Legal remedies for incomplete or substandard contractor work

12/27/2015 at 1:43:50 PM

Jim,

First, I hope that you have a signed contract. This covers so much ... that without one, you are at the mercy of good will. If you have a contract, contract the contractor and suggest he fix all of your reasonable concerns. If not, small debts court may be an option, however it does cost time and money to do this. The "suggestion" may be all it takes to get some further action from the contractor. If you have paid him/her, it makes things a little more difficult. If you still owe some money, just hold it back until this contractor ... or another finish the job to your satisfaction. Sorry for your troubles but you can and should do something to end this issue on good terms.

12/27/2015 at 2:35:38 PM

I identified deficiencies, of which he resolved some, and then told my wife that he was finished. I asked her to holdback 10% but the contractor stated that for residential jobs there was not a holdback and made her pay in full. So he has the money and ran away.

12/27/2015 at 4:07:28 PM

Hi Jim,

10% holdback is required for project @ the 100k mark residential or commercial. When it comes to the contractor I would recommend just trying to solve it with him first because small court might take lots of time and money. If he doesn't agree to come finish the work just tell him you'll have to call BBB better business bureau and make a complaint. Reputation is everything and he probably doesn't want to ruin his. If he refuse just make the complaint and contract somebody else to complete unfinished work.

12/27/2015 at 4:29:59 PM

There are only a few, Small Claims court one he is officially fire from the job. You must take pictures and get some quotes to fix. If you found him through this site make sure you lodge a complaint.

If you haven't paid him all the money I would suggest getting a contractor to complete.

James

Total General Contracting

12/27/2015 at 9:56:57 PM

Hi

Payment shall be due contract and payable as outlined in the Payment Schedule. A percentage of the fixed fee shall be paid on the presentation of each billing and shall be proportionate to the percentage of work completed for that billing period.

12/29/2015 at 12:20:37 AM

I recently had to collect from a bad client...what a nightmare...over a year and I had to settle for $17K on a initial 24K bill and I won the 1st court case...my point: you can sue but it is not worth it unless for many thousands if less than 4K you might as well write it off as a learning exp...in my experience people get ripped off because they hire the "cheap" guy...const. is really expensive $$$, tradesmen are really expensive $$$ and a contractor like us we are fully accredited and warranty all our work with contracts but we are not cheap...so you get what you pay for...people pay doctors $50 for 5 min. a lawyer $500 for a hour why do you think your contractor who is working on your valuable living space should be worth less...really is my pet peeve in this business.