PIBS
tldr: Teddy Bear quoted me $17k for a job. Job only actually need about 10% of that done. Switched out some minor repairs and modifications because of all the extra money. Work done wasn't even that great. Teddy Bear still tried to charge me $17k for work they never did. Contractor told me he "can come up with whatever number I need to get your bill to 17 grand." Finally settled on $12k after weeks of arguing, which was still way too much. --- Insurance company recommended Teddy Bear's after a car drove into my office. They sent a man out to quote the repairs needed. He said it would be $17,000 to basically rebuild 40% of my building from the... tldr: Teddy Bear quoted me $17k for a job. Job only actually need about 10% of that done. Switched out some minor repairs and modifications because of all the extra money. Work done wasn't even that great. Teddy Bear still tried to charge me $17k for work they never did. Contractor told me he "can come up with whatever number I need to get your bill to 17 grand." Finally settled on $12k after weeks of arguing, which was still way too much. --- Insurance company recommended Teddy Bear's after a car drove into my office. They sent a man out to quote the repairs needed. He said it would be $17,000 to basically rebuild 40% of my building from the ground up; floors, exterior walls, ceiling. Fast forward to when they start working. After getting the siding off, it turns out none of that extensive rebuild actually needed to be done. Well now I've got extra insurance money, might as well spend it, so I have them do some minor repairs that weren't a part of the original quote. I also had them tear down paneling and replace with sheet rock in a small 8x11 room and replace a couple old windows. And then the bill comes. They were still trying to charge me $17,000 when they did not do hardly any of the extensive rebuild of my office. After weeks of back and forth, including having their lead contractor stand in MY office and tell me to my face that he "can come up with whatever number I need to get your bill to 17 grand," we finally settled on a bill of $12,000, which was still too much by about a third. If I had known there were no major repairs needed and had I been in charge of the insurance money, I could have done the exact same job for under $1k in materials.