If he's any good and is busy, one might assume others are busy also. I just finished reading a flooring trade magazine with several articles on the shortage of skilled installers, so your experience isn't surprising. In hindsight, the obvious solution is to delay starting one job until you're done with the prior job, but this often doesn't go down well with customers. At this point you're probably stuck with waiting. I suggest you find out when he can commit to you if he concentrates on the other job until it's done.

You can weigh the potential success of calling other contractors, taking time to meet them, get prices, and wait for them to start. I suspect the original installer would be faster. Other installers might not even want your job. even though you seem to have legitimate issues.

The caveat to this would be if the workmanship isn't good. In that case it would be best to get him out immediately and find another solution, even though it's likely to take longer. Better done right than fast.

So to update, he showed up around noon by himself and there was *some* progress made. I mean, one can't really move much heavy furniture by oneself and the room where the LVP needs to be finished has several bookshelves, heavy desks and other things.

He definitely underestimated the job as far as time goes. 6 days for around 900 square feet and that includes prep, some tile removal, some carpet removal and new subfloor, then laying the LVP. But he said he's been doing this for 15 years so I assumed he was going to have a team and things were going to get knocked out. I didn't expect 6 days necessarily but now we're up to 7 days and one floor isn't even finished.

At this point I'm wondering if this is just what he does...? Promises some fantastic timeline and that he has the workers to make it happen but then putters around doing everything himself so he doesn't have to pay anyone. I don't know. I'm hoping that there's another worker with him tomorrow. We've had a discussion about the time things are taking and he's very apologetic and is willing to discuss ideas and issues but... I can't make him hire workers. I guess we're just riding this out and hoping for the best. Quality of work is decent but I don't know how things are going to get done. Still have an entire kitchen full of ceramic tile to demo, among other things...

Ok....so now we have a better picture of what is going on. You have:

900sf of vinyl plank flooring to be laid which requires:

1. Demolition of some tile (how many rooms total???) and carpet - both of which hide HUGE amounts of problems underneath

New SUBFLOOR material!!!!! A few days for that no problem.

1. Rooms containing LARGE/HEAVY furniture ( - ahhhhh now we get to some of the good stuff) that must be "shuffled" many times to first remove the flooring and then to prep and then to install. I count a total of 4-6 shuffles in that room alone.....Now we are getting somewhere.

OK....so it is a BIG flooring job. With extras required (new substrate laid + HEAVY FURNITURE).

I would guess that he has 4-5 "guys" on his team - total. He promised 6 days because he ASSUMED that he would have access to ALL OF HIS GUYS for your home. And by the sounds of it - with all the work AND THE MOVING OF FURNITURE - he needs all hands on deck for your project.

With all 4-5 people on-site he could do exactly what is needed in 6 days - no problem. Well, like all things in the building industry, things came up on another job (he's already informed you of that) and that delay has cost him MAN POWER! Without man power, he cannot get your job done.

He's a busy guy (that's good news), the quality of work is acceptable (that's good news) but the time line you were given has been disrupted by someone else's time line being EXTENDED beyond what he had projected for them. So your time line is out the window. So is the person waiting in line behind you. And so too the person behind them. Etc.

I know this is frustrating. Sadly, this is how it works in the building industry. The trades get people lined up so that they are always busy....but it only takes ONE job to ruin 3- 6 WEEKS of the schedule. Like a bus that breaks down in the middle of it's route, it can take several hours to get things back on track for the commuters waiting at all the bus stops on it's route.

"Your bus has been delayed due to unforeseen circumstances at another stop - please hold the line. We will be with you as soon as we are able."

I would keep with this person - you are next in line. If you step out of line, you will have to get to the back of the queu in someone ELSE'S route....and could still face LENGTHY delays by another "unforeseen" event with someone else's home.

I know. Damned if you do. Damned if you don't. But it will be faster to "hold on the line than hanging up and dialing again."

My plan is to talk with him further today about what he intends to do with the first floor. Trim should be done on the second floor by end of day tomorrow at latest, at least I'd think. It's just quarter round in all of the rooms, with new baseboards plus the quarter round in the bathroom. Plus the fiddly bits of reinstalling the heating vents and such.

SJ McCarthy, how should I approach the issue of lack of crew? I was going to suggest we give another portion of the payment tomorrow. Some of my husband's friends who are contractors in other fields suggested he's "chasing cash flow" so was finishing that other job so he could get paid. So I'm wondering if he simply doesn't have the money to hire anyone? I don't want to be offensive by asking after someone's money issues but I also want to make sure we actually see some progress.

Lack of crew is more about job delays. If you only need 4-5 guys (which is decent for a ma-pa flooring installation company) there is no need to hire more just for one delay. There is nothing you can do about crew availability. And yes, he's trying to finish the jobs that will pay right away. That's the normal way business works.

If you have friends who are contractors, you can always get them (for pay) to move the heavy furniture. There is nothing more to do if there are delays on other jobs.

In the flooring industry, you do NOT want to hire "guys" just to fill a position. Look at how many complaints we have about poorly installed floors because the "guys" were NOT trained professionals. They were "guys with hammers". Hiring up-standing citizens who are INTERESTED in the trades is hard enough. Finding someone (as above) who is SKILLED is like winning the lottery.

This is not a 'bodies' on the job. Flooring requires HIGH levels of knowledge and - shock and dismay - READING SKILLS! I KNOW RIGHT!?

Warranties HANG on the skill of the installer. One wrong move and the whole warranty falls apart. Believe me, you do NOT want a group of 'Chucks in their trucks' working on this job. They're "Taillight Warranty" isn't worth the "time" you will save by bringing them on board.

As for payment schedule, that is on hold until HIS CREW meets CERTAIN mile stones. Not TIME lines....but work MILESTONES. That's your bargaining chip.

And the "fiddly stuff" (like trim) has a lot of cutting and a lot of time to throw it up. Fiddly = time consuming. Just like everything in life.