Masonry team subbing themselves out from my job

Hi, I'm having my front stoop and steps rebuilt, and a couple of my neighbors have been interested in my project and we've chatted a time or two and they've made suggestions. The framework was done and brickwork starting when I got covid, so I've only ventured out to take pictures in the evening after the crew is gone.

Today I'm feeling much better and go outside to put some things in the back of my car and I see that one of the masons from my job is parging my next door neighbors stoop. When he sees me, he rolls the wheelbarrow of cement back over to my yard and hangs by my job.

I go to talk with my neighbor and the mason guys come over too. My neighbor says he did hire them to parge his stoop and steps, and it doesn't take away from my job because they have a three man crew and the third man isn't really needed, especially when the brick they've laid at my house needs to dry. When I asked the masons why they have 3 men if they don't need 3, they said a crew is 3 men and a crew gets assigned to any job, and I'm not paying any extra for the 3rd man.

One of the masons (the guy caught parging at the neighhbor's) got really angry that I was questioning it all, and stormed off.

So I'm in a quandry now. They were brought to my job to try and wrap it up quickly because the contractor had to fire the previous crew.
- Could they finish my job faster if they weren't working on the neighbors?
- Is it really true that they have time on their hands waiting for mortar to dry before they can
lay additional courses? It's a 5'x5'x6' stoop with 8 steps and brick is only on the outside
of it all, not on rise, run or stoop surface.
- Do I report this to their boss? If they were doing it on their lunch break I wouldn't have
a problem with it. I would have preferred they had a different wheelbarrow of mortar
but that cost is probably negligible.
My big concern now is whether the masons will sabotage my job because I discovered their side work and they don't know what I will do about it.

Anyone would could answer my above questions and/or suggest a good path forward, I'm grateful. Thanks.
P.S. It's a Hispanic crew and only one seems to speak English; I don't know how much they understand of what I say. when I have techincal questions I text the job boss, who is out of town right now.

 

If your contract is with the boss or his company, you are just sticking your nose where it doesn't belong. If they are subcontractors they are their own boss and don't need anyone telling them what to do. My advice is myob.

 

Well, to me this build *is* my business. It's supposed to be done by Monday and it doesn't look like that will happen, so I do question the side work that no one mentioned to me. If I'm paying a crew to work 7-8hrs a day, I'm not paying them to also be next door unless they explain how that can work and clear it with the job foreman first (who always texts me).

Hopefully others might have answers to my questions.

 

I don't think you understand how subcontractors work. They answer to the contractor who hired them, not to you. So IF they are subcontractors you are barking up the wrong tree. The chain of command would be that you would talk to the contractor if you have a problem with the people he hired. That is how it works. Like it or not.

If YOU are paying them, yes, they are working for you. If you arent paying them, talk to their boss.

 

Ok, I can appreciate that hierarchy. I actually didn't ask to talk with the crew; they saw me go over to talk with my neighbor, and they came over to join us without being asked. Their foreman is out of town for the holiday weekend, otherwise I would have texted him.

I am glad to understand more about contracting, but still have questions about whether brick mortar needs to have time to dry out after so many courses before more should be built on top,

 

The weight of the bricks limits how many courses of brick they can lay, yes. On a small area, I can imagine they would want to stop sooner than if it was a big area, simply due to the time factor. Wet mortar will swish under the weight otherwise. So that isn't suprising.

 

What xsleeper said.
You contracted a job. Unless you are furnishing the material you don’t really have a beef with the crew. Around here it is common for a crew to contract a job themselves, usually on weekends, They use the boss’s equipment, probably with his knowledge. It is a way for them to make more money that does not cost the company anything except wear and tear on their equipment. Woe to the crew that wrecks the boss’ equipment and tough luck to the boss who has a person hurt on the weekend who claims he was hurt on Monday morning.
So this may or may not be a job the crew took on themselves. To do a job as small as you describe is not a day’s work. They just as well pick up the next job while they wait for the mortar to set until they can strike the joints and clean up.