I just had someone connect a dishwasher. After they left it was running and didn't drain at the end, no matter what I tried. After a couple of hours of wasted time I found out they did not not bother to remove the knockout plug from the garbage disposal and just hooked up the line.

A few months ago I had a much worse situation where someone didn't read the instructions on the grout bag and used too much water during grout cleanup and created a problem.

I did complain on the second one because it was a relatively big problem. But in the past if it's something minor I'd just let it go rather than complain to their supervisor or post an online review because I thought maybe it would cost someone their job. But lately I've been getting more and more tired of people who do sloppy work. What do other people here do in this situation?

What's your time worth? If you have to finish a job that someone either messed up or did not complete and you fix it, how much did you cost yourself by them not doing it. Find that answer and compare it to the total bill.

J, what to do about incompetence in workmen? Hire competent workmen or hire supervisor.

NE,

Everyone goofs now and then....even DIYers!

I try to take the long view of having an ongoing relationship with service providers. How many goofs and how serious over how many jobs performed? If every job has a goof, it's time to start looking around for someone new. If it's one minor goof per 5 jobs, chalk it up to people being imperfect.

The dishwasher one is common none of those appliance installers know how to do their job properly.

I'd call Lowes Install Dept and demand a $100 discount for "someone" to repair the error AND to mop up the mess.

PLEASE contact them so they teach this installer what to do.

@Charlie

It was actually a license plumber from a local plumbing company (they gave me the name of the company and I googled it).

@Brad,

I did finally call and complain to Lowe's Production Dept. I've let so many things go in the past because they were "minor" but I'm tired of sloppy work and minor mistakes still waste my time.

I purchased my first rental property at age 18 while attending college and working full time. I then purchased more property and found I had little time to effect repairs so I hired handyman and contractors to deal with issues. Their work was horrible. They never showed up on time while tenants were waiting to let them in. The workmanship was unprofessional. I knew I could do a better job so I decided to tackle all issues on my own.

Soon after, the City said, "I needed a license to work on rental property". I couldn't find in the code book that homeowners, landlords couldn't work on their own properties. So I got my contracting license, just so I could make my own repairs. Then the various Departments said I needed "Specialty Licenses" to work on my plumbing and electrical systems. I had it up to here with "Government", so I got 5 additional contracting licenses. Not to work for other people or start a contracting business. Only to work on my rentals.

Soon afterwards I found myself pulling permits and fighting with the City, why? Because they wanted things done wrong -- just as my lousy handymen and contractors would have done.

When a shower fixture started to drip and a tenant reported me to "Housing", I was issued a violation to "Replace the shower manifold". Instead I re-built the fixture replacing the "Seats, Washers and Packing", making it work better than new. But no! I didn't replace the manifold and thus was in a penalty phase of my violation order. Since I was a licensed plumbing contractor I could testify at my hearing that my work would outlast a new cheaply built Chinese Faucet purchased from a Home Depot.

So I feel you pain. I would complain. I do all of the time. Not that it get's me any satisfaction, but this way I have cause to reduce payment or ask for a refund.