My company decided that it was time to remodel our offices and I

was put in charge of getting bids from contractors. The trouble was, I
had heard horror stories from friends who did remodeling and I was
worried about finding a company that would get the job done on
time and under budget.
No doubt there are many honest contractors, but some of the people I
talked to had experiences with shady companies. Some of them
weren't on the level about being able to meet deadlines and some
tried to get away with murder when they billed for a job. It was
important that I found a company that was on the up and up.
I got bids from six companies and checked all of their references. In the
end, I picked a company that had done work for one of the biggest
companies in the city. They seemed to be the best and our company hired
them. I have my fingers crossed that everything will go smoothly.
Today, we are talking about hiring a contractor and the . And a
word contractors c-o-n-t-r-a-c-t-o-r-s (CONTRACTORS) is, comes come
from rather, the word contract which is an agreement, of course,
between two people we would . We will say, an agreement between two
parties p-a-r-t-i-e-s.(PARTIES). Its the same word as partiesparty
when you celebrate, but celebrate. But when we say there's a contract
between two parties, we mean either between two individuals or
between two companies or groups of individuals. Well, aA contractor
(with the o-r atOR in the end) is the name of the person who does the
contract and usually. And Usually, when we talk about a contractor
we're, were usually talking about someone who works independently, in
independently. In fact, we use the term independent contractor.
Thiscontractor, this is a the person who works for him- or herself, not
for another company and. And you can hire this person just to do a
specific job and when theyretheyve done with that job, you pay them,
and thats it, they go on to another job.

Well, in this story for in this podcast, the person in the story
sayssaid that it was time to remodel our offices.offices. To remodel
r-e-m-o-d-e-l(REMODEL) means to fix, to change, to improve, to make
better and usually. And Usually, we use this verb when we are talking
about a house or a building wherewhen we are going to, for example
rewe model our bathroom; that means we're are going to fix it, put in
some new cabinets, put in a new bathtub, bathtop, that would be
remodeling. Well, in the story, this the person isdid remodeling their
offices and he was put in charge of getting bids from contractors.
To be put in charge of, that is expression means that they were
responsible for so if . So when I say Im putting I put in you in charge of
finding a new gardener for oura garden, agarden. A gardener, someone
who works in a garden, that the garden. That means that you are
responsible for that, its that. Its your job to do it, you it. You must be
thea leader, the boss for that, particular task, that particular job. A
bid b-i-d is(BID) its when a company or an independent contractor says
we indepentdent contrator said you can do that job for 1000a thousand
dollars, in other words dollars. And another word for a bid is, an offer to do
a particular job and you. You get many differentdifference bids and then
you find the bid thats you like best. Well he He was supposed to get
bids from contractors, thecontractors. The trouble was he had heard
horror stories from friends who did remodeling. Horror stories h-or-r-o-r(HORROR) two words horror stories, astories. A horror story is
normally a scary story, like for example Count Dracula,dracula, the
Vampire,vampire. It is a horror story. In this case, however, when
someone says I heard a horror storystories they means I heard a
horriblehorroble experience, a person who had a very bad, its a very
bad story of or something that went wrong and usually. Usually, this is
for example you are talking about a vacation you took and it was a
reallyvery bad hotel and you tell your friends that it's thats a
horriblehorrorble hotel they might. They may say OhI heard hororble story
about bad hotel. I heard a horror bad story about that hotel, I heard bad
stories about it. Wellit. Well, the person in our a story here which is
nothad a horror storystories was worried about finding a company that

would get the job done on time . The job j-o-b(JOB) here just means
the specific task, a task t-a-s-k . A Task ( TASK) is the same as of a small
job. WelltoTo get the job done on time means to get it done when it
is scheduled to be done so if. So you promise to finish it by Friday,
you must complete it by Friday to be on time. The other thing that
he wanted wants is that the company would come in under budget.
Under budget, budget b-u-d-g-e-t(BUDGET) is how muchcommon money
you are going to spend so. So when someone says theyre under budget,
we often use theoffer new expression to come in under budget, means
that it will they cost less thanthat they had planned so. So if the
contract bid is for a 10004000 dollars, but it the they only costs 750 715
dollars that. That contract came in under budget.
The story continues No doubt there are many honest
contractors. WhenWith someone uses the expression no doubt, they
mean of course, of course there are many honest contractors or I
believe that there are many honest contractors. But some of the
people he talked to had experiences with shady companies. Shady sh-a-d-y(SHADY) would be a company that isnt honest, a unhonest,
dishonest company, would be shady. They try to steal your money or
they dont finish what they say they arere going to finish. That would
be a shady company. In Britain, they would probablywill properly use
the term like dodgy d-o-d-g-y, dodgy as the Brits,doggy (DOGGY),
someone from Britain mightmay say it, is the same as shady in
American English. Well, some of the contractors according to our
story weren't a story werent on the level about being able to meet dealines. To be
on the level about being able to meet deadlines. To be on the level l-e-ve-l (LEVEL), that means again to be honest so if. So someone says
Imtheyre on the level with you they mean I am telling you the truth,
I am being honest with you. The companies, someSome of the
companiescompany tried to get away with murder when they billed for
a job. The expression to get away with murder m-u-r-d-e-r,
literally(MURDER). Literally, murder means when someone kills someone
else but. But the expression to get away with murdermurder means
that you did a terrible thing, a very bad thing but you get away

meaning, mean it you are able to do it without being punishedpurnished or

perhapsperhalf without anyone knowing. annoys. So to get away with
murder is to do it, a very bad thing but you do not have to, you aredo
not punishedpurnish for it. Well, to bill for a job b-i-l-l (BILL) means
that you ask for money so. So Im going to bill you for something
means Im going to send you a bill and tell you how much money you
have to pay me.
The company that the person in our story is looking for he wants
it to be on the up and up. The expression on the up and up u-p just .
And up ( UP) is be like the up and down, todown. To be on the up and up
means once again the same as to be on the level it. It means its an
honest company, athe company that tells the true. truth.
Well, the person here gets bidsagain speech from six companies
and checks checked all of their the references. To check is the same as
to investigate and references r-e-f-e-r-e-n-c-e-s, references. And
References ( REFERENCES) are when the names of people or companiesof
company that you have done work for so. So, if I am a contractor, and
I worked for Mr. Johns and Mrs. Smith, I would will say well here are
my am I references and I would will give them thea name and thea
telephone number of these people and you. You can call them and as say
theyre well did this person and do a good job. You have references for
contract bids, and you also have referencesrefereces for a job of
course, people that you have worked for. Well in
In the end, he decided to pick athe company that had done work for
one of the biggest companies in the city or had worked for, he the
for. The person in ourthe story says that he has his fingers crossed
that everything will go smoothly. To have your fingers crossed c-r-os-s-e-d(CROSSED), means that you are hoping,hopy, you are
praying,afraid, youre not sure, and we use that expressionthe person
when you dont have any more control over what will happen. So I
have my fingers crossed that it wont rain today,today. I cant control
that but I am hoping hopy that I am lucky and to. And To cross your
fingers you take the first two fingers of course crossed and you put
the middle finger, the second finger not that counting your thumb. The

second finger is behind the first finger and that is crossing your
fingers. Well for things toThe thing will go smoothly means that they
will go without problems, that theproblems. The contractor wont give the
company any problem. Now lets listen to the dialog or this story rather
this time at a native rate of speed.