I'm a pretty patient person, but the general contractor I hired to finish my basement has exhausted it completely.

A little background:

I contracted with the GC to finish the basement on March 23rd. Construction commenced on April 6th and was supposed to be finished by June 15th. There were two change orders which pushed that back 9 days to June 30th. The construction proceeded in fits and starts. It was slower than I had hoped but I understand that these things rarely go according to plan. The problem I have is that the GC has literally stopped communicating with me. He won't return my repeated phone calls or emails and for all intents and purposes, I'm assuming he has no intention of finishing the project.

Areas completed to date include framing, rough plumbing/electrical, drywall, tile. After not hearing from the GC, I was forced to hire someone to get the trim done and hang the doors. I'm also bringing in someone to paint and HD is now installing the carpet.

There are essentially 4 items that need to be done

Egress windown in the bedroom HVAC vents in the bedroom and theater area have been drywalled over and need to be done right, a half door is being put under the stairwell so I can access all the wiring, and the steam shower needs to be completed

Fortunately, I've only paid for work completed so I'm not out money at this point. However, getting things finished is in all likelihood going to cost more than it would have per the contract I signed with him.

What are my options? Is there legal recourse or would I be wasting my time?

You need to be in a lawyers office tomorrow as this can get very sticky. You may think that you have paid for work competed the GC will claim otherwise, You will claim he abandoned the job he will claim there were delays and demand completion and payment on the contract.
He may be in a position to place a lien on your property and in our state If it isn't satisfied in 12 months he can initiate foreclosure proceedings to take possession of the house as a step toward resolution of the debt.

I wouldn't follow any advice given here other than see your lawyer or a least find a lawyer and pay for a one hour consult.

IMHO I wouldn't worry about recourse I would worry about getting a release from your original contract.

Thanks Big. I guess at least talking to a lawyer makes sense. In fact, I'd love it if the GC would just finish the job. I've said as much to him in email (to have a written correspondence record), and he has said that he wants to wrap it up. Then I don't hear a thing from him for three weeks. It really is totally bizarre.

Fortunately, the contract includes a provision that states the GC owes me $50 for every day he goes past the completion date. That amount is currently about $1000, not that I expect to see any of it.

Fortunately, the contract includes a provision that states the GC owes me $50 for every day he goes past the completion date. That amount is currently about $1000, not that I expect to see any of it.


it is likely this clause that has caused him to "dissappear".


definately contact a lawyer.


are there provisions in the contract to cancel the job?

it is likely this clause that has caused him to "dissappear".


definately contact a lawyer.


are there provisions in the contract to cancel the job?

This is probably a correct assumption. I used to work for a remodeling company. I agree that you should contact a lawyer. This guy is probably a sleezeball and will show up months down the road claiming he was never paid for a completed job.

Cover your A%$!

I have never heard of a contractor paying the consignee for everyday over the estimate. That happens all the time its just the nature of construction. He has most likely moved onto easier jobs where he can have a quick turn around.

You may want to review this contractor online so that other can see that he is not worth hiring. I would wait to that until any legal issues are resolved though.

The first thing you should worry about is whether the general contractor paid his subs. Hopefully you got a lein release from him for the work you paid for so far. If not, depending on your state laws you might be legally responsible for paying the subs.

Now, overall, I agree the guy is likely scared of the penalty. I would suggest you telling him that if he will agree to come back now and finish the work in a timely manner (get the number of days in writing of course) you will agree to waive any late fees or drastically reduce them. Again if you have not, make sure you get a lein release for any more work that is done

As you say starting over will be much more expensive and you have not even considered the pain in the rear that getting all new permits and inspections will be with the work in mid progress.

Now, overall, I agree the guy is likely scared of the penalty. I would suggest you telling him that if he will agree to come back now and finish the work in a timely manner (get the number of days in writing of course) you will agree to waive any late fees or drastically reduce them. Again if you have not, make sure you get a lein release for any more work that is done

You might also threaten to lodge a complaint with your state's contractors licensing board if he doesn't respond and finish. And then do it to cover your as# if he still doesn't respond.

I have never heard of a contractor paying the consignee for everyday over the estimate. That happens all the time its just the nature of construction. He has most likely moved onto easier jobs where he can have a quick turn around.

We have this in all of our contracts, though these are large construction projects. It's called liquidated damages. Many times there are clauses in there how time may be extended- per a change order as what happened with the OP, weather delays, acts of God, etc.

CJ

There is language in the contract about weather, change orders, etc. but outside of the two change orders, there is no good reason for the delay. My hunch is that he way underbid the job, can't find subs who'll meet his price point, fell behind schedule and now decided to disappear.

He's had some personal family issues (divorce, custody of his son) which probably didn't help either. The thing that pisses me off more than anything is that he won't talk to me. I've repeatedly told him via email that all I'm looking for is communication and we can work out the deadlines. To Lee's point, I have no idea about a lien release so I'll have to look into that.

With that additional input I'd be worrying that he may not have paid for the some of the supplies, labor or subs and that the need to get a lawyer involved to help straighten this out and minimize your exposure just increased.

invite him over for a beer, then fight him

invite him over for a beer, then fight him

Hey, if the beer thing can work for the President, then it can work for you. :rolleyes:

I talked to a lawyer and drafted a registered letter for the GC with the demand that he make progress on the remaining items. I don't expect anything will come of that, but hopefully it will at least establishe a paper trail.

The whole lien release issue has me quite worried at this point, but I only have contact info for the electrical sub-contractor, and have no way of contacting the others. I had no idea that the subs could come after me for payment even if I paid the GC. I'm pissed at myself for not doing more research into that. Hopefully I'll know more on Monday when the electrician is going to give me a buzz.

To top it off, I found out that the BBB revoked this guys status in July 2009 for failure to respond to 2 complaints. I also looked into complaining to the state licensing board and found out that general contractors aren't required to have a license. What a cluster.

I've certainly learned a valuable lesson and, trying to look on the brightside, at least this happened with only a basement finish instead of something much larger.

Please come back and give us updates we can all learn something from this.

I also looked into complaining to the state licensing board and found out that general contractors aren't required to have a license.

??? Seriously??? In what state do you live?

CJ

+1 what big says.

I have been very fortunate regarding my work that I have contracted out, however the companies I did not know I did research and the others I have had previous contact with or have come very highly recommended by friends or family. I hope it all works out for you as this is obviously a very frustrating situation for you. Best of luck and keep us all posted.

Regards,

RTROSE

+1 to Big's comment on Liens from supply houses and subcontractors. I remember a case up in MA when I lived there of a guy getting jobs/deposits and using his supply house as a reference in the bid process. A year later, work undone, the same people got liens on their property from the same supply house. This article isn't the one I remember but the facts scared the lights out of me at the time:

Kane said Bartel took more than $300,000 in deposits from seven customers between 2002 and 2004, failed to complete work on their homes and caused them to receive liens from National Lumber Co. of Mansfield for bills he did not pay.
“Many of the victims, plagued by the loss of their deposits, anguished by Bartel’s deceptions and evasions, continue to confront civil cases prosecuted to enforce liens, which they must, of course, oppose through the expenditure of money and time,” Kane said.
http://www.tauntongazette.com/homepage/x1908586789

??? Seriously??? In what state do you live?

CJ

Not sure which states do not require contractors licenses, there are a few I believe, but I know that NY is one that does not, though NYC has their own licensing program IIRC.

I case anyone ever runs across this again, let this be a warning from someone who has managed commercial prprojects for years. Contracts are mainly to be used when everything goes wrong. As long as everyone is trustworthy and nothing unforseen happens, you can do work all day long on a handshake. However, this happen. Sometiems customers can't end up paying, that is why liens were created in the first place. Sometimes a contractor has a bad job come up and instead of taking it and moving on, they try to get around it and it snowballs. Whatever.

Always make sure you get lien releases that include all materials suppliers and lower tier sub-contractors as part of any payment. Make sure you tell the contractor up front that no payment will be accepted without a conditional release of liens (this ties the release to the payment amount. That way, cancelled check and the release = accepted). Personally, I would not allow them to have the money and get the release to you later. Too easy to just forget or if someone is trying to screw you to not give it to you on purpose. Any decent contractor should have a form they have used and that will usualyl be fine. Most of hte time if you have a construction loan, they will require this anyway, so contractors should be aware of it even if you are funding from savings.

You might also want to have something about the contractors being responsible for obeying all applicable OSHA, state and local safety regulations while on you property. This might help if they are cited for something as OSHA can and will go after the owner if there is a chance they should have know there was a problem. This is more applicable to commercial owners, but it never hurts to make sure they know you want them to be safe.

Also, while I am at it, make sure that any contractors that set foot on your site have all their insurance up to date. Workers comp especially. You do not want to have an employee getting hurt and end up suing you for damages. Ideally you want to be listed as an additional insured on their policy for the duration of the project. Again, any decent contractor will be able to call their insurance broker and have them send you a certificate in 10 mintues. They may want to charge you a few extra bucks for additional insured riders (usually $150 or so) and that is not too unreasonable, but many will not charge this. Also, any decent contractor will always insist that all their subs will be giving this info to them anyway. You do not need the sub info per se, just make sure the GC is getting it, assuming that they are under contract to teh GC and not to you.

After going through this, I realize that I didn't know how exposed I was going to be. I'm trying to make things right now, but if the GC won't respond to any communication, I don't know how I can go about getting lien releases. I'm still going to try, but I'm not too hopeful. Looks like the statute of limitations to file a lien is 2 months for some work and 4 months for others starting after the work is completed. I might just have to hold my breath if the f'ing GC won't get back to me.

FYI, I live in Colorado.

You might not want to alert the subs of your situation and they might miss the window of opportunity.

Have you tried visiting his office? registered letter? You should try to exhaust all possible methods of contacting him and be sure that you have proof that you attempted to contact him prior to anyone else coming in to do "his" work. You will eventually need to prove that he was given the opportunity to complete the job and that he was given proper notice of breach.

A registered letter would offer some sort of ultimatum to him that references your contract regarding perhaps a "time is of the essence" clause or the like...

After going through this, I realize that I didn't know how exposed I was going to be. I'm trying to make things right now, but if the GC won't respond to any communication, I don't know how I can go about getting lien releases. I'm still going to try, but I'm not too hopeful. Looks like the statute of limitations to file a lien is 2 months for some work and 4 months for others starting after the work is completed. I might just have to hold my breath if the f'ing GC won't get back to me.

FYI, I live in Colorado.

Several Midwest states don't require licenses for GCs. I know MO doesn't. In this area, for larger projects like full house builds, you often pay the subs directly to avoid this problem, especially where there is a lending agency involved. It regulates the GC to the roll of project manager and this way he can't pad the bill for the subs... :)

I am not belittling the effort required to GC a construction project, I think many AVSers know how difficult it can be to keep a build moving forward and :cough: on schedule... :p

Let us know how this turns out.

You might not want to alert the subs of your situation and they might miss the window of opportunity.

You can best beleive that they are fully aware of when their lien rights expire and what they payment status is. Otherwise, they would have gone out of business long ago. I can promise you from firsthand experience, someone is watchign the A/R aging report and checking on lien options if they have not been paid.

I would call teh subs. Heck, if the GC is out of the picture, you can still have them finish the work for you directly if need be.

Lee, good point on those subs run like a true business. I've seen lot's of subs in this area where the guys "office" consists of the front seat of his truck, a cell phone and scraps of paper. I hired a sub to tape, mud and sand my basement after I drywalled it. Best money spent.

Our contract was the fixed price written on the back of his business card and a handshake. 100% payment at completion. I know that is not how they tell you to hire a Sub but in my case it worked out just fine.

Having said that, if the OP's GC used similar guys there is a likely hood that they are poorly organized, lack a formal contract, and would have difficulty filing a lien.

So I took the advice on sending a registered letter which went out on Friday. I also wrote him another email on Monday which said essentially "Please tell me what it'll take for you to come back and complete the project." I figured that would open the door to negotiating a reasonable solution to this mess, but without saying that I'd let him out of the contract and associated penalties

Honestly, I didn't expect to hear anything but, miracle of miracles, I received an email response this morning. "In order to be fair to you, I think it would best at this point to relegate the fact that I am unable to complete this project. Unfortunately my personal life has taken a turn that not even I expected and has deteriorated to a point at which I had never fathomed."

So I sent him a list of the work that hasn't been completed and the allowances that will need to be deducted to come up with the final price tag. The ultimate result is that he owes us $2500 for the work that we paid for but isn't completed, plus $2350 in late charges. I think its unlikely that he'll pay us any late charges, so be it. But I do expect to have him make good on the $2500. Maybe I'm expecting too much, I don't know.

I also demanded lien releases for all the work. I hope he'll provide those without a hassle, but who knows. And finally, I asked him for contact information on the subs so that I can get the work done with him out of the picture. We'll see how it goes from here. Its been a learning experience.

There is a good possibility that he doesn't have two nickles to rub together after the divorce. Based on the e-mail I'd say that he is clinically depressed. I also suspect that he may be heading toward a bankruptcy process and you would be one of many creditors standing in line. His wife may have done the bookkeeping and the divorce may be a sign that she saw the inevitable and bailed to preserve what ever she could. You should run a periodic on-line search to see if he has in fact filed for bankruptcy.

The fact that you have work left to be completed and that you are willing to pay for it suggests that he is 1) either in such a personal mess that he can't think straight or 2) can't rely on any of the people he normally employs to do the work because he owes them money and they won't do any work until he gets caught up.

If he was thinking clearly and had the skills he would come over and complete the Job himself to earn the final payment. Of course he would need to convince you to forgo the late penalty.

You can tell all of that from an email :) I think you're spot on with 1. and 2.

All he had to do is finish the work and he'd get paid. As an example, he told me that he himself was going to do the trim work because finish carpentry is his thing. So there wasn't even a subcontractor involved in that part. I asked over and over and over when he was going to start, until I got fed up and hired someone else to do it. Its totally bizarre.

I think the most likely outcome is that the contract is cancelled or whatever the correct term is, and he doesn't pay me a dime. My biggest concern is getting those lien releases so that I know I have a clean break and can get on hiring someone to finish things.

You can tell all of that from an email :)

Pretty much. An upbeat Positive person would have said Sorry I've had some personal problems that got me off tract the last couple of months. I will come over at your convenience to discuss the remaining items and see if we can come up with a plan to resolve them. From the tone of his e-mail he has thrown in the towel not only on your job but probably most other aspects of his life.

There may be an addiction of some sort that has clouded his ability to seek resolution in his life and that he uses to escape reality.

Well I do Contracts for a living and must say the advice here in this thread are all spot on and you are getting very good advice.

The main concern any time you deal with a contractor is in regards to Liens. General advice is if you hire a Contractor and they have other people working for them get a Lien release every time you pay them. You can get one for that specific amount. It might not save you every time, but if you ever go to court you need to show that you did what you could. The other thing I do personally is I try to pay as much as possible direct to subcontractors / material orders etc. Not only do you save on markup, but you lessen the risk of Liens.

I have had contractors get an agreed upon markup (because they still got a better deal than I could) and paid directly to the subcontractor / material delivery. We had a fixed price so he was happy to let me pay and take that out of what I owed him.

You are doing the other main thing as well - document document and then some more. With the letter you received from the Contractor he pretty much voids any claims from himself. Now the question is if he owed people money...

GL

Any updates?

I do have an update. Unfortunately it looks like we're going to court.

I've tried and tried and tried to get him to wrap this up. I sent him the list of deductions and he came back with a ridiculous response. He essentially said that by his calculations, we were square (actually I owed him $42). By his math, the trim materials only cost $321 or so when the line item budget he provided very clearly shows that it actually totals $1975. There was also a disagreement about the the steam shower allowances which he claimis includes labor but when our agreement was that all allowances were for materials only. And he also said that I agreed to waive the late fees because he did a couple hundred dollars worth of extra tile work. Which couldn't be further from the truth, as the late fees provide the only leverage I have.

After I responded to his email essentially telling him that he's full of it (politely of course), I haven't heard a thing. That was August 17th. I sent him emails on the 19th and 20th basically saying "This is the last chance to resolve this between us" and today the 24th I told him to expect to receive a civil court summons by the end of the week.

I pulled all the small claims documents and will make a run to the courthouse when I get back from traveling for work on Wednesday.

Oh, and by the way, in case any of you live in the Denver area, the contractor's name is Bill Yackanicz with RimRock Builders. Avoid him like the plague.

Boy, that's too bad. Hope things work out for the best.

CJ

@OP,

I really hope you get all of this resolved. My father is a custom home builder in Florida and a master carpenter. Unfortunately, the story you just described happens more than you can imagine in the construction business. I cannot tell you how many times my father has been brought in to clean up the mess of a GC who either had no clue (ie lowest bidder who probably did not even speak English), messed up on drugs/alcohol (it is amazing how many folks who work in construction struggle with addiction) and just disappeared, or were just outright dishonest...

You have to do your homework regarding a GC. It can take a lot of time and energy to interview and checkout a GC, but as you have seen, it can take even more time (and money) if you get stuck with a bad one. My father is rarely, if ever, the lowest bidder. But the old adage "you get what you pay for" is often true :)

Hopefully you can get this resolved and move on. It really is a shame that it has come down to you taking him to court as you seem very reasonable via your correspondence to the GC.

Good luck, and hopefully you will be watching movies soon in your HT.

@OP,

You have to do your homework regarding a GC. It can take a lot of time and energy to interview and checkout a GC, but as you have seen, it can take even more time (and money) if you get stuck with a bad one. My father is rarely, if ever, the lowest bidder. But the old adage "you get what you pay for" is often true :)

Hopefully you can get this resolved and move on. It really is a shame that it has come down to you taking him to court as you seem very reasonable via your correspondence to the GC.

Good luck, and hopefully you will be watching movies soon in your HT.

Sorry to the OP as well. That rots. Hope it all works out in the end.

Ack, you are so right about the GC shopping. I got several bids on my basement and ultimately chose the middle of the road guy. While price was obviously very important, the main thing was I knew he did work for my mom's co-worker and she reported that he was very fair and most importantly, showed up and ultimately finished the job!

You guys are spot on. One of the firm's I didn't select has actually followed up on how things went and is coming over to the house on Friday to offer suggestions on finishing things up. Solid customer service by them and I didn't pay them a dime yet.

As for the theater, things have progressed pretty well. I'm waiting for a Seymour AV 2.4:1 screen to show up either at the end of this week or early next. After I hang that and put up the AT panels around it, the theater will done for the most part except for the furniture. I've watched snippets of movies on a Walmart sheet I hung up on the screen wall to figure out the right screen size and I'm pretty excited about it. Plus football season starts soon and DirecTV was just installed with the NFL Sunday Ticket ready to roll. Fortunately, my wife is a fantasy football enthusiast so she's more excited for the season to start than I am.

good luck. Since you are in Denver, you may try calling Tom Martino to see if he has any other ideas.

Get the contractors ROC number and contact the "breach of contractors "department in your area. They get it done better then and for less then an attorney. The BBB does nothing. BOC can terminate a ROC number if the case is valid enough.

What is a ROC number and where might I find it? Sorry if that's a naive question.

What is a ROC number and where might I find it? Sorry if that's a naive question.

No question is a bad question in AVS. In Arizona the ROC is nicknamed breach of contractors, but here is there site:

http://www.azroc.gov/

Then, in your area enter this contractors name, or if outsourced, their firm and you will find if they have a valid licence and have ammo on their ROC number.