Good, Fast, or Cheap: Spin the Contractor Wheel

I had a conversation recently this week with a colleague about contractors.  He made a comment to me about contractors that was new to me but made complete sense.  He said, "With contractors you get one of three things from them, you get good, you get fast, or you get cheap."  Unfortunately, from my experience, he is right.  These things are almost completely mutually exclusive.

I had an experience this morning that reminded me about this saying.  I have owned my rental next door to me for about 3 years now.  The back porch was clean when we bought it.  However, despite this, over the last couple of years the porch has deteriorated badly.  As it turns out, the property was "flipped" just a couple years prior to our purchase by a gentleman named Jonathan Reyes.  Jonathan used "fast" contractors to get his work done.

This morning I found the facia from the porch falling off.  It seemed rather odd that new facia would be falling off after just a few years.

In fact, it seems even more strange that it fell off when the contractor used 17 staples to keep it in place.  Maybe 15 just wasn't enough to do the job.  Turning the board over reveals why...

The contractor used the wrong length of staple.  A nail gun would have been more appropriate.

Anyway, this is what a "fast" contractor will do for you.  They probably knocked the renovations out in a couple weeks and moved on.  Predictably, the work didn't last and now I have to rebuild the back porch.

I will keep you updated on the project when its finished.