interesting.
Rays situation kind of reminds me of a similar situation when I hired a crew to do the complete gut demolition on my 2nd floor.
I was looking to just get some unlicensed immigrants, with Mexicans from Home Depot being the last resort. But I wanted to get an idea of what a real construction company would cost, so I called around and and posted an ask on Thumbtack.com (ever used that house?)
I got general ballparks of 3-5.5k
so I figured I'd look to hire some under the radar types for 2-2.5k
I got a quote from a licensed construction/remodeling company for 1800 square feet for 800-1100
I call them, talk to the owners wife, she gets the details, I say its a big job do you want to look at it first... she says her husband and crew will be there tomorrow with a contract for 900.
shows up on Saturday with 3 guys and looks around. says Ok, we sign the contract. He thinks it will take 2-3 days. I pay half up front
4.5 days later after having 4-6 guys work 8-10 hours a day each, they decide to quit at 1:30 for the day.
they've worked about 160 hrs combined, have only been paid 450 dollars to date. and they aren't eager to just finish and get out of their with the rest of their money.
I needed to get a plumber in there for the rough plumbing by the end of that week, so I offered an extra 200 if they finish by 5 the next day.
they finished, using 8 guys did a great cleanup job. and I paid the boss 1200 plus $50 tips to 4 guys that had been there everyday. and 20-40 dollars to the other 2 guys.
they all seemed happy, but I mean paying them 3-4 dollars and hour made me feel pretty shitty.
House, they are based out of englewood, I got their contact info.... they specialize in bathrooms and kitchens, if you ever need the chepest labor ever to pass along to a customer I can Pm you their info/website
