Can I legally reduce final payment to contractor poor dust control during reno?

12/9/2019 at 7:34:59 AM

It depends in your agreement. If home protection and dust control was discussed during the estimate process and promises were made then I would agree with you.

Our company offers a home protection line item and some home owners debate its cost. We don't perform any renovation without our own home protection in place.

If the house is full of dust I would talk to the contractor about cleaning services, but understand if you picked the lowest bid or this cleaning fee takes his entire wage, that isn't fair to him.

Some people are not that experienced and may not know the issues from dust. It's your responsibility as a homeowner to ensure they are qualified and take proper precautions

12/9/2019 at 7:40:35 AM

Hi do you know that there is nothing call clean renovation even the best contractor with the best equipment you will still have dust for months to come after the renovation. So to answer your question no you cannot if you don't want to pay you full balance at the end of the job you will end up in court and I as sure it will cost you more than you cleaning your house.

12/9/2019 at 8:59:52 AM

I guess that all depends what is in your signed contract with your contractor concerning dust control. Even the best Carpenters, contractors cannot control all the dust from renovations. Dust is par for the course with renovations. Even with installing plastic and cocooning off all areas dust still gets through unfortunately. I suggest you talk with your contractor and try to negotiate a fair and reasonable deal for the both of you.

12/9/2019 at 9:44:59 PM

Dust free renovation project it's almost impossible. Does he was cleaning during the work? If not why you did not talk to them? If everything looks good to you except the cleaning you can just speak to them and see what they can offer. Try to keep your relationship goo with the contractor in case if something went wrong and have to call him to come and fixed or in case his quality is good in spite of the cleaning and you might need to contract him again in the future

12/31/2019 at 10:27:01 AM

Dust is the nature of the beast. Its part of the deal. No that being said if NO DUST CONTROL like plastic barricades, lining floors, not vacuuming after the project or during, not draping furniture was done then why wait until the end to bring this up? Did you go with the cheapest contractor and if you did...well now you know why he is cheap. Even if you did all the protection possible, once you take of the draping from the furniture, remove the floor coverings or plastic barricades dust will get airborne again. It all depends on your definition of A LOT of dust or do you just not want to settle up on the remaining balance? Not saying your ripping him off but contractors have seen this before and it causes pause.

Good luck