Manufacturer Promises Part II

Manufacturer's rep wrote the spec on a job that called for 2 gallons/SQR coating, but job required 3-4 gallons to get coverage. Additional material cost was $65,000+. Rep was to come out multiple times during the work to talk about the additional usage, take mil-thickness samples, etc. Rep did not show up due to personal problems.

Who should pay the additional $65,000? Stopping the job in the middle was not an option due to several factors.

Yes I have been meeting with the rep's boss as he was fired several weeks ago for his misdeeds.

Does the "rep" have a boss? That is where I would start if yo7u can't get the fool to come out as promised!

It's unfair to ask anyone to offer an opinion given only 60% of the information, but I gave what I thought was enough background. There are important parts of the story that I'm not free to share at this point. That said, I disagree with your assessment - a company is responsible for mistakes their rep makes. He's called a rep because he represents the company he works for.

Without being unfair to him, he was asked to meet on multiple occasions to discuss the additional usage of material but he failed to show up for personal reasons. It's not as though we just blundered blindly through the job when we knew we were using too much material. The job was 350 miles from home, we can't simply rig down and go home because we're using too much material.

As to the multiple truckloads of material - we used it all up, just not on their jobs as promised. We did have to offer discounts on some of the work to use up the material, but it's not like we were setting on 3 truckloads of material all at once. This happened over a period of time.

I guess that since I'm not at liberty to give all of the details, my question should simply have been: Is a manufacturing company responsible if their rep writes a bad spec? It's no more complex than that. And when I say "responsible" that doesn't mean in a monetary way. I'm not asking for money, just attempting to establish if others have experience this with a manufacturer and if so, who? The "$65,00" was rhetorical - nobody is going to pay that to us.

OK, so this thread and the other, while maybe involving the same company, have nothing to do with each other. ?

Either way, both examples sound like some hard learned lessons that I can barely comprehend. I'm one of only a dozen platinum level fibertite guys in the country and I think the only one in my 7 state great Lakes region. The plant is 40 miles from home, we've kind of grown up together, and I've a special relationship with everyone in the company. It ain't every day, but I've had a number jobs with over a million in material costs. I know I'm still small potatoes compared to a lot of people, but I can't comprehend doing this work without a change order.... or buying multiple trucks of material on a promise. Even with Fibertite.

I really cannot see Any recourse other than adding a few notches, with !!! , to your degree from Hard Knock University.

Mike H Said: Im still trying to wrap my mind around a truckload of material that cost $800,000

Or did you add a zero to that figure in your other post? The most expensive materials Ive ever bought would be hard to get more than 100k on a single truck.

Truckload(s). Also, silicone is $2,000 per drum, so a single truckload can be north of $140,000.

If it is 55 gallon sets of Urethane insulation parts, it adds up in a HURRY!.

I'm still trying to wrap my mind around a truckload of material that cost $800,000

Or did you add a zero to that figure in your other post? The most expensive materials I've ever bought would be hard to get more than 100k on a single truck.

Alba, we use that much material anyway, just switched to this manufacturer.

There is a pattern of this - promising jobs that don't materialize. In the case of the 450,000 sq. ft. job it appears the rep just lied to get us to buy more material. Evidently the owner of the property never told him that he intended for us to reroof the whole building.

We know how to sell big jobs ourselves, but it seemed like a no-brainer to get some new big customers that came from the manufacturer.

What was the reason for using that much material?

Didn't buy it all at once. It's a major manufacturer so that gave me more confidence than I should have had. Had the carrot dangled on several very large jobs, and we actually did some work on those projects and they were very happy with our work. In fact, one of them we did a 5,000 sq. ft. foam patch and water breaks and were told - by the rep - that if they were happy we would do the other 450,000 sq. ft. in the Spring. Zero leaks, very happy with our work, only to be told in the Spring that they never intended for us to do the whole roof, that they were going to install TPO.

Were told by the rep that we were awarded a $137,000 contract on an apartment complex, that was a year ago.

Ouch! What does your contract say? There is no way I could afford to buy 800K in materials, and i sure would not without some contracts. What were they and you thinking?