My home got a new roof today, for reasons I won’t care to get into. Despite the title of this post, I don’t really want to write about the roof right now.
I have some general questions. I know about as much about maintaining a house as Sarah Palin knows about credit default swaps.
I have now had contractors to do two sudden one-day projects on my property in the past couple of months. While their primary tasks seem to have been done adequately, I am left feeling that crews are not particularly respectful of customers.
Are the following side-effects of having work done on one’s property common?
– plant-life maimed or destroyed without acknowledgement
– personal yard tools disappeared
– food wrappers and cigarette butts left behind
Are there contractors well-known for having crews leave things they’re not supposed to touch untouched and others who aren’t so good at the supervision thing?
Anyway, I don’t want to think about it anymore. I’m heading away to an disclosed location…
The overall monetary damages in both cases was fairly minor compared to the cost of the jobs done.
I do expect I have the right to voice my concerns to the business owner, but I wonder if it is worth it. I am about to head out of town for a few days. When I return, I probably will not care anymore, needing this roof saga behind me. I suppose one could argue it might be considerate of me to tell the business owner that a crew he used might be inadvertently souring customers; maybe others don’t tell him, or maybe he needs one more customer to tell him to field comfortable dealing with it.
Truth to be told, I’d really prefer NOT to have things to complain about. In both cases, I’ve looked forward to the possibility of sharing a positive recommendation of a service.
bullcitydave 
We’ve had a couple of projects completed, and, no, I would say that is not typical & you should let the business owner know.
Sadly, it’s way way more common than it should be. You have the right to tell the business owner and let him know you are seriously considering sharing (via your very popular blog, angie’s list, word of mouth, etc) that his crew is disrespectful of property and that people should look into a different company. His response should let you know if this is a normal practice for his company or not. And don’t feel bad doing so. Needing a new roof (or backyard repairs, whatever) is not a “kick me” sign, nor does it mean you relinquish the rights to keep your own plants intact and your lawn equipment and tools in YOUR possession.
btw, still want to see what color you picked!