Welder Dave
Senior Member
I could use some advice on how to deal with a contractor. Another guy and myself are getting some work done to add a flat track motorcycle track on my land that already has an MX track. We had a guy come out last year who's a super nice guy and gave us a discount of about $10/hr but we paid him about $8K all together. It took him a while to get the work done because he also is a big farmer and has lots of stuff on the go. We ran out of time last fall so got him back again. It's too much work for my small machines and I don't have the time. I can do some of the smaller jobs and final cleaning up.
Here's the problem. Even though the guy is giving us a deal, he seems to have a lot of other stuff come up so the job that we're paying for is taking way longer than expected. It took 1 1/2- 2 month's to get about 2 weeks of work last year and then the weather went South. Now this year it's finally dried up enough he can do some work. He was planning to start on Sat. afternoon but couldn't make it. He apologized and said he'd be there 9 am Sunday. He finally showed up at 2:30 and said he had unexpected company show up. Weekends I can meet him at the track and explain what we want and prioritize the work. I left a message today if he'd been out but never heard back. I'm guessing not but don't know for sure. Anyway, we need to get this track ready to ride this year so we can plan events for next year. There is a group of riders anxiously waiting and they're getting impatient. When I was a contractor and hired for a job it would be my priority to get it done ASAP. I realize things can come up but if I was doing landscaping and took a month and a half to do 2 weeks of work, I'd never get any more work. I really like the guy, he's a good operator but our job seems low on his priority list. He's getting about $115/hr. for an 850K series 2 Case. How do we explain to him, in a nice way, that we need the work done when the weather's good and we can't keep having to wait because he had to fix his tractor or pull his neighbor out, etc., etc. I don't want to upset him but I also don't want to go through the same thing as last year. Thanks in advance. Sorry for the long post.
Here's the problem. Even though the guy is giving us a deal, he seems to have a lot of other stuff come up so the job that we're paying for is taking way longer than expected. It took 1 1/2- 2 month's to get about 2 weeks of work last year and then the weather went South. Now this year it's finally dried up enough he can do some work. He was planning to start on Sat. afternoon but couldn't make it. He apologized and said he'd be there 9 am Sunday. He finally showed up at 2:30 and said he had unexpected company show up. Weekends I can meet him at the track and explain what we want and prioritize the work. I left a message today if he'd been out but never heard back. I'm guessing not but don't know for sure. Anyway, we need to get this track ready to ride this year so we can plan events for next year. There is a group of riders anxiously waiting and they're getting impatient. When I was a contractor and hired for a job it would be my priority to get it done ASAP. I realize things can come up but if I was doing landscaping and took a month and a half to do 2 weeks of work, I'd never get any more work. I really like the guy, he's a good operator but our job seems low on his priority list. He's getting about $115/hr. for an 850K series 2 Case. How do we explain to him, in a nice way, that we need the work done when the weather's good and we can't keep having to wait because he had to fix his tractor or pull his neighbor out, etc., etc. I don't want to upset him but I also don't want to go through the same thing as last year. Thanks in advance. Sorry for the long post.
