Play by Play of Home Improvement-5 weeks ago thru 10 am Tuesday

Weeks ago: We met with a contractor (a friend on my husband's family who has done much work for my mother-in-law and she says what a great job he does.) We are anticipating two days of labor to replace two sliding glass doors, remove old decking and replace with new decking, and install an over-the-range microwave and a vent to the outside. We bought a microwave locally for $300. The decking was given to us by my mother-in-law, who had enough left over from her own deck project (which this contractor did.) We sat down with the contractor and chose a new sliding glass door from a catalog. They are Therma-Tru vinyl doors. The current doors both opened from right to left. We discussed that we might like to have one of the doors open from left to right. He told us (I am unabashedly going to share numbers here) the doors were $1100 each; the labor to put in two doors would be $500-600 (so I assume $600.) The deck is small so we expect it should be done in a second day. So we are expecting to pay the contractor a total of about $3400, probably a little more if we need new trim around the doors, etc.

6:45 am: Contractor and his two guys arrive. The sliding glass doors were delivered yesterday but it was raining so the guys didn't want to work (don't blame them.) They begin by standing around and looking. Then they measure a few things. They are removing siding by about 7:30. I notice that the contractor is smoking a cigarette with the door open and his head halfway in the room. I hate cigarettes. I don't care that most of him is outside. I make a mental note that I am the homeowner and I will take no poop from this man.

8:45 am: Contractor starts to put the first door in and discovers that it opens left to right. He asks me which side I want it on, and I say that if we have two opposite doors, we want this one on the right. The left hand door definitely needs to open up right to left, and the other door could go either way. He checks the other door, and finds that it opens left to right also. I tell him that I'm not sure we would like that. He says he will call the manufacturer to see if the door can be reversed. I call my husband and we agree that we will not be satisfied with a l-r door on that side, and it needs to be re-ordered. I tell the contractor this; he says he thinks maybe at one point we discussed both doors opening that way, and I said no, we definitely would not have asked for the door to open that way.

9:30 am: Hubby has returned home from a doctor's appointment. Takes a look, chats a bit, kisshug, head off to work. Five minutes later the contractor finds me and tells me the door can't be reversed. He's been on the phone to the place he bought it from. They think they can get a door within a week, but it took 5 weeks to get these. He thinks he ordered two opposite doors, in which case it's the other guy's fault and they will have to replace it. As he puts it, "Someone's got to eat this door." Is the implication that I will eat this door? I feel 100% confident that we did not ask for both doors to open l-r; we asked for either opposite doors, or both to open r-l. I don't say this; I just nod my head. He says we will wait and see what the sales guy says when he calls back. I make a mental note that I will not pay him to install, nor will I pay for, a door that we did not ask for. Start working up my guts.

10:00 am: While I'm discussing with the contractor whether I am satisfied with the height of the lip to get in and out of the door (it seems high to me, but they've already got the siding back on and trim replaced inside, so I decide we'll live with it), he looks out and tells one of his guys to go get a different tool to bang nails into the decking so he won't ruin the one he's using. The guy gives him some pretty major stink-eye but gets up and goes. When he returns, the contractor has stepped outside and tells him if he wants to ruin his own tools that's fine. More stink-eye. The contractor tells him he can go if he doesn't like it, and walks away. The guy says, "Pay me and I'll go." But the contractor doesn't take out his wallet, nor does the guy go. They each appear to go back to work.