The Lowest Bidder


We received a call from the Builder, who was awarded the contract by the Borough because he was the lowest bidder — stating that he wanted to prep our property on Friday, the 30th. We agreed, since he was just coming to inspect and deliver some equipment. He replied, “no, we are starting and would be demolishing the laundry/utility room.” We replied that, “it was clearly stated in our discussions, that we would be there through the weekend, working on moving out and preparing the house for lifting.” We still did not have a place to go or rent during this renovation, because the dates were constantly changing. We certainly needed the weekend to include hot water or electricity etc. We called him back and reminded him that this was not the original arrangement that we discussed and it would not be possible for us to be out of our home until Monday. With that, he got very angry — stating, “we will either get along or not get along during this project!”  We replied, “that we wouldn’t see that we could do anything else, but get along.”  The builder hung up on us! This moment broke any trust that we might have been able to extend this Builder. In fact, during our first meeting with him, he bragged about how he charged his last customer an extra $100K in additional fees, beyond their Grant — which left us feeling scared and vulnerable. Now this? Tragically, this was only the beginning of what was yet to come…

The cunning of the fox is as murderous as the violence of the wolf.

Thomas Paine
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Author: Murphy