Well that's a nice work compliment

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A carpenter/general contractor I worked with a year ago called me up and told me he NEEDS me to do a (major) touch-up job on some new custom house in West Vancouver (Big $ properties) that some lesser drywall finishing crew messed up. I guess there are shadows, ridges, humps, scratches, tapes showing through etc - the kind of amateur hour bs that's only acceptable if a homeowner did it or maybe if it's some quick cheap job in a warehouse/shop storage room or something. Gonna go look at it on Sunday probably and see how bad it is and how much fixy fixy is required - could be a joint or two per room, could be allllll over the place - multiple joints per wall/ceiling - depends on just how bad they f****d it up. I can't remember what he said this house was worth, but probably $12-20M, something like that, so whatever I charge by the hour to correct the walls/ceilings I'm sure they can afford. Still gotta be reasonable/fair though. In time if I stick to this kind of work and get faster at it then I can start charging ~unreasonable hourly rates lol

Then he's managing a couple different renovations that are $12M each. One of them is a penthouse that's being joined to the owners' current penthouse - he says when the walls are up he wants me to finish the entire place if I'm not working elsewhere. (The movie industry is just starting back up and at some point I might dip to go build film sets.) He figures the penthouse will be ready to tape & mud in about January. That'd be a pretty sweet job. Just the right size for one guy, and since everything they deliver to their clients is top notch they're not paying rock bottom prices for finishing. I guess whoever was managing the house build before he took it over didn't know a Good crew so went with the one he could Get. Oops.

Anyways, it's nice that a guy I worked with on one renovation a year ago thinks of calling Me when as The Guy he knows that can fix this major fuckup on someone's brand new swanky home. And nice to know if I'm not busy busy doing something else when the penthouse is ready to go that it's pretty much a gimmme for me as well.

Couple other contractors have some work on the go right now that I might jump in on, too. Just depends which jobs I can swing.. kinda hard to do multiple major ones at the same time lol. When it rains it pours.. sit around not doing much, and then boom, a few contractors are all getting busy at once. lol jokes on them if the film industry calls first lololol -> with film just starting up I read that for just One show they put a crew call out for 150-200 guys needed ASAP to get to work on sets. And there are multiple shows and movies that have been in a holding pattern waiting to go until the strike was over. Kinda rather Build film sets, but it'll be just my luck they need a plasterer vs. carpenter and I'll still be using trowels & knives just on film sets instead of real walls and ceilings. Whatever - just pay me.

Update: maybe not.. or not yet lol. Got an update with a couple photos and my friend says the owner of the company is having the drywall company come fix their work.. and whoa it’s bad. Very bad. Worse than homeowner grade. If they send the same guys to do it they don’t know how..

So I gave him my thoughts and a few tips. Maybe they’ll F around a few days or whatever before they pull the plug and hire me to fix it all and cross charge the drywall contractor for it. Maybe ? If all the walls and ceilings are as bad as the 2 photos I was shown then holy crap they’re talking several thousand dollars to fix that house up ready for paint, maybe $10k+. It’s pretty horrendous.

My Dad used to work for the local athority as a carpenter and was one of the few carpenter machinists they had (Most were carpenter joiners so my Dad was a higher grade in the UK as he had to do the joinery side before he could do the machinist qualification side. If he met another carpenter machinist they would show each other their fingers!)
But the last ten years of his working life, the government wanted to encourage the private industry, so most of the local athority work started to become contracted out, and my Dad and the other teams of carpenters still employed by the local athority (His was one of the last in the country to retain their own staff) were used to correct the errors done by the contractors who had not done their work properly, and while some were just little mistakes so my Dad didn't mind, other jobs that some contractors did were horrendous to the point where everything they did had to be ripped out and the whole job started again which cost the taxpayer many more times the amount than if they had employed their own staff to do the job in the first place! And yet they were obliged to accept the lowest contractors offer which was often done by those who did not have a clue about carpentry!
So I do get what you are saying!

Also in my trade from the past, some of the jobs we had to do after others had tried to repair their bicycles! Mind you... In a way I would rather someone gives it a go even if they fail, as I like someone who tries, BUT, if I could take what they did and teach them how to do it properly I would be happy!
But some things I came accross were positively dangerous and others hillarious, with the odd few botched repairs actually quite genius!
I remember a time when we already had a good two or three weeks worth of backlog of bikes to repair and the boss kept accepting more and pushing what he assumed to be quick jobs ahead of the rest as he assumed they would be in and out within minutes... To save more bikes accumilating! It was during one of these times with a customer waiting, that a bike came my way for two new tyres and tubes. Well... An hour and a half later and I was still on it. The boss would not spend out on stuff like a new hacksaw blade so ours had rounded teeth! And both the front and rear axles needed changing as both were welded to the frame! No wheelnuts! Most of the time taken was trying to hacksaw through the welds enough to change the axles. Parts in them days and our labour wasn't much like it is now. Though the cost of new bikes was high compared to today where new bikes are less in comparisson to how things were when we used to make most bikes in Britain. Example of ten years ago, one could buy a budget bike that was at the same price as a starter bike some 20 years earlier but if one wanted something like the later bike in what the bike had in technology, but 30 years ago, it would have cost twice as much if that makes sense?
Though todays market in bikes is fashion and profit dictated and some of todays designs being pushed are designed to wear and fail. Past bikes were a compromize, but were not designed with early demise in mind if that makes sense?

But here is one that I thought was genius!
A BMX came in for repair in my early days in the trade. both back and front tyres down to the canvas and patched up from behind. What I wasnt expecting was when I took the tyres off, I found complete second tyres inside and they too were worn down to the canvas! Talk about getting every bit of wear from ones tyres! (All for getting the most out of ones money, but that was the extreme! But genius way of doing it! Couldn't do it on most wheel sizes though. BMX's had looser fitting tyres).

And here is one that I was shocked by as this pair of bikes was dangerous! Now these csme my way and I didn't want to do them because I had hit burnout/breakdown the ladt time I worked with bikes and I wasn't up to dealing with bikes. But though I said I wasn't up to doing them, either they insisted or my brother told them I would (Youngest brother and his wife thought the way to heal was to do more! They have not been through it themselves, and if they had they would not have done that!)
But there was no hurry. These bikes sat there for several months as I just couldn't even look! But after several months (As these bikes were in the way) I forced myself to do them. It took me a few weeks to be honest as I had to do a bit then stop and do nothing for the next dsy or two, and force myself to do a bit more etc... Where in the past before burnout/breakdowns I would have done both bikes in a single day! But they were quite a job! Every single nut, bolt or anything else was loose on both bikes. He "Said" he had both bikes serviced by his local bike shop. (Not sure I believed him, as I know mechanical things are not his strong point, but he is exceptionally tallented as a musician which I am not. So fair enough!
But as I delved deeper into these two bikes (One was his and one was his wifes) I became more and more concerned. Brake blocks braking on the tyres rather than the rims because brake blocks were mildly any tighter than finger tight. And because the bottom bracket bearings had worn and had hardly a round bearing in them, the axle play was causing the chain rings to rub on the front mech. He said he took them to the bike shop for repair becsuse they were rubbing, and the result? Thick heavy grease on the chain. Both bikes between them mush have had a whole big jar of grease. This was the cheaper car mechanics grease used for greasing things like driveshafts before one applies the rubber boots. Good grease, but not something to use on bicycle chains and while it made the sound of the chain rubbing go quiet, it was never going to solve the issue!
And it didn't stop there either! Someone had taken apart all wheel axles to grease them, so all four whels greased, but whoever did them, did not realize that the cone nuts should tighten onto lock the cones so that the cones will stay in place on the axles. Every single cone and cone nut was loose! And wheel nuts were not that much tighter thwn hand tight. And where quick release was fitted it was screwed up taking no consideration it was a cam opersted device! And just about everything I came across needed tightening! There was less work in assembling new bikes of the type that come in boxes like a complete kit of parts. (Most new bikes are around threequarters assembled, but the odd manufacturers bike (Not that common) one would have to fit forks, fit crank arms... Assemble brakes and put them on... Route cables... Bikes were kits of parts and one even had to apply the decals and name and makers transfers. Something I became an expert on as to do them on a tubed surface without air bubbles is a certain technique, which most people get wrong.
But these two bikes were far more than that and they were ready assembled and they were riding the things! And they said they both rode a tandem which was also serviced at this bike shop! I dare not ask!

Better have been the lowest bidder for how terrible a job was done. Here are the two photos I was sent. These don’t look good enough to be ceilings in a basement renovation or garage, never mind 14’ high ceilings in a brand new house that probably costs somewhere around $15M+

Almost looks like our landing ceiling, but that is patchy as it is actually pretty old, as this house was built in 1749. Though not sure when that ceiling was built. Adds to the character of an older house but I would not expect to see it on a new build!

Actually, one of my nephews is an apprentice carpenter and his slightly younger brother is n a painting and decorating course. Both are doing well from what I last heard, and their oldest rother was a head chef though where he worked closed down, but one of their sisters is now in charge of catering where she works. (She is naturally a bit bossy and takes charge but she is a good one who does her best so I can see why she was promoted). My other neices and nephews are still in school apart from one who is a Mum to a little girl. (Grand niece?) My brother has eight children. Hard to think that he is a grandad as he is younger than me!

I assume the holes in the ceiling were supposed to be for light fittings?

^as you can see, it looks like a kindergarten art project vs a smooth ceiling.

I’m gonna meet the carpenter out there tmw to have a good close look at it and give him advice on the best way to go about fixing it all in exchange for lunch & beers. Then he can at least be armed with knowledge when dealing with the drywall contractor and painter to fix it.

Then if they can’t fix it and I can then I’d make some $ out of it. Otherwise I at least keep in his good books for future work if I’m not working elsewhere.

Yes, either for pot lights Or maybe new style LED “puck,” lights that are only about 1.5” thick and just spring clip in vs a fixed recessed pot that receives a screw in light bulb. Probably LED pucks these days.

Some places get hella fancy with their ceiling lighting with tape-in fixtures that get blended into the ceiling with drywall mud and painted with the ceiling.. then there’s just the recessed channels with LED lights in them. Sometimes some of these end up embedded in stairwell walls, too.

There’s other fancy stuff that gets blended into walls for smooth trim-less looks that look good on a computer design screen but are next to impossible to make look good in real life/prevent from cracking everywhere.. f*****g dumb, but when builders ask we warn and tell them no guarantees because this is Probably going to start cracking before it even gets painted lol but w/e it’s your money you can have whatever you want no matter how stupid what you want is. I think it’s usually a case of a designer selling this super smooth modern look to clients and no one having the balls to inform the client that IF this looks good when it’s done it won’t last and will end up cracking everywhere Because physics - so; do you Really want that look?

I’d be so pissed off with it and then pay for trim and mouldings everywhere to hide it = may as well go with trim and mouldings to begin with..

Here in the UK there has been quite a thing of late where many government buildings such as schools, council offices and hospitals had to be closed, or have sections of them closed as past contractors used those breeze blocks that are intended for internal walls as load bearing walls to save costs! (Not sure what those blocks are called. They float in water! To me it is obvious not to use them and in the past I comented about it to be told "They know what they are doing". But these builders right across the country doing this set a presedent and trained generations of others, and now there is a problem amplified, as many of these buildings may have to come down as they are unsafe.

But what is really odd about it, is no one has pulled anyone up about this for years until recently? They have been doing this since the government first started to contract work out in the mid to late 1980's. Prior to this, local athorities had their own workers who were highly trained and would not take these short cuts. Those blocks were only supposed to be used for internal walls that were not supporting any weight.

Interesting.. all sorts of shoddy cost cutting work in construction styles all over the world.

None of that here, though.. almost nothing gets built with bricks here on the West Coast. If there’s brick work, typically it’s just a facade vs anything structural.

Most homes are wood framed. Few are concrete or steel - but some. Low rise condos are wood frame. High rise condo buildings are concrete with steel stud interior walls. Commercial buildings/offices are typically concrete and/or steel with steel stud walls - but renovations sometimes get done with wood framing.

But almost nothing ever gets built with bricks. Masaaaybe some fancy stone and brick retaining walls for landscaping on some mansion’s property. Very seldom are homes ever made of brick or stone here - some exist but they’re exceedingly rare & expensive to construct.

I’ve never been there but apparently there are a lot more brick homes in Eastern Canada where trees are spindly toothpicks and rocks are abundant.

Think the climate conditions have a lot to do with it. Where I was living, treated oak styles and gates rotted in just five years of use due to the salty sea mists. and they have put up more timber framed houses! All the ones they did 40 years ago have needed to be knocked down and rebuilt. Yet if one went some 25-30 miles inland they would survive as the sea mists didn't go more than a max of 26 miles inland... But generally Wales is damp.
I was wondering why the USA used timber a lot, and found out is because of earthquakes as a timber building can bend and flex, while brick or stone buildings don't like it.
This cottage is built with very large stones. They csme from a church which used to be here many years ago in the past. Extensions are brick, not that one can see bricks as they have a render on top.
Bricks in the UK are not new. Some brick buildings still survive from Roman times, and other brick buildings can be 400+ years old. Stone was used in most places here in the UK.

Most houses get torn down and rebuilt between 60-80 years old.

Trees keep growing, but stone would have to be transported vast distances.

Housing styles around the world are built for the climate, but Also built out of what’s available nearby.

No shortage of lumber around here.

Plus I’m sure there’s a dash of “Because that’s the way we’ve always done it.”

Went and looked at it again with one of the guys I do work with who has 51 years experience (He's talented, and lightning fast.) to give the contractor a good idea of what it would take to fix it properly.. depends how far they wanna go, anywhere from $5k-20k+. Personally, I think it would take closer to $20k to fix that mess than $5k and it still wouldn't be perfect. While it would be a good solid run of work and payday, I wouldn't Want to do it.. it'd be a giant pain in the ass - way more work than the original finishing took.

For a single guy to do that house off of ladders and a rolling scaffold it'd take a month easily. Better off paying this other guy that has a $15k gas powered mud spraying machine to coat everything and race around on stilts and fix it way faster and cheaper. But they won't do that either.. crazy IMO. The woman that owns the company that f****d it up is going to spend a few whole days fixing it.. uuuh, one person 3 days ? All that you can do in that time if you're quick is touch up the walls as high as you can reach off the floor - and even that might just be one coat never mind sanding or polishing or finish sanding etc.

On a $10M+ build surely they can find ~$20k to fix the biggest fuckup that affects the look of the entire interior of the house.. but they're concerned about Time. They have flooring getting delivered sometime right about now and a schedule of other trades to keep. Uuuuuh.. I guess they can't push flooring & millwork etc ??? or they'll lose their contractors ? Just doesn't make sense To ME to go "Ah well, timeline is a timeline.. gotta carry on even though this whole house is going to look like a steaming pile of dogshit with these floor to ceiling windows every time the sun goes down over the ocean and it shines clear across every wall and ceiling.."

I'd be calling that Damian guy with his machine and paying his price to fix it as good as he can as fast as he can. Spray it, trowel it out, sand it off etc - it'd look WORLD'S better and cost them less than 2 weeks vs. a month+ and then the one investor that's moving in won't freak when he sees his house.. if I were that guy, I'd finish the house, maybe add some extra wall coverings etc, stage it with furniture and decor, take a bunch of pictures and sell it off to some guy over the internet who never comes to see it in person - he just wants to own a house near the ocean in West Vancouver so he can brag to his business clients that he has one and can show them the photos. Take your money and run.. buy another property, build another house, and don't make the mistake of hiring an incompetent finishing crew again.



That company is working on a penthouse and the project lead wants me & the old guy to finish it if we're available in January. Might find out today if it's a go to repair a flood damaged basement asap, too. And might have another house to skim out all the ceilings with another contractor bud starting next week - that one will be physically punishing, but a good payday. Might go from Zero to omg I'm sore but my pocket is full real quick.

Anyways, figured I'd update this thread just in case anyone's following it and learns something that's useful to them at some point in their lives. Don't get crappy drywall finishers to do a damned thing.. and when you see their work is crap, don't paint it if possible.. way harder to fix once it's primed, but also hard to see it's crap until it's primed sometimes. Ideally you get a referral of someone who is Good at it and can see examples of their finished work in photos and in person. IMO that's critical when selecting someone to finish a house that costs more than $10M to build vs. just accepting a bid and whatever crew some contractor sends.. which in this case turned out to be fast hard working guys with low skills and now this house is botched forever.

edit: Just got a text with the go ahead for the flood repair job to start this week & finish asap. Gonna go there today to double check my materials list and pick up a key so I can get started tmw. Hoping to blast this out in Ideally about a week so I'm free to start the next gig. Might make it, might run a day or so over depending on drying time.