I’m not the type of contractor who likes to make or hear excuses, but here are some I’ve heard during my career as a general contractor. I hope you enjoyed reading them, because I enjoyed finding them.

1. I didn’t. Some contractors find it necessary to blame their problems on other people or even their workers.

2. I’ll go right away. How many times have you heard this?

3. Checks in the mail. I don’t even want to talk about this.

4. I can start at your job tomorrow. Until you sign a contract or later that night when the contractor tells you differently.

5. I have a license and insurance, when in fact they are not.

6. I have over 25 years of experience, they just don’t tell you what they have 25 years of experience in.

7. My partner has a contractor’s license. This one doesn’t work very well with intelligent people.

8. A policeman stopped me this morning. Ask them to show you the ticket, this usually confuses them.

9. The sawmill messed up my order. Did the sawmill make a mistake or did the contractor? He may never know.

10. Of course I have testimonials. They will have to go home, because they cannot remember the phone numbers and addresses of their friends and relatives.

11. My contractor license will be reinstated soon. I love this one, it doesn’t matter if they tell the truth or not, it doesn’t sound right.

12. What time did I say I would be there? Some contractors confuse the Eastern, Pacific, and Standard time zones. Find out what time zone your contractors set their clocks in and save them.

13. The building inspector does not know what he is doing. Often the contractor is the expert and not the city building department.

14. We can use something else. Contractors often choose to replace items specified by engineers and architects because they know more and have more experience.

15. Who ordered the wrong windows? It is rarely the contractor’s fault for mistakes like these.

16. The donut shop did not open on time. If this becomes a regular problem with your contractor, find out what kind of donuts they like and your problem is solved.

17. We had to sit in traffic this morning. You can always suggest that your contractor leave your home or office a little earlier next time.

18. Don’t worry about it, we didn’t need it anyway. They are usually referring to important structural hardware that is actually important, they just forgot to install it.

19. I will finish it at the end of the day. Wishful thinking most of the time, but from time to time they tend to pull it off.

20. Who broke what? If you only work with one contractor, it won’t be hard to figure out who broke your dishes.

21. My favorite of all time and last but not least. I never said that. This is my latest favorite and I don’t know how many times I’ve heard it from other contractors and even some homeowners.

I hope you had fun reading these 21 Dumb Excuses Contractors Tell Homeowners.