Contractor Walked off Job
I’m looking for advice on how to deal with a GC / master plumber who has gone way beyond schedule, and now essentially walked off the job. Incomplete and deficient work is probably between $12,000 and $20,000 (we unfortunately are holding less than that). Our contract (AIA A101-2007) includes a liquidated damages clause for delays;…
I’m looking for advice on how to deal with a GC / master plumber who has gone way beyond schedule, and now essentially walked off the job.
Incomplete and deficient work is probably between $12,000 and $20,000 (we unfortunately are holding less than that). Our contract (AIA A101-2007) includes a liquidated damages clause for delays; this now amounts to more than $100,000.
The job is an alt-2 gut renovation (3 family home) w/ plumbing and electrical work. The plumbing inspections have not been self-certified; we failed the finish inspection and the piping at the boilers is completely incorrect. I’m already talking with other plumbers about taking over this work.
Minor electrical work remains before an inspection can be called, but I think we’ll have to find a new electrician, and I know it can be difficult/expensive to find someone willing to take this on.
I’m now talking with lawyers, though a lawsuit could be expensive and I’m unsure what we’d actually be able to collect (The GC is a registered corporation; I don’t know if we could go after his personal assets). I’m preparing a complaint w/ DCA (he is a licensed home improvement contractor) and the attorney general. Beyond that – do I just focus getting this job finished, or is it worth pursuing damages?
just concentrate on getting the job finished…you are wasting your time thinking that you can get $100,000 in damages..it will be reduced to $3500 by a decent lawyer
I feel for you and I think you already answered your own question – it’s going to be difficult getting anything out of him and lawyers are not cheap.
My experience is 5 years old so things may have changed but I had an incompetent contractor walk off the job building a 2 story addition, leaving me with leaking skylights, half the (Marvin)windows and doors lying around, not installed, half installed incorrectly, slab poured too high, main roof leader dumping on the (leaking) roof of the new addition which had no leader or gutter, sump pump not installed and all that water plus muddy yard drainage dumping into my cellar repeatedly every time it rained.
That was in September and I was lucky to get someone to finish the job starting in January. I could not hold them responsible for the original guy’s work and wrote the contract detailing their specific work items. Be prepared that you could be paying a new contractor a lot more to take on the job than it would cost the original to finish. The economy may be more in your favor than it was for me.
I had an expensive attorney and I did not think it was worth the money to sue. He prepared a termination letter for my signature and that’s it.
I did not file with the DCA – in my case, my payments were not ahead of the work and for a lot of reasons I got a much better job than the original contractor was doing and it didn’t cost me much if anything more than the original contract.
My only experience with DCA was when I hired a company to build custom sized cabinets (same job) and install them and they did not deliver per the contract and I had paid 95%. I filed that with DCA who took a while but they inspired him to finish the job – which is what I wanted. Each HIC has a $30,000 bond with DCS that you can claim – it takes a lot of paperwork and a lot of time but you can get it.
well really you’re asking a legal strategy question, so you should be asking your lawyer. My inclination would be to document everything now, and then switch gears to completing the job ASAP. Once the job is done, you can sue if you choose to at that point. Check with your lawyer about whether you lose anything by not pursuing it now. In these cases the GC may not have any assets to compensate you with even if you won, company or personal.
I think you should do both and if you need help finding a electrician to get it done let me know. tell him what happened and use my name and he will work with you.. Its so unfortunate that this happened and hope you will be able to recover the damages. I wish you nothing but luck.
Have the attorneys start by writing letters. If you do attempt to collect it depends on how the business is structured as to which assets you can go after. However, you still run the risk of a deadbeat willing to kill their own credit before paying. In the end even if you don’t get a dime from the contracter, you can write off the judgment, so the court order itself does cary some value (tho less than cash). The benefit of a lawsuit is to get a court to solidify what damages above the amount of the contract are owed to you, ie what it costs you to fix their mess and “become whole again”.