Watch out for homeowners who 'just want a quick patch'

Last month a guy in Arlington asked me to patch a 2x3 spot in his hallway where a dog had ripped the carpet. He said it was 'no big deal' and offered me $40 cash. I told him the backing was rotted and the pad was shot, but he insisted. Ended up having to rip out the whole hallway because the seam ripper caught and the carpet unraveled like a sweater. Has anyone else had a customer brush off your advice and then blame you for the mess?

3 comments

3 Comments

oscar74324d agoMost Upvoted

Did you try a different approach, like showing him exactly what would happen with a demo piece? I ran into this same deal in Dallas last year with a guy who wanted a carpet patch over water damage. Instead of arguing, I grabbed a utility knife and showed him how the backing was crumbling and the seam would just tear apart if we tried. He finally agreed to let me do a proper repair, and it saved his whole room. Sometimes you gotta let them see the problem with their own eyes instead of just hearing about it. That $40 patch would have turned into a full re-stretch or new carpet real quick.

jana_scott24d ago

Forty bucks for a carpet patch?! Unreal, that's practically stealing.

seth_harris367d ago

Yeah @jana_scott, showed him a scrap demo and he changed his tune fast.