Because of your inexperience, your lacking the common sense, the foreman of the construction, dragged the job out, and it was, finally done, and you’d, learned that lesson, the HARD way! Translated…
It was the 1980s, when I became a primary treating physician, and I’d, bought a five-story mansion, and took out a loan of more than a hundred thousand dollars from the bank. And yet, as I just bought my property, the mortgage rates from the local banks skyrocketed to an all-time high of twelve-percent.
As I remodeled the place, my neighbors asked me to add in a back balcony that weren’t fitting to the construction rules of the city. The contractors I’d had to estimate all told me that the price will be more than $300,000N.T.s. Although I was working hard, making the money, and, already, carrying, too much debt, and this “tiny” amount of remodeling fees, seemed to have, exceeded my budgets.
Someone introduced me to a foreman, and this man came to my house, and, took a casual look, then, spat out a puddle of bloody red betel nut juice, patted his chest, stated, “sir, no need to discuss. Give me the word, and I’ll fix it for you for $200,000N.T.”
Because I was pressed, I’d needed to start my own physician’s clinic to make the money, I’d heard of how cheap it was, I’d, immediately, agreed, and payed the $100,000N.T. in the down payment.
But, this was, the start, of my, brand new, nightmare. The tiles that were patched up anew, as we’d carelessly bumped into them, the tiles fell off by the pieces; and, the air-ventilator in the bathroom was, installed right into the walls, there’s NO electric wires inside; and, there were a lot of the outlets that were only 110 volts, and he’d, installed them into the 220 volts kind, and, we’d, fried, a TON of our electric appliances.
He’d originally agreed that he was going to finish the job in one, two months, and, he’d, dragged the construction out for a whole SIX months, and, he’d only done it, half way, and he’d shown his face for half the day, then, went missing for an entire week.
Seeing how my house was NOT getting remodeled right any time soon, I can’ only, drag my tired body, headed over to the foreman’s place, to ambush him, begged him hard, to send the workers to my place tomorrow. Cell phones weren’t invented back then, and, several days, nobody showed up to work, I can only page him, and, he’d, ignored me, I really didn’t know what to do.
Some told me, that this guy only loved drinking, and the whores, and, as I received this news, as my shift was over at the hospitals around midnight, I’d, headed over to the bars to block him. I’d gone several times, the sausage vendor even, became, my tip hotline. As the foreman showed, they’d, notified me immediately.
Why didn’t I sue him, you ask? Because I didn’t have the money, nor the time, besides, even if I won the court case, it doesn’t do me any good. Besides, I don’t have the spare cash to hire a new construction team, so even if I managed to catch him up, I can only, bow back, and begged him to complete the construction soon.
Other than calling him morning and night, I also, had to, treat him for drinks too, and it’d, cost me, an extra, forty, fifty grand. He was very into the elections, and during that time, he was, helping a representative get elected. I joined in his call, turned myself into the head of the campaign managers, and when needed, I’d, stood on stage to vouch for the candidate.
I’d, managed, to get through this, painful, crazy period, and finally, the whole construction was, closing to done, and my house was, livable, barely, I couldn’t wait, and just, moved in.
That evening I treated the foreman for the midnight snack, after a few bottle of Shaoxing Wine, he’d, hung over hard, barely able to steady himself, he’d toasted me, “sir, so sorry, I’d, dragged out the constructions this long, I didn’t mean to!”
what a bad remodeling job might look like
He said, “It’s you who’s, way too lenient, you were never harsh with me, unlike from before, my team and I had, gotten into confrontations with those who’d, hired us, and, used that as an excuse to get away. Then, the people who’d hired us took us to court, and I’d only needed to tell the courts that the construction was illegally built, and the cops would come to stop us from working, and that, was that………”
What this had taught me was, to NOT take advantage of something that’s, cheap, because if the cost is too low, then, there might be the fine prints. And when you do something illegal, you will, get caught by the law.
And so, this, is WHY you need to find yourselves, someone who’s, REPUTABLE to do the work, because even IF the contracts were signed, if the person you hired to remodel your place isn’t reputable, there’s still, a very high chance that you will, get SCREWED over! And that, is a needed lesson that this man learned, the HARD way.