“A man is only as good as his “Word” First let me show off my lovely storage shed. It looked good enough to live in but I only needed extra storage space. This little building is perfect for my needs. But then the axe fell - I trusted a friend who gave me his “Word.” I emphasize word because that’s important. I grew up hearing the phrase, “A man is only as good as his “Word” and another “A man’s bond is his “Word.” I believe if folks lived by those words today it would be a better place for us all. Back then business was done with a handshake not in a boardroom filled with lawyers. You trusted a person by their character and their word. Which is in the end are one and the same, aren’t they? Well, back to my storage building and trusting a friend... It started when I told my friend, Davie Sutton, also the dealer who sold me the Graceland Barn, I would need a ramp for the shed and asked if he had someone working with him who did carpenter work. He said Mike Burch did work for him he would send him out to build the loading ramp for the building and believed Mike would do me a good job. I trusted his word because based on past experience I felt I knew his character. (Let it be said, I did not know Mike Burch) Mike Burch told me the ramp would be build of pressure treated materials, 2X6 support braces & 3/4 plywood. I wrote Mike Burch a $75.00 check for these materials, then before he even started he needed more money. $30.00 more to be exact. Seems he planned to cut the bottom off both doors. I should have run him off right then, instead, I trusted the long-time friend who sent him and gave over the $30.00 in cash then left to keep a doctor’s appointment. That’s the 2nd mistake I made that day. I should have stayed at least long enough to check out the materials he brought for the ramp. Because when I returned home I was appalled. In fact, I felt like crying at the mess made of my once beautiful shed. The doors were cut off so short rain and varmints now have easy access to the inside of the building. The trim was cut off so it is no longer runs across the bottom of the right door to brace it. Then there’s that ramp - - where is the 2X6 all I see is 2X4s. Perhaps Mike Burch thinks I don’t know the difference between the two. He’s wrong! What about that pressure treated lumber? Nothing - - I do mean nothing on the ramp is pressure treated. He poured a quart of polyurethane over the half-rotten plywood (look at the photo, don’t take my word for it) to protect it - that isn’t needed when you use treated lumber as he said he did - as he charged me for. (He tried to charge $30.00 for the polyurethane, too). I asked my friend, Davie Sutton, to replace the damaged doors his carpenter, Mike Burch ruined and either refund the $205.00 I put into that so-called ramp or have it rebuild by someone who IS a carpenter. Because the photos are proof that Mike Burchis not one. In late September Davie Sutton agreed to have another ramp build and to replace both doors. He even gave me the name of the man who would do the work. I agreed that if that person did the work it would indeed be done correctly, the person has done work for us before and he is an exceptional carpenter. Well, it has been two months since that conversation, field mice are moving into my shed, that so-called ramp is turning brown from exposure to the elements, so much for that treated lumber I paid for but didn’t get and so much for the value of a friends “Word.” Below are the receipt, the barn before it was slaughtered, photos of it after it was damaged. The pictures tell the truth of what Ive documented above. Remember treated lumber has a greenish tinge none of this material does. But its the uneven, brutal saw cuts, nails, when I paid for a box of screws, the bottom brace on the right hand door has been cut off too short and will now fall apart with use it is no longer braced properly. And I feel Davie Sutton should take responsibility for the mess his carpenter made. He said he would, now after two months he wont even take my phone calls. Character will out and Ill see how good his Word is.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Nov 2014 04:05:23 +0000
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