How we helped Dianne get her project back on track — and why the contractor you hire matters long after demolition day.
Sometimes the best way to explain what matters in a contractor is to show what happens when a homeowner gets burned.
Dianne and her husband hired a contractor to renovate their master bathroom. The job went badly.
And by the time Dianne started speaking up publicly, the contractor had already been paid and was refusing to come back to address the problems or finish the job.
I saw her post on Facebook and reached out.
Not because she was our customer.
Not because there was a sales opportunity.
Because she was stuck, and the project needed a real plan.
I met with Dianne and her husband, looked at what had been done, and helped put together a path forward. From there, we helped coordinate the pieces needed to get the bathroom back on track.
We worked with the shower manufacturer and were able to get a replacement unit at no cost to them. We also helped organize subcontractors who were willing to come in and complete the corrective work at discounted rates.
The goal was simple: get the project finished properly without making a bad situation even more expensive than it already was.
“He did all of this out of the goodness of his heart and no charge to us. Who does that??”
“My husband and I hired a contractor to demo and renovate our master bathroom. He did a horrible job and it had to all be ripped out including plumbing and tile. I complained on Facebook and Mike Smego contacted me and asked me if he could help. He recommended contractors, oversaw their work, communicated with a company for reimbursement of a shower unit and more.
We highly recommend him to anyone who wants a good, honest and fair contractor that does high quality work. Mike Smego Contracting is the very best and will be handling any future renovations or contracting needs we have for absolute certain.”
Not that every bad remodel can be rescued easily. It is that the contractor you hire matters long after demolition day.
A good contractor should not disappear when something goes wrong.
They should communicate.
They should own the problem.
They should bring the right people in.
And they should have a plan for getting the project across the finish line.
Dianne’s bathroom is also a good example of why I keep telling homeowners to look beyond the lowest number on an estimate.
Bad work is expensive twice. You pay for it once when it gets installed. Then you pay again when somebody has to tear it out and do it correctly.
If you’re planning a bathroom remodel in Central PA, ask the hard questions before you hire someone.
And if the project has already gone sideways, the first step is usually not more demolition. It’s getting someone competent to look at the whole situation and build a recovery plan.
Fifteen minutes on the phone. You’ll have a realistic range before we hang up — and if we’re not the right people for it, I’ll tell you.