Below is a video of a window inspection I did this afternoon.  The customer, who lives out of state, asked me to go over and inspect the work of a window company he hired.  This is a long time customer that didn't remember that I did this kind of work.  Shame on me for not keeping in front of my customers.  I promise to do that from now on with this blog. 

While I do not like to BASH other contractors work, and I will not name the name of the company, this final product is absolutely unacceptable by any standard of quality.  The project is just simply incomplete and the regular homeowner would never know. 

Link to Youtube Video

When you hire a contractor there is an element of trust that goes with it.  Some disputes arise from unclearly communicated expectations by both parties.  The example in this video is just plain and simple poor work and poor use of material.  I'm done now.  I am sure you all get the point.  I am pretty sure my customer will be calling me to fix this mess or help him find someone that I trust to do it right if I can't get to it.

Yesterday I visited a home that was vacated and under foreclosure.  The realtor tells me that the homeowner tried to fix up this home  to add value to it and sell it on his own.  He failed.  He failed because he did not have a clue what he was doing.  I spent over 3 hours at the home putting together a list of things that needed to be fixed, changed, finished and CORRECTED.  What I saw was very disturbing.

The homeowner installed a few new windows to replace the poorly built and leaking old ones.  While this would normally add value to a home and be appreciated by future buyers he did it completely wrong.  Take a look at this picture.

Notice the upper left corner of the picture.  What you see here is the original header and part of the trimmer stud that supported the left end of the header for the original window.  The homeowner went to the local box store, bought a stock size window, tore out the old one and attempted to put the LARGER stock size window in without reframing the opening.  The roof load is now pushing down on the header and transfering the load to the window.  The header should have been removed and a LONGER header installed with proper bearing from header to the floor.  He thought he could just close this up with some trim and sell his home with "new windows".

Besides the structural issues here, the window was not installed properly with Tyvek wrap and tape at the perimeter, caulking, foam perimeter insulation or proper fasteners.  It will now cost hundreds of dollars per window to correct this and even more if the windows can not be salvaged.  The home can not be sold in this condition.

Bottom line, if you don't know what you are doing please stop before it gets worse.  Hire me as a consultant if anything and get the job done right. 

There are many more photos like this to post.  Stay tuned.