Imagine living next to a neighbor who tells you that they’ve hired a contractor to redo their fence. The only probably is that you have a gate attached to the fence, and redoing the fence will mean removing the gate. Would you be okay with that?

In this story, one woman was in this situation, and she was fine with the gate being removed, but she didn’t want them to built a new gate unless they gave her a quote first.

The contractor didn’t listen. Instead, he seems to play by his own rules which include giving sob stories and gaslighting clients.

Now, the neighbor is worried, and the homeowner is wondering if she should’ve just played along to get rid of the contractor.

Keep reading for all the details.

AITA For Not Paying a Contractor for the Gate he Built?

I (31F) am a SAHM of 2. Our neighbors hired a contractor (C) to redo their entire fence. Our neighbors (retired, early 70s) are very generous and kind and genuine about it. Way better people than myself.

The first day C started work, we find out his crew are his teenage sons. We also find out our gate is unstable and probably going to fall apart after take down the part of the fence connecting it.

We give permission for the gate to be torn down w/the agreement that no new gate would be built without us getting a quote first.

That didn’t happen.

5 weeks, total silence, and a really ugly fence later, C comes up to my car as I’m backing out of my driveway to tell me, “Your gate is going to be done in 30 minutes!”.

I was like, “…what?” and he asks for my number so he can send me the bill.

He texts me late that night to tell me I owe him $900 for the gate and he expects to pick up the payment THE VERY NEXT MORNING along with his tools.

I go outside and find all of their power tool batteries plugged into our house charging them and empty and half empty beer bottles and energy drink cans and just literal garbage all over.

The neighbor isn’t happy either.

The gate is garbage. The fence is garbage.

My neighbor calls me that night really upset and it’s becoming quite clear he’s taking full advantage of them. They paid him a ludacris amount for the fence. She just keeps telling me she “doesn’t like to make a fuss”.

I’m upset after the phone call and decide to put a lock on the gate so I can confront C in person. He’ll have to talk to me to get to his tools now and I didn’t text him back.

Here’s what happened the next day.

So the next morning I explain why I wouldn’t be paying for the gate he built. I emphasize that there was ZERO communication about this and I didn’t even know he was on my property until I left my house.

C accuses me of wanting a free gate and tells me I have to pay him for the materials.

I told him I didn’t want the gate and to take it and keep his materials.

He’s gaslighting me, telling obvious sob stories (that most likely worked on my neighbors), threatening to take the gate down, and thinking of every possible way why he’s entitled to payment.

It seems like C likes to complain.

C doesn’t take gate down (in being the bigger person fashion). C tells me I’m a jerk for putting a lock on the gate and I made him late for his next job and that his kids helped build the gate and I’m a jerk for not paying them.

I get a call from my neighbor within 2 mins (she’s panicking) and C is at her front door.

I walk straight over there and ask him loudly what he needs from my neighbor.

He leaves.

The neighbor is worried.

I can see the worry on her face and she hints that she wishes I’d just paid him so he would leave us all alone.

She also is upset about his kids and worried he really needed that money to take care of them.

He ends up harassing them for a few days trying (unsuccessfully) to get payment for our gate from them.

AITA for the lock on the gate and not just paying him or his kids?

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Oh, please. He didn’t get a quote for the gate. There was no signed contract for the gate. OP doesn’t owe him anything.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a tenant who decided to stop returning his neighbor’s misplaced laundry after two years.

Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story.

This is a good point.

And I’m sure they’ll do it again.

I feel bad for the next clients.

Nobody thinks she did anything wrong.

What an awful contractor! It’s stories like these, combined with my own experience, that makes me hesitant to have any home renovation projects done because it seems impossible to find a contractor you can trust.

All the contractor had to do was what he was hired to do. Obviously, he knew OP never agreed to the gate. He built it anyway hoping he could guilt her into paying.

I wish she could find out the contact information for his current clients so she can warn them; although, it’s probably already too late.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a couple whose new neighbors’ construction noise is ruining the whole neighborhood vibe.