my specific lawyer, and I am fully aware I am not one either... but help if you can. Also, note, we are NOT unionized here.

If someone would like more information or to discuss this directly, you can email me at anonymous_2350@randomshit.com. Thanks.

Stuck On An Ambiguous Barrel

DU — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 06:34:11 -0800

How do I say "no, unless..." to my boss's boss? A tiny bit of background: The company I work for is medium sized (several hundreds, maybe a couple thousand employees) but broken down into autonomous groups. It's a research place, so we have some of the positives of economies of scale but also some of the positives of small tech startups. My own group is about 100 people in 4 layers from "CEO" (group leader) to "staff" (software worker bees like myself). Actually, while my official level is "software bee" I'm the only software person working on a fairly large, fairly high profile project. So I'm a bee, but not a monkey.

I'm also a contractor. The place has great benefits (both financial and social, such as being able to use on-campus stuff) but only for regular employees. When I was hired, 4.5 years ago, I was told that sometimes people get "converted" to a regular employee and though I was never promised anything I did hold out hope. Occasionally I made noises to my boss (B) who brought it up with his superiors (he has no power to make those decisions).

About a year ago I decided to bring it up with the next level myself. (Our small size made this not a faux pas (I think).) My boss's boss (BB) was very...."encouraging" isn't quite the right word because it connotes that he encouraged me when it was really the things he did that made me feel encouraged. For instance, when I emailed him he wanted to talk right away and didn't put me off. He needed some information and set a date only a few days in the future for me to provide it, which I did. I walked away from that experience feeling like my "conversion" was imminent.

6 months later, I asked again what was up with it. He told me not to lose hope, it wasn't a dead request.

Today, I got instructions from BB to do a 15 minute presentation in front of the 100 person group. My first instinct is to say "Sure I'll do this extra work that I really, really hate...once I get the full benefits that any regular employee gets." But I don't want to burn bridges by starting a fight. And BB is a genuinely nice guy who may even have my interests in mind by doing this.

The reason it might be in my best interests to give the presentation: I told B this morning that "I don't think it's fair to ask me to do extra work when I'm not getting full, let alone extra, benefits." According to B, giving occasional briefings is something the company considers regular staff should be able to do. So perhaps BB is standing me up in front of everyone to bolster his case that I should be "converted". Then again, B told me this same thing last time I was asked to give a talk. BB has never said anything like this, at least that I remember.

So basically, the question is this: How do I break the news to BB that I am angry and frustrated without being angry and frustrated? I don't want blow this up into an "I'll quit if you don't convert me" thing. I just want to express the fact that I feel like I'm being taken advantage of, but without implying that HE is taking advantage of me, if you see the distinction.

Help me lose this sinking feeling

girlpublisher — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 10:43:49 -0800

Who should I consult to tell me how to fix my house? Contractor? Structural engineer? Hello, boypublisher here. I own an old house in Toronto that has a distinct sag towards the back corner, as well as a low-ceilinged basement. I'm looking to find a professional to come in and consult with me about my options to address these issues, as well as discuss the structural impacts of other interior renovations. Is this a Contractor? An Engineer? Perhaps you can recommend a company, service, or professional in Toronto?

Picking the right solo 401k provider

gsh — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 16:55:44 -0800

How should I evaluate prospective solo 401k providers? I have recently become an independent contractor and I'm in it for the long haul. I've done the reading about IRAs vs. solo 401k and the latter is for me: it will allow me to contribute much more money for my retirement.

Now, to pick a provider! On what criteria should I compare them?

OH HAI WE UP IN YUR FOUNDASHUN BRAKIN YUR HUOSE

Anonymous — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 18:22:32 -0800

A company did additional work they were not authorized by us to do to our house, and now our house is broken. We had a company come out to do some work on the foundation (pier-and-beam). They were supposed to simply replace some sub-par materials that had been noted in the inspection. However, they leveled the foundation several inches without asking our permission to do the work, and now the house has multiple issues, some only superficial, but others are very major repairs that must be done by professionals.

The company came out to inspect the foundation before we bought the house and did not find that such extensive work would need to be done.

A licensed home inspector also inspected the house, and found only one area that might be questionable, but even that was within the acceptable range for deflection.

The company owner is now claiming that he saved us a great deal of money by doing this work, which would have had to be done eventually anyway, and this may in fact be true, but we are not financially prepared to pay for immediate repairs made necessary by the unauthorized work.

What do we do? Who, if anyone, should cover this? What is the next step?

We bought the house less than one month ago and we live in Texas.

Please help before we make a mistake set in stone

Lokheed — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:32:42 -0800

My wife and I own a home in central Florida. We would like to hire a contractor to add to our backyard a 10 x 20 concrete patio with a stamped pattern and an acid stain and seal. Help? My questions:

1. We have never hired a contractor like this before. I gather that bad concrete contractors do fun things like taking the deposit and disappearing into the night, or getting halfway through the project and disappearing into the night, or actually finishing what appears to be a good product that turns out to start cracking into pieces a few months down the road. What steps can we take to minimize the risk of this happening?

2. How do we go about finding a reputable contractor to do the job? I have asked my neighbors, and they have nobody to recommend. I found one guy who came out last night and gave us an estimate, he seemed nice enough, and I have asked for references. But I basically found him by googling, which does not inspire great confidence in me.

3. If you happen to be in central Florida and know any honest and reliable concrete contractors, by all means pass along their info. My email is in my profile.

Independent worker tax question

Macboy — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 07:24:13 -0800

My wife starts a new contracting job next week. I am looking for a good calculator to formulate how much should be set aside for taxes. I've Googled with no good solution. Is there a formula you use? If you are an independent contractor do you have any tips?

Sales commission on found work and subsequent projects?

juggler — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 07:20:50 -0800

I am an independent tech contractor, about to pass some work onto my client, where I would be a part of the project's development team. What commission structure is typical? I am not a salesman, but I have found a project for the company I contract with. More projects could possibly follow if this one goes well. The company I contract with and I both agree that I should get some kind of commission for finding this work, but have no idea what percentage would typically be paid on this. Also, what about commissions on any following projects from same source? Would they be structured differently than the initial project's commission?

In my mind I have this vague idea that there should be one percentage for the initial project, and then a lower percentage on subsequent work, but I have no example of this to point to. Any advice or information would be appreciated.