Tony’s Drywall

We were working on a full apartment remodel in the city that had many patches and a few full walls. Tony’s bid was the lowest, and I don’t always choose the lowest, but he seemed like a good guy. Overall I am happy with the work. The workers were great and did a good job.
There are three things I was unhappy about. First, Tony did a few things that cost extra, some he verified with me and some he just went ahead and did. It didn’t end up being a huge deal, but if you are on a super tight budget, this might drive you crazy. Second, there was a misunderstanding of when the job could start and he started because he wanted to get the job going, but it wasn’t ready. He was unhappy with me, but I told him it wouldn’t be ready for a few days. He seemed to have a hard time grasping what I had told him. Third, I needed to get an invoice for the extra amounts and it seemed he couldn’t figure out what I was asking for. I had to call him every couple of days for about 3 weeks to get the invoice I needed to give to the bookkeeper, so that was pretty frustrating.
In the end the drywall went up, it went up quickly and they did a good job. Even with the «additions» to the total bill from the proposal, it still ended up being less than the next lowest bid.

I hired Tony to put drywall and plaster on the inside of a cylindrical tower room, an unusual job to say the least. He understood the specialness of the room, which I appreciated. He felt the room really needed to have marmorino plaster, which cost a lot more but I became convinced.
Unfortunately, in his enthusiasm, Tony forgot that changing from diamond-​finish plaster to marmorino would result in a much thinner plaster coat. I did a large amount of finish trim carpentry assuming the thicker plaster. After the marmorino was applied, the trim protruded from the wall a good 1/​8″. When I asked Tony about this, he denied ever telling me the plaster would be 3/​16″ thick, then he remembered that he did. Even so, he took NO responsibility for this error that resulted in an ugly end to a very expensive job.
Tony eventually came back and tried to plaster over the gaps. I paid him but wished I hadn’t, for the filler plaster promptly cracked. My crew had to scrape it out and fill the gaps with caulk. I didn’t even count the man-​hours wasted on this.
Also, several cracks in the plaster appeared soon afterwards, apparently caused by uneven installation of the drywall. Again, Tony took no responsibility for this, arguing that immediate cracks are to be expected in marmorino plastering, an assertion laughed-​at heartily by other plasterers I’ve since spoken with.
So… I think Tony’s got a good heart. He really wanted to do a great job for me. His drywall crew was VERY good, particularly in the tricky business of putting drywall on a curved wall. But in the end he wouldn’t take responsibility for his mistakes.