I gave a newer framing crew a shot on a basement reno and it went sideways fast

Had a small basement finishing job in Lethbridge last month, and my usual crew was booked. So I hired this young team that came recommended by a supply house guy. They were fast, but after three days I noticed the door openings were all an inch off and one wall was out of plumb by almost half an inch. Cost me an extra day and $600 in materials to tear out and redo their work. Has anyone else had trouble finding reliable framers who actually check their levels?

2 comments

2 Comments

karenhenderson9d ago

Did you check if those young guys were using string lines or just eyeballing it with their levels? Half an inch out of plumb on a basement wall is pretty bad, but door openings being off by a full inch tells me they probably weren't measuring from the same reference point each time. I've found that newer crews sometimes skip the step of snapping chalk lines on the floor and ceiling before they start framing, which leads to things drifting as they go.

the_gray7d ago

My buddy Mike had a crew out in Dayton last spring and watched them frame a whole basement in two days. They were just slapping studs up and checking plumb with their eyeballs, no string line anywhere. By the time they got to the back wall, the door header was off by damn near two inches from the front one. Took them three hours to rip it all out and redo it. Honestly, @karenhenderson, you're spot on about the chalk lines, Mike said the floor marks were still faintly visible from the original layout but the kids never used em once.