Another new patio

[Gemini]

You were so kind to give him the work and support his business Daisy.

It is very short sighted of him not to make much more effort than he has so far

[Daisy]

Gem, I think that is part of the frustration. He underestimated on materials (part of the contract price) and we've agreed a new price on that, even though OH told him he'd underestimated at the outset. He's giving himself a bad reputation on his own patch, and we really can't understand why he'd do that if he has any serious intention of running a business here. It's very sad, and I'm sure his mum must worry about him.

[Daisy]

Well today Patio Man found yet another way to 'turn up' but not turn up. He said he'd be here at 7 am and he was. We were still in bed but heard the side gate being opened. He got all his tools etc out of OH's shed, ready to get started. By 7.30 he'd disappeared getting back about 9.30! I asked his labourer in a round about way where they'd gone, and he said to the local ironmongers to get some new cutting blades. At most it's 15 minutes stroll to the ironmongers, 15 back, and they don't open till 8.30, so that didn't stack up very well. An hour and a half to two hours for lunch and they'd gone again by 4 pm. They're not here now till Sunday - Patio Man is going with his mum to see his sister, who he hasn't seen for 2 years.

And he thinks he's going to finish by Wednesday. He's run out of sand and cement, and we're sure he will be short of paving slabs as well. OH has organised sand and cement to be delivered tomorrow so he can at least get on with pointing when he runs out of slabs and finds he can't get them delivered easily.

The area he's finished looks lovely, apart from the 'wrong' coloured grout. He offered us several colours, we chose grey and it's a sort of yellow colour.

[Plantaholic]

Daisy, what a performance, how does he stay in business, not much to recommend him.

[WeeGranny]

Sounds very like a decorator we had many years ago. He'd turn up then disappear, goodness knows what he did when he wasn't working. Then he had astroke and is now back working and he's being recommended on our local FB page. I hope his timekeeping has improved!! Couldn't fault his work though!

[Daisy]

WeeGranny - unreliability is so frustrating, isn't it, but at least his work was good.

Plant - Patio Man is just starting out in business, which was why we thought we'd give him a chance. I don't think his prospects are great though. He's very local to us, but we won't feel confident in recommending him, which is a pity.

More problems - we had chosen grey for the pointing between the slabs to blend with the colour of the slabs, and he's done one section. It's yellow, and even worse, he's got it all over the slabs and we're not sure if it will clean off - the slabs now look a sort of yellowish colour instead of how they should look. And the pointing itself is messy and all over the place.

I know the colour of the grouting will mellow over time, but it's not dried how he said it would and looks pretty awful at the moment.

[WeeGranny]

Such a shame Daisy and so annoying. I certainly wouldn't be recommending him to anyone else. Hopefully it'll look better when it's finished....whenever that might be!

[Daisy]

WeeGranny, it goes from bad to worse.

Now we can walk on it to check, we don't think he's got the levels right either.

[Lizzie48]

Daisy, can you get in touch with the others where he has worked???

[Gemini]

I'm so sorry this is going badly Daisy x

[Daisy]

Daisy, can you get in touch with the others where he has worked???

Lizzie - he did some labouring work for our next door neighbour when he was renovating their house. Our neighbour said he needed careful management, which we were prepared to do. But I think this is his first 'proper' job. He'd worked for his grandfather for years and then gone off and done something else when his grandad retired (I think).

Thanks, Gem. We'll get through it, even if J has to finish it himself.

[Daisy]

We just happened to see Patio Man when we were on our way out yesterday tea-time. We exchanged pleasantries and he said he'd see us today at 9 am.

So when he still hadn't turned up at 10.15 I texted him, asking what time he would be here. No reply. But he texted OH to say he'd decided to have the day off! So I texted again and said that he had broken another promise, and if he's serious about finishing this job he needed to be here. He replied to OH saying he was dealing with serious family problems and would be here tomorrow (Monday).

We really and truly don't know whether to believe him or not - he's told us so many lies, but if he really does have serious problems in his life, what do we do!

[Oma]

Daisy , Im afraid I think you should be parting ways with this young man ,
If he does have family problems then this will be on going and his mind will not be on his work ,
If he hasn't then he is just making excuses and maybe he realises the job is beyond his skills ,
He has broken his contract with you to do the job and finish as he promised ,
I Would be giving him the sack and finding someone else if I was you

[Daisy]

Oma - several people have said the same thing. We'll see what happens tomorrow, but it's getting to OH.

[Lizzie48]

Daisy, this is not good at all, I hope you can get this settled but, I have my doubts, the young man doesn't seem very reliable at all.