fixing another guy's mess

brdn_drywall

in the past i've recieved calls for prices to fix "jobs gone bad" i've always avoided them for the fact that your taking it over, doing what you can and and if it doesn't look perfect it would somehow be my fault.
But now its a buddy thats asking i feel bad because i didn't have the time to do it in the first place,now he has humps everywhere i think the only way to fix this is to take it all off and start again (already been primed and painted) by trying to skim them out might not achieve a flatter surface has anyone used they're electric disk sanders for something like this,will it cut through the paint?

joepro0000

Best solution is get a 6 ft metal stud, or level, or straight piece of 2x4 and put mud all over the ceiling and pull the 1st coat with it and don't go over it again with the knife. Let it dry, check with your 6ft straight edge, and repeat if necessary, or else fill and skim out.

Custom Drywall Svc.

thats what i would do also. and check it with lights perhaps, afterwards...just to make sure. thats really a tough situation though, i know how you feel.


however...if that doesnt work....use 1/4" board on top of it. tough to say without seeing the job, but i would say this is a desperate measure type solution. i would try with mud first.

ive had 1-2 nightmare jobs like this (yes nightmare). a homeowner had bad ceilings because of the framing. they asked my company to fix it.....and just like you said, 'if it turns out bad, its now somehow MY fault'

well......they weren't happy with my work. LONG story short, i had to redo the ceiling THREE times. the first two times, i tried to have my foreman and patchers/finishers fix this.....leveling out the ceilings.

after the 2nd time, i was so fed up.....i bit the bullet and headed the job myself (which i shouldve done in the FIRST place -- learned my lesson never to put 100% confidence in my employees...especially on a job this critical, with homeowners as picky as they were).

anyways, so i was freakin at this job for 7-8 hours straight with my guys, supervising everything.....

since then, the problematic homeowners havnt called me back since.

luckily, seeing how picky they were in the first place, i bid the job HIGH.........very high.

so when it was all said and done, i still never got hurt. but had a profit margin of 80% reduced down to 30%.

but who cares.....bottomline, these homeowners got SO BAD....i wouldnt mind one bit if i broke even on that job.

i sure did learn a lot of lessons from this one nightmare job though.....business-wise, as well as workmanship-wise.

so, take ALL of that in consideration.....when 'fixing someones elses work'

joepro0000

Thats why I love Retail Construction, no BS. We put on are wings and fly through jobs!

brdn_drywall

thanks for your personal input regarding my problem custom drywall, i can relate to someone "who's been there and done that". ceilings only need a quik skim and a heavy knockdown the'll look like a million bucks. the walls on the other hand need alot of work, i have borrowed him a couple of paint scrapers and he actually got most of the paint off the mud,porter cable will do the rest and recoat,let ya know how it turns out.(i'm with ya joe heavilly into townhouse condo's, bungalow condo's, and appartment's right now don't have the time for this crap!).

Custom Drywall Svc.

sighhhh, EXACTLY!

thats what i love about commercial jobs too.....its not practical in commercial to be as picky as a homeowner would with their own home.

ive had 'picky' generals on commercial jobs, dont get me wrong......but they are nothing compared to some of the residential picky homeowners ive dealt with.


brdn....can you take a picture of the walls? im interested in seeing how bad it looks.

or at least describe it a bit better.

good luck man.

joepro0000

But lets not let people start thinking - ohh its commerical, it doesn't have to be perfect! Thats BS, and I get alot of crews and people saying that!

I believe retail work needs to be the highest quality - level 4-level 5. The final walk thrus they can be though, they spot out every little thing on the walls, so you know the finish needs to be on point. In residential, you can get away with some level 3 work, thats why its always cheaper. I hate when clients tell me, oww all you do is commerical, this is residential we need a better job than commerical! F -That! We have a finishing system that we lay 4 coats, sometimes 3, so slick that theres less than 5% touch-up. And most of it is front dent drywall before-hand, or trade damage.

Anyway, I hear your struggle. Sometimes H.O. don't know what there talking about, and think your doing a hack job. Because they come online, and read post like these, and think people are cheating them. I had a H.O. tell me he wanted the Ralph Lauren Paint, because he read it was the most expensive and best online, which is BS. Can't be better than SW or B.Moore.

Custom Drywall Svc.

dont get me wrong, i 100% agree with you on commercial.

commercial demands higher quality, YES (which i definitely bid higher)....they do have higher standards......

BUUT at the end of the day, WHAT I NOTICE...........when tenants and everyones moved in........they can give a f--k less about the 'quality' hahhahahha......

im sure you know what i mean. bottomline, i agree with you 100%.

my company, everytime we do commercial....its standard level 4-5, just as you described. i usually even roll/spray on a Hamilton prep coat before spray-texture, standard.


just highly depends i notice, with commercial. i walk around town, and see SO many crap commercial jobs it surprises me.

but initially....yea, final job walks.....contractors get picky as hell. but when its all said and done, everyones paid....they (tenants, etc) could care less about drywall problems, haha.


i can pretty much say i NEVER get called back with my commercial work. of course, with residential....very different.

brdn_drywall

the nighmare on 9th street is over no sequile freddys dead.
orter cable made quik work of flatening, graco srayed the top coat, tight wipe got minor pock so applied another even tighter wipe,level 5'd feature walls (dark paint lots of natural light) again with mark iv sprayer.
sprayed a nice knockdown on ceilings house look great,buddys happy gave him a good deal he did all the grunt work anyway(cleanup,hung poly,even cleaned all my tools lol)might not shy away from these types of jobs anymore (time permitting) feels good saving the day for someones biggest investment. I kinda feel like i might go to heaven when i die afterall.

Bevelation

It's true.

The commercial drywall company I worked for had by far the most anal tapers I've known.

But here's a dirty little secret.

They are paid hourly.