This Never Happens on HGTV

Fandango

My wife wanted to sell our old house.

“Let’s buy a new one,” she said.

I wanted to renovate our current house.

I found a contractor online who had good Yelp reviews.

He agreed to give me a free estimate.

He put together a quote that seemed reasonable.

I offered him an upfront payment.

As an incentive to get the renovations underway.

He took my money.

He started the work.

He completed most of the demolition.

And then he stopped showing up.

He vanished into thin air.

I reached out to a lawyer.

To see what options I had.

He advise against any kind of legal pursuit.

Said it would cost more than the money I lost.

And then he charged me a thousand bucks.

Now my wife is pissed at me.

We can’t sell our house as is.

And can no longer afford to buy a new house.

Now I’m stuck in that proverbial boat without a paddle

This never happens on HGTV.

Written for these daily prompts: Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (renovate), Word of the Day Challenge (free), Your Daily Word Prompt (incentive), Ragtag Daily Prompt (pursuit), and The Daily Spur (boat).

19 thoughts on “This Never Happens on HGTV”

  1. Marleen March 8, 2021 / 3:41 pm

    Do not EVER pay upfront.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply
      • Marleen March 9, 2021 / 1:04 am

        I’ve seen it done… upfront payment (in full) as encouragement, that is. But it wasn’t. I’ve also seen someone do part of a job and ask for part of the money, then ask for more of the money after a bit more work the next day if he would leave his work boots. 🙄 (Gone.)

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply
        • Marleen March 9, 2021 / 9:23 am

          Not on HGTV. They have cameras running all the time, which is likely to discourage such malfeasance.

          Liked by 1 person

          Reply
  4. lssattitudeofgratitude March 8, 2021 / 4:53 pm

    This is exactly why I do whatever jobs I can by myself. I leave the electrical and plumbing to the pros. But truth be told I never trust anyone with money up front.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  5. CGraith March 8, 2021 / 5:09 pm

    Flash fiction right? Why does this sound so close the the truth? The old house still has it’s bones, The flesh will come back.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • Fandango March 8, 2021 / 9:49 pm

      Yes, flash fiction. But I’m going to take it as a compliment that it sounds like it could have been the truth. Thanks.

      Like

      Reply
  7. bushboy March 8, 2021 / 11:14 pm

    Here’s a true story. Many years ago, had a carpenter to do work on the kitchen. Couple of days in, lots done but he disappeared leaving tools and hole in the floor. Found out from his Dad that he was done for DUI not first time and was behind bars. There was a pub across the road.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  8. Marilyn Armstrong March 8, 2021 / 11:17 pm

    Actually, that’s pretty common. Once they’ve knocked down half your house, they figure you’re stuck, so they can go work somewhere else. We finally have a handful of contractors we trust, but boy oh boy, finding them was not easy.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  9. jilldennison March 9, 2021 / 12:10 am

    Like Carl, I was hoping to hear this is fiction, and relieved to hear that it is! But yeah, this does happen to some … sadly.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  10. leigha66 March 13, 2021 / 6:01 pm

    I was very nervous when we replaced all the windows in our house and we had to pay half up front. But they had to special order windows to exact measurements so I guess I can see why… I was still nervous until the job was done.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a comment