Imagine hiring a contractor for a home renovation project, but the project isn’t done by the deadline. Would you patiently wait as long as it takes, or would you be really upset and bug the contractor until he finally finishes the project?

In this story, one pregnant woman is in this situation, and she’s extra stressed out because she really wants this project to be finished before her baby is born. As days pass without any progress, she’s wondering when, if ever, the work will finally be complete.

I can relate to her situation. Every time I’ve hired a contractor, the project goes way past the deadline, and the contractors also seem to be really good at telling sob stories so you feel bad telling them to do their job.

Yes, the contractor in this story also has a sob story.

Keep reading for all the details.

Contractor has pushed a 5-day project out 30 days, I’m 39 weeks pregnant. AIO?

My husband and I hired an independent contractor that we’ve worked with before to do a bathroom project – replacing a vanity (from single to double) and moving some light fixtures. So, some minor plumbing/electrical work and some drywall mudding.

Husband did the labor of moving the vanity and painting. The plumbing is done, vanity is in, some drywall mudding is complete, but there is still a huge hole in the wall = more mudding and painting to be finished, electrical outlets need to be moved and installed, and the lights need to be hooked up.

Long story short, we starting working with him on this on Feb 1st, and my due date is March 7th.

Was it cutting it close? Totally, yes! In hindsight, I will not do this again LOL. But our guy assured us this was a 5-7 day project, and he’d start right away.

He lied.

Well his attendance has been basically this: show up to do a couple hours of work, push things off to the next visit, call in sick or with a family issue, and now here we are well past project deadline.

He told us that he he has been taking care of his sick mother for two years, and says it is now getting bad.

He has not shown up for multiple days that he said he would, between that and being sick or busy with other project hangups.

Obviously we have a deadline too (birth of my child) and we told him that from the jump.

The contractor did not meet the deadline.

He assured us he has a backup guy that will help out in the situation that a.) his mom’s situation progresses or b.) I give birth prematurely or c.) the project just takes longer than anticipated for other reasons.

Well, our deadline to have everything wrapped up would be two weeks ago.

I should have known these projects always take longer than expected so part of this is on us.

I am due in 5 days and feeling contractions on and off and stressed at the state of things in our house.

More excuses.

Contractor has not shown up for many days in the past week because of his mother’s situation declining, says he is her POA so has to figure things out with family etc.

So my husband (who has been doing all the communication) has told him in clear wording that we are at the point where we need his backup guy to come, considering both our circumstances.

Contractor responded with a very guilt-laden message saying “you’re prioritizing your wife I am prioritizing my mother” and has said nothing about arranging a backup guy, just keeps saying “he’ll be by soon” or “later today” and then leaves us hanging.

Mind you what’s left is a couple hours of work, he keeps saying he could get it done in a day.

She just wants the project finished.

Obviously I have empathy for his situation!!

I feel super uncomfortable at this back and forth and that it’s gotten to this point.

But at the same time we’ve paid him some money down and I really sort of need a functional bathroom before our baby is here.

I obviously didn’t anticipate or want this to transpire this way.

She’s not sure what to do.

I don’t know how far to push on this backup guy who may or may not exist, or if we just cut our losses and figure out the rest of this work some other way.

Or if we just suck it up and be patient.

This guy has been so inconsistent and is sort of a loose cannon so I didn’t want him in our house when my baby is born.

But beggars can’t be choosers… and maybe we planned this poorly. AIO?

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First of all, I wouldn’t feel any sympathy for the guy. He’s probably lying. His mother may not exist any more than the backup guy. Contractors seem to be really good at lying and coming up with sob stories to get out of actually working.

Let’s see what Reddit suggests.

Here’s a question and advice for the future.

Here’s another question and suggestion.

This person thinks they should hire someone else.

They really needed to get it in writing.

If you enjoyed this post, check out this story about a woman who got family pushback after gifting jewelry to her stepdaughter.

Maybe not having a written agreement will work in their favor, especially if they didn’t pay him for the whole job yet. Simply, don’t pay him anymore and hire someone else to finish the work.

I know she feels bad about the guy’s mom, but he is very likely making the whole thing up. Even if he’s not, he took on the job and needs to complete it or needs to have the backup guy he mentioned complete it. He works for them. He needs to do the work.

But if he’s not going to do the work, someone else can.

It’s really not good for her to be this stressed out while she’s pregnant.