Hiring Someone to Order Materials and Comparing Prices at Three Stores

　　Xiao Zhang and Xiao Li plan to get married in May next year. A year ago, they bought an apartment in a newly built residential community in Lüshun, and began renovating it in May this year. Because both sets of parents live out of town and their budget is limited, the young couple had to rely entirely on themselves, from interior design to hiring workers.

　　According to Xiao Zhang, the workers they hired were recommended by a neighbor next door who was also renovating. "Our neighbor started renovating earlier than us, and we saw their workmanship and were quite satisfied."

　　Soon the workers were in place and ready to start. Meanwhile, buying renovation materials became the biggest expense at hand. The foreman gave him a list of materials to buy and their quantities. To save money, Xiao Zhang decided to select them himself. "There is a building materials market not far from our new home, and it has everything." Xiao Zhang said that at first he did not know about this market; the hired workers recommended it to him and designated one of the shops.

　　Careful Budgeting Still Led to Being Cheated Out of a Lot

　　"The price of each item was negotiated in advance, but there were many types and I am a layman. To be honest, I can't quite remember them all." Xiao Zhang said that during the renovation, Xiao Li's workplace happened to require frequent overtime, so most of the renovation work was handled by him alone. In addition, of the materials ordered, some were delivered directly, some had to be reserved, and some needed to be replenished. After several rounds, Xiao Zhang got confused.

　　Half a month ago, the renovation materials store came to collect payment. Afraid of miscalculating, Xiao Zhang carefully reviewed the list. "I didn't pay attention at the time; I thought it was not much different from the previous quote." But when he happened to buy a pack of nails near his home, Xiao Zhang found that for iron nails of the same specification, the building materials store downstairs sold them for only 3 yuan, while the quote he had received earlier was 8 yuan. "A small shop sells a pack of stainless steel nails for only five and a half yuan," Xiao Zhang said. He had ordered more than 100 packs of such nails from the previous renovation materials store. This left him stunned.

　　Afterward, Xiao Zhang compared the prices of all the materials in his home one by one with the market and found that not only iron nails, but also many materials such as boards, cabinet feet, concealed hinges, and waterproof glue were priced two to three times higher than the market. As for the molding used for wall skirting, Xiao Zhang had ordered 90 meters at the time, but the list settled it as 90 pieces (each 2.5 meters). "They bully laymen." Xiao Zhang was furious and said that calculated this way, he had spent at least 4,500 yuan extra on renovation materials.

　　Reminder

　　Paying Money and Encountering Poor Workmanship Is Not Rare

　　For this reason, Xiao Zhang went to argue with the owner of the renovation materials store. After many arguments and negotiations, the store owner eventually returned 2,000 yuan to Xiao Zhang in two installments. But when Xiao Zhang tried to press further, the other party ignored him and told him to "sue wherever you like." "Now I just regret that I shouldn't have paid the full amount so quickly." Xiao Zhang said he had lost in this "game."

　　Recently, a reporter visited the new residential community where Xiao Zhang bought his home and found that because the homes were handed over early this year, most residents only started renovating this year. Among them, many reported encountering trouble during renovation. For this reason, Ms. Wu, a citizen who had just finished renovating, reminded people currently renovating that they should not only sign an agreement with the renovation company before renovation that protects the interests of both parties, but also be especially cautious during construction and be sure to keep evidence if problems arise.