Hard to turn away work, but...

I had a call from a potential customer yesterday, and even before going to see the site I had reservations about how it would go. This fellow had hired a landscape designer for a fairly large project, and construction had begun. However, there were quality issues being discussed, and I was asked to come consider reworking things to the homeowners' satisfaction.

Work being something for which I would anticipate reward, I went to see what was what. On arrival a minute or three early, I found the landscape designer's truck in the driveway. When the homeowner arrived, I got more of the story.

Standing inside the house, examining the unfinished work through a patio door so as to be semi-discrete with regard to the current contractor, I was shown some of the details of why the existing work did not meet the homeowners' expectations. It became clear to me pretty early on that I had to finesse a way to politely decline the job. I figured that the size of the project was an easy enough out for me, as a sole proprietorship, and simply said that I was not equipped or staffed to do the work they wanted done (I was only speaking to the husband--the wife was not in at the moment--but it was clear that the homeowners were united regarding their problems with the contractor's work to date). I suggested a friend who has a crew that does such work as perhaps being a better fit, only to learn that this friend had visited the site, speaking with the wife instead of with the husband, a few days prior.

During the entire discussion, it was apparent to me that the homeowners were desirous of fine cabinetry-level carpentry for terracing and fencing using lumber treated for outdoor exposure. Some of their complaints regarding cuts to posts (35 degree angle instead of, say, 40 degree, makes for a bad fit for the railing being nailed to the post) were valid, to be sure. There was a joint in a handrail that looked pretty rough from forty feet away, as well. That some of the 4X4 treated posts lying on their sides as part of a terracing wall had bowed a bit was, to my eye, to be expected. It's treated lumber. It "moves around," as my friend put it.

There is little good that can come of being in the middle of a dispute between the homeowners and an existing contractor (a point on which I was a bit uneasy before I arrived at the house). Also, even if I were able to get it looking "fine furniture good" at the time I completed the project, the appearance would degrade within a year--there is simply no good way to keep treated wood from warping in some direction in response to weather.