Contractor issues....

[Waterjunky]

Hello all;

I am having trouble with a contractor on a project. They are totally blowing off deadlines and are months behind now. The latest issue is they failed the final inspection and are now just waiting around for who knows what rather than solve the issues (less than a day of repairs). The real issue is that they were supposed to be done in February, deadline revised multiple times, the most recent was late June. We have a contract with tenants to move in on August 4th and there is no way they are going to finish.
Communication is poor at best because the are now demanding email only now which they ignore for a week or better at a time or a answering machine that they ignore completely at the "office". Although the work is very close to finished we still owe them north of $20K giving us some hypothetical leverage.
The question is how much leverage do I really have, and how do I use it? How aggressive can I get to lean on them to do their job and wrap this up in a timely manor? We have a generic boiler plate state of California contract that requires regular updates and agreed revisions of timetables (all blown off). How should I poke at them in a way to get their attention?

Suggestions?

Thanks

 

[TCHB]

Sure seems like I hear this story way too often. My daughter ran into problems with her house remodel.

 

[Bobby V]

What trade? We have finished other sub contractors commercial projects in the past but we don't like doing it. Usually we get contacted and all of a sudden the sub shows up to finish the job for the GC.

 

[MSum661]

If it was suppose to to be finaled in February.....Is the building permit still active?

 

[shueman]

Following ...

 

[welldigger00]

Lawyer up. Pronto.


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[Go-Fly]

If it was suppose to to be finaled in February.....Is the building permit still active?

That was my first thought.

 

[Sharpy]

Do you have a performance clause in their contract?

 

[Motor Boater]

Did u sign their contract or did they sign yours? My contracts all have beginning and end dates with $1,000 a day liquidated damages. Unless there is an act of god, hurricane, earthquake etc they owe me $1,000 a day for everyday they are late.

 

[DLC]

To much water / (time) has flown down stream to all of a sudden complain and the blown off time lines, this should have been dealt with after the 1st blown time line. Sounds like they needed to be micro managed and brought up to your time lines along time ago.

Bring in a different sub get some quotes to finish up the balance of work make sure the time line is able to be made then let your original contractor know if it’s not completed by say 8/2 then you will have a different contractor complete the work balance and they will pay for it....

This is way late in the game to deal with this, start to dig up some documents about all the other blown time lines... make sure both barrels are loaded so they actually perform...

Send them a certified letter but that takes a few days along with any and all other means of communication about setting a completion date lay everything on the line and spell it out.... if they don’t perform then get the other sub out and finish it, it’s your name that will get screwed if it doesn’t get completed

Good luck!

 

[Bigbore500r]

Do you have a project schedule tied to the contract and a liquidated damages clause? Were they required to bond for your project?

Can you finish their work with another contractor for what you owe them, if needed....and if not what is the cost to you for delaying your tenants for incurring further delays.

All things to consider. You may want to consult an attorney they deals with construction claims. It may not need to go that far, a strongly worded letter on legal letterhead often gets someone to kick into gear magically...

Also be honest with yourself, do you as the owner have any skin in the game

 

[jetur]

To much water / (time) has flown down stream to all of a sudden complain and the blown off time lines, this should have been dealt with after the 1st blown time line. Sounds like they needed to be micro managed and brought up to your time lines along time ago.

Bring in a different sub get some quotes to finish up the balance of work make sure the time line is able to be made then let your original contractor know if it’s not completed by say 8/2 then you will have a different contractor complete the work balance and they will pay for it....

This is way late in the game to deal with this, start to dig up some documents about all the other blown time lines... make sure both barrels are loaded so they actually perform...

Send them a certified letter but that takes a few days along with any and all other means of communication about setting a completion date lay everything on the line and spell it out.... if they don’t perform then get the other sub out and finish it, it’s your name that will get screwed if it doesn’t get completed

Good luck!

I'm a G.C. and put stipulation in the contract to make sure subs perform. (Liquidated Damages, paying others to finish your work, ECT)

If you don't have any of this in your contract DLC nailed it, all the way down to the certified letter.

"I second this motion"

 

[DLC]

If your paranoid....

You have 4 days to finish I would be writing this up tonight and personally dropping letters off in the morning and bring a witness, arrive at the subs office at 6 am and wait for somebody to arrive. Then later in the day do the cert letter, if you can record the letter drop off at 6 am, I would, hand over the letter and verbally speak whats in the letter to record it make sure you get the persons name you are delivering the letter to on your recording...

The sub will later denai they knew and dump it in your lap....

This is a huge CYA if it goes to court... $20,000.00 probably not end up in court

 

[Instigator]

The lawyer will cost you 20 grand. Try to settle and pay another sub to finish the work on time for less than 20 grand out of your pocket and move on.
It is cheaper in the long run and will be way less headache.

 

[TITTIES AND BEER]

72 hour notice then hire someone to finish ( line them up now )and if you blow through 20 k get a lawyer to collect the rest , let them know they will be paying to complete + all other charges to get customer in and happy .

 

[coz]

No one has mentioned going to the CSLB, why not start there?

 

[82daytona]

I guess I better get to work and finish the job today huh


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[Constant840]

24 hour notice. Then supplement manpower.
The back charges for supplemental manpower will be easier to make stick than LDs when it comes down to mediation.

 

[530RL]

I don't know about California but in Arizona you just call the Registrar of Contractors if they are in default on a contract and you can show that you have repeatedly been blown off.

They don't screw around in Arizona.

 

[Waterjunky]

All good suggestions, The wife and I will be making a plan in the next hour or two. The bad thing is there is well under $2000 left to do. The up side is we owe them somewhere over $20k. The permits are still valid, which is good. I need to re-read the contract and see if there is any way to penalize them for not performing. if they would just step up and finish this I would love to pay them out and drop the entire thing.

 

[mesquito_creek]

Whoever is in the cash position has all the leverage. Sound like you are in the cash position. Make a phone call and tell him if he wants to finish he has X days or after that not to step on you job or you will call the police for an eviction pending the civil matter you are pursuing in court (regardless of if that is true or not). Courts just read contracts and follow them, they don't care at all about your feelings or what B.S. you said you would or wouldn't do... All the ROC can do is ding you license and make determinations about quality. After that the ROC refers you to court (I am licensed in AZ).....

 

[mesquito_creek]

You could also get someone else to finish the job, pay them and deduct it from the final invoice on the contractor. Then your original contractor has to decide if it is worth 2000 in court fees to pursue it.....

 

[rickym20]

Some of the contracts that the company I work for sign into even allows the GC to keep any equipment we have onsite if we were to default on our end.

Seems weird that the guy has 2k of work to get done to get his 20k. I would be all over that if it was my money. Crazy...

 

[hallett21]

Is there more to the story? Typically guys don’t show up for 20k worth of work that will pay 2k. Not the other way around.


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[NicPaus]

Is money owed now out of the 20K? Or is it written as final payment of 20K on completion?

 

[530RL]

Whoever is in the cash position has all the leverage. Sound like you are in the cash position. Make a phone call and tell him if he wants to finish he has X days or after that not to step on you job or you will call the police for an eviction pending the civil matter you are pursuing in court (regardless of if that is true or not). Courts just read contracts and follow them, they don't care at all about your feelings or what B.S. you said you would or wouldn't do... All the ROC can do is ding you license and make determinations about quality. After that the ROC refers you to court (I am licensed in AZ).....

I agree with your post 22 about having someone else finish it.

With respect to the ROC in Arizona, I received a check just shy of 8k from the ROC when a pool contractor did not finish the tile correctly.

Never had to go to court.

Just followed the on-line procedures.

https://roc.az.gov/recovery-fund

 

[NicPaus]

It all depends on the contract. If money owed now according to contract is why they are not showing up he will be paying this guy in full even if someone else finishes the work. Them switching to all conversations in email shows a clear picture to a judge what is happening. If final payment is written 20k not sure why they would not want to finish.

 

[mesquito_creek]

I agree with your post 22 about having someone else finish it.

With respect to the ROC in Arizona, I received a check just shy of 8k from the ROC when a pool contractor did not finish the tile correctly.

Never had to go to court.

Just followed the on-line procedures.

https://roc.az.gov/recovery-fund

I am not disagreeing with you on the ROC. But you must have claimed the contractor abandoned you or their was a defect in quality that the ROC deemed recoverable. From what I read from the OP isn't claiming either. He is just tired of being strung along by a slow sub. Filing a complaint might get the Sub to respond at that point, but since this guy owes 20K to the sub and he only thinks there is 2K worth of work to do, I was suggesting an easier way to strong arm the sub to completion.

 

[mesquito_creek]

IF it was me I would call the sub and tell him if he gets over here by the end of the week and finishes the job to your satisfaction, you will pay him out his final in 100 dollar bills full cash... So he doesn't have to go to 3 banks on friday to make payroll!

 

[DLC]

Today is Wednesday 8/1 2pm people are moving in on sat 8/4 chop chop !! time for talking is over and it’s time to get to work!

If the sub is this far out and is owed $20 grand with $2,000 work left to do he is working else where to make his nut! ..... other wise he would be 100% completed and asking where his $20 grand is.... this job appears to be a ( time filler) type of job and he has bigger fish on the line

 

[OC Mike]

Not sure were you are on this. Sounds like you are in the retention phase of the billing.
Before Final payment make sure all subs and vendors are paid.
Get Unconditional Final Releases from anyone who has a Preliminary Notice or claim to the project..

 

[jet496]

To much water / (time) has flown down stream to all of a sudden complain and the blown off time lines, this should have been dealt with after the 1st blown time line. Sounds like they needed to be micro managed and brought up to your time lines along time ago.

Bring in a different sub get some quotes to finish up the balance of work make sure the time line is able to be made then let your original contractor know if it’s not completed by say 8/2 then you will have a different contractor complete the work balance and they will pay for it....

This is way late in the game to deal with this, start to dig up some documents about all the other blown time lines... make sure both barrels are loaded so they actually perform...

Send them a certified letter but that takes a few days along with any and all other means of communication about setting a completion date lay everything on the line and spell it out.... if they don’t perform then get the other sub out and finish it, it’s your name that will get screwed if it doesn’t get completed

Good luck!

This. If that $20k you owe them can finish the job, tell them you're using it for that. Otherwise there's lost rent, dissatisfied new tenant, etc. in damages.

The contractor should be good with it if they don't have the resources to complete it.

 

[Waterjunky]

So a little update on this. The entire job was about $70k We still owe about $20k of that to the GC. The job needs about $2k or less to finish. As for a timetable, this job was started about a year ago and was supposed to be done in February. He is screwing around using it for filler whenever there is absolutely nothing else his crew can do......

The wife sent an email and a few calls over pointing some of these things out and that we were done dealing with this. Explained the tenant situation and that we would be reaching out to explore legal options due to the issues and all costs associated with this and the tenants was coming out of the money we owed him. All of a sudden he has time in his schedule and a real plan to wrap this up. The plan is to finish the middle of next week including inspections and everything. We have talked to the tenants, they are not happy but are dealing well with this. Unfortunately the contract we are in does not have enough specifics regarding time tables and such to truly crush his balls but it still would be a time consuming, expensive deal for him to fight. So it appears we are finally getting him to do his job, which is all we really wanted in the first place. I really did not want to have to get legal on him, I hate even the thought of doing something like that but the threat to apparently lit a fire under him.

Well, we will see how this goes. Next time there will be specific deadlines with penalties on any contract like this.

 

[NicPaus]

$20K final payment seems like a lot for a$70k job. Was there even a payment schedule.

 

[Mandelon]

Typically all that is needed is a firmly worded email, threatening to hire someone else to finish and take it out of the final payment.

You are smart to have such a large hold back. So many people pay too much up front. It is not legal for a contractor in California to get ahead by more than the $1000 deposit (or 10%). But people are trusting and contractors are always short on money.

Next step is to threaten to go to the contractors' board.

Nowadays even threatening a bad YELP can get us moving! LOL

 

[C-2]

If a homeowner withholds payment over workmanship issues, they are responsible for providing the contractor with notice and opportunity to make repairs. This is especially important if a homeowner terminates a contractor, and then uses a correcting contractor to finish the job. If notice and opportunity is not given and the contractor terminated, then usually a Mechanics Lien follows and the contractor has a strong case based upon a Terminix defense.

And rightfully so. Otherwise, homeowners could embellish, or even fabricate, poor workmanship issues for the sole purpose of avoiding paying contractors in full.

Similarly, if a contractor is accused of abandoning a job, then whether or not the contractor had a legal excuse to abandon is the deciding factor. Not being paid is a legal excuse. Deadlines vs. payment schedule for project milestones can be two different things.

The deal with correcting contractors is...you may not be able to find one, because a) everybody is too busy right now, b) a contractor may say "nope," the work must be re-done in its entirety. The saying goes, "if you touch it, you own it" and few contractors want to own another contractors mistakes, because often times, the homeowner will then turn around and complain about the correcting contractor's work; thus the reason many contractors will not get involved.