It can be terribly hard to find a reliable contractor or repair person.

I have been burned by a contractor who took my money and didn’t actually complete the job, so I can relate to the couple in today’s story who seems to be in a similar situation.

The carpenter who promised to finish the repair work he was hired to do has made a lot of excuses about why he hasn’t completed the work.

The woman who hired him is wondering if she is asking too much by actually wanting the work to be done and to see receipts for the expenses.

Let’s learn more about this nightmare remodel situation.

AITA for withholding the remaining payment until the work is finished and arguing with my husband about siding with the carpenter?

I (40F) hired a carpenter (39M) to replace a basement window and install trims on all the windows in my rental property for a total of $740 (I pay for the window).

On 2/10, he requested a $350 deposit, which I paid promptly, and he assured me he would start on 2/11.

As I also want the entire place painted, I asked him if he could do it and for how much.

He claimed to have 10+ years of experience painting.

He mentioned a lot of other things he could fix.

After that, he started suggesting other repairs—replacing the flooring, caulking the bathroom, patching holes, and even painting the bathtub with enamel.

He offered to do all of this for $850, provided I bought the flooring.

He requested a $650 deposit, which I paid.

On 2/11, he did no work because, his wife called, and he needed to go home.

She’s not sure if he did anything or not.

I reminded him that we had families scheduled to view on 2/15 and asked if he could meet the deadline.

He assured me he would.

By 2/13, very little had been done—only the living room and kitchen were supposedly painted, but they already looked fine before, so I couldn’t even tell if they had been repainted.

Meanwhile, wallpaper had been peeled off and left scattered on the floor.

He made another excuse for not showing up.

On 2/14 at 9PM, he texted that he couldn’t finish everything on time because he had prioritized snowblowing for other customers over our project.

He promised to show up at 6AM the next day to clean, mop the place, and install the basement window.

He also said he would bring a helper but assured me that he would cover the extra cost.

More excuses.

At 7AM on 2/15, I called him since I was at the house.

He said he overslept but would head over immediately.

Then, at 7:26AM, his wife texted me, saying he had fainted and needed to go to the hospital.

He never showed up that day or the next.

He made even more promises.

We gave him another deadline—2/20—and he promised he would finish by then.

But on 2/17, he was still absent, so we asked for our $1K back so we could hire someone else.

He reassured us he’d be done by 2/20.

He asked for more money.

On 2/18, he told us that he had been evicted and had no money so asked us to buy $340 worth of materials and deduct it from the balance.

We agreed just to keep things moving.

However, when we arrived at 2:30PM, he still wasn’t there.

He made more promises and excuses.

By 2/19, we reminded him again about the deadline.

He said he would finish “a majority” of the work that evening.

When I checked on 2/20 at 2PM, the window trims weren’t installed, the floors weren’t done, and nothing else had progressed aside from the painting.

He then claimed that his wife had gone through a traumatic experience 2 months ago, and he couldn’t leave her alone due to her anxiety.

While I sympathize, he never told us this before and had consistently given other excuses.

Now he wants even more money.

Tonight (2/20, 8 PM), he called my husband (41M) and said we needed to pay him $130 now for paint because his estimate wasn’t enough.

He said it was his grocery money.

I told him I had no problem covering the $130, but I wanted him to provide the receipt and that I would only pay him once all the work was fully completed.

So, AITA?

This carpenter is never going to do the work.

He’s just trying to squeeze them for as much money as possible. The excuses will never end.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

She needs to look at the contract.

He will never finish the job.

Time to find a new carpenter.

She definitely shouldn’t give him any more money.

She shouldn’t have agreed to have him do more work until he did the original job.

He never even planned on doing the work.

It seems pretty clear from what they described.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check this one out about a man who created a points system for his inheritance, and a family friend ends up getting almost all of it.