Their experience with building contractors
‘Based on my experience, I can say that I am extremely disappointed with the contracting industry which Guyana has to offer. There are too many unskilled contractors who are collecting people’s money and delivering poor and inefficient services. The majority of them extend the work in order to acquire an extra dollar, not even thinking of how long someone might have saved just to build their home, business etc. I think it’s totally unfair to the Guyanese citizens and should be looked into by our government.’
‘I think that we, the small contractors, haven’t been given a chance to really put forward our skill. I have applied to various places for contractual work with the government and I have not been successful. I am, a welder, fabricator and contractor and I have some of the best persons working under me but I’m yet to really put forward what I can really do. I have made my living basically from small jobs, you know and I’ve been in this business for over 15 years. If we as small contractors are given the opportunity to show what we can do on a larger scale then we can benefit society. I have the skills and the machinery, I just need the bigger market.’
‘My experience has been terrible with contractors. On two occasions with two different contractors I have received work that was below standard. One of the contractors created a pot base with columns, which was incorrect while the other collected … for materials to start the other part of the foundation where the other contractor left off. Right now I’m before the court with that contractor in an attempt to retrieve money that he would have taken for that work. I believe that some sort of body ought to be established so that in those instances we can get back money that would have been taken for substandard work.’
‘I’ve had a few dealings with contractors and what I’ve found is that some of them are very reliable while others throw you off a little. You have to remember that most of them are looking for an honest dollar so I tend to give them the work when I have it. Even the ones that threw me off a little I was still able to get a little work out of them. There are very few that I can personally live with, I know of one Mrs Ellice, that works very hard and can reach the pocket of the people.’
‘The experience I had dealing with contractors were, I would say fairly good. They were young. Their work was well done and I was satisfied. The only issue I came across with them was that they were untidy and left a lot of garbage around the work area.’
‘My experience with contractors wasn’t that pleasing. Even though it was an experience with a well-known contactor in the community, the finishing works were poor and unacceptable.’
`My firsthand experience was with my mother’s contractor when we were building a home in Essequibo. One of the problems we had with the contractor is that he scheduled and collected certain amounts of monies for certain things, and he collected the monies religiously but when it came time to do the work nothing was done. He left us bankrupt because we had taken out several loans to fix and pay for the building of the home and there was no way of regaining the monies. I think we need accountability from these contractors and some act to be set up to determine how these contractors are held accountable to their patrons. If there’s a building association in Guyana they ought to take the accountability of these contractors into consideration and if not such an association ought to be established.’
`I have no experiences with any contractors as it relates to my own personal activities. I do, however, have family members who have had dealings with contractors, and based on what I’ve seen, as in the work they did, and what I’ve heard from my family members who hired them, it was both good and bad. In one instance a contractor may bring along someone who may be specialised in one area of the job and the contractor might be good at another part even if they had an issue and was not satisfied with the job done they always found another person to redo the job. To do so is an extra expense but when it’s in the case where the contractor did the job right it’s less expensive since they would be able to stay in line with their planned budget. At the end of the day when hiring a contractor it’s wise to hire someone who is certified and has documents along with photos of the jobs they would have done’.
Cecil Simon-Teacher `My experience with contractors has been good and dissatisfied to some extent. Some have fulfilled their contractual obligations—staying true to what was originally agreed to. I therefore felt satisfied with the work done for the agreed price. There was also true friendship established since the work represented part of the contractor’s character—something made to last. One that stood the test of time and worth. Money was far from the satisfaction felt from the product produced via the work done. There are however some contractors who allow money and greed to corrupt their standard of work produced.
It is heart-rending having paid for works then to be shortchanged. Moreover the rowdy and callous nature of some contractors make it difficult to reason with them.
Their word cannot be trusted or relied on. Obviously there should be some checks and balances when dealing with contractors. One must be aware of the ills these guys can effect against you. This will lessen the bad effects of the actions of the bad contractors.’
`Based on my experience with contractors, which has been both good and bad, I believe that there ought to be a specific law that deals with contractors. I say this because there are times these contractors would say that they would complete a specific job within a certain time frame then it turns out that can’t be done and also they’re not forthcoming with the funds that would have been given to them. Some are very dishonest while a few may go above and beyond.’