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June 15, 2007
Disappearing Contractor
We're in the middle of a total renovation of our kitchen - and the contractor is not returning phone messages, has left his tools here, and is generally dragging his feet. He has gotten most of his fee, and I don't know what else to do. The owner is the one who I contact - but he isn't a builder - just a young businessman. He has several jobs currently, and it seems he is just prioritizing other jobs over ours. This man is extremely arrogant and defensive, and I want to be careful about threatening him. At the same time, we want our job to be done - it's been over 3 months since they began!
Advice, please?
Comments
Three Months?! Yikes! Do you have any kind of contract with them? Three months is a long time for a kitchen. I think you have to tell the contractor you're going to have to let them go if they can't prioritize your job.
Posted by: Rick at June 15, 2007 9:09 AM
If his tools are there he's most likely coming back. Make a punchlist of everything that is undone. Clear and to the point. Fax it to him. Also put in writing that you would like to have a meeting with him early morning-to discuss punchlist. Give him an end date for when the work must be completed, if you haven't already, also in writing. Be direct and no nonsense.
If you still get no response, send all of the above registered mail with a copy of the contract.
No response? Write a letter, send it registered firing him. Hire new contractor to complete the work.
Keep his last payment and his tools-go to small claims court and sue him for the cost of the work that's undone. Also you can go to the Better Business Bureau. Don't let a bully, bully you.
Posted by: anon at June 15, 2007 9:41 AM
To 9:41, Amen. I agree with the sequence too.
You can add NYC Department of Consumer Affairs to the end of list near Better Business Bureau. Good luck. About your concern about threatening him, the above sequence takes that out of the equation. You are another business person with whom said young businessman has entered into a contract, written or verbal and when you interact with him, stick to the facts and put your emotional transmission into neutral.
Good luck. Every brownstoner has been there in one form or fashion.
Posted by: donatella at June 15, 2007 10:10 AM
While you are doing everything Donatella and 9:41 suggests, get two estimates from others for completing the job. That will give you a good sense of how feasible it will be to bring in someone else (and they are your witnesses if, god forbid, this ever ends up in court). You will be ready to go if GC doesn't come back and you will be in a position, if you need to escalate this, to threaten that you will hold him responsible for any increased costs involved in finishing with someone else. You may never need this info, but it helps you position yourself, and you won't feel so stuck.
Unfortunately, all of us homeowners have to keep learning this over and over -- never let the payments get ahead of the GC's progress. It's always trouble.
Posted by: Anonymous at June 15, 2007 10:33 AM
Isn't this too often the nature of the beast? I'd love to hear from an architect or contractor about why this is the case more often then not.
Posted by: anonymous at June 15, 2007 11:20 AM
arrogant and defensive? from having worked with many different contractors and subs, it is my observation that these personality traits are tipoffs to potential problems later on. maybe it's too late for your situation, but people considering hiring a contractor should pay close attention to how well you think you will get along with them, and how you think they will perform in certain situations based on your observations. imho, this is much more important than price, though mostly what people talk about is price. quality of the work, and quality of the working experience is what counts.
that said, the advice above is good advice. who cares if you tick the guy off? get your job done by someone else, and pursue the first guy in court and elsewhere. make sure you file the complaints with the consumer agencies, and find out if he is licensed, and if not see to it that he gets into whatever trouble you can make over it. if he is, try to get his license revoked.
a kitchen should take about 4 weeks at the outside.
Posted by: anon at June 15, 2007 12:06 PM
Cheap contractors do this. Expensive ones tend not to. You get what you pay for.
--from an architect.
Posted by: 3am eternal at June 15, 2007 12:18 PM
Do not take the advice of the poster who says to fire the contractor without consulting with an attorney.
I did just that and was sued by my contractor.
Posted by: Anonymous at June 15, 2007 12:37 PM
12:37 -- I am 10:33. You may have been referrin gto my post. I didn't take it that far. I was suggesting some fact gathering steps to be ready in case OP's GC wasn't goin gto do the job, both from the standpoint of having a new contractor in place if needed and to understand the money issues. Consulting an attorney would be a good move. It's not exactly firing a contractor if the contractor abandons the job. However, in order for an attorney to provide good practical advice, that attorney will want to have a sense of how the money plays out.
Posted by: Anonymous at June 15, 2007 12:48 PM
whatever, you will be sued by your contractor if you fire him, mark my words
I was sued by sub contractors too
Be very careful
You may think you are in the right, but you have signed a contract, and that can be used against you
and whoever thinks a kitchen can be done in four weeks at the outside has not renovated a kitchen in brooklyn in 2007
Posted by: Anonymous at June 15, 2007 2:03 PM
this is why I love my contractor. He may not be the best, but he is a NICE guy. 4 months is way too long, I agree with the second poster.
sorry and good luck
Posted by: anon at June 15, 2007 2:11 PM
How squeamish you need to be about being sued depends upon the circumstances. In fact, if the contractor, after all the efforts recommended above, does not respond and come back to finish the job, then it is the contractor who has fired you (legal term -- breached) not the other way around and, if it costs you more to get the job done than was left to be paid the contractor, you may have to sue the contractor to get it. And if you make lots of attempts to get teh contractor to come back and he doesn't, contractor doesn't really have a leg to stand on if he sues. Just because he sues doesn't mean you lose (no, I am not Johnny Cochrane).
Of course, all this only matters if there is enough money at stake to make the lawsutis worthwhile. Attorneys walk away from bogus cases pretty fast if they see you are resolute and there is no money in it for them.
So all I was suggesting was to position yourself well in case it comes to this. 9:41 and Donatella made great points on attempting to reach the GC and up the ante on his noncompliance while building a record. My suggestions above were simply to also figure out where you stand financially on the contract so you can make informed decisions down the road. Even if the GC coems back, yu will have a better sense of where you stands and when and how much you should pay as work proceeds, in case this BS starts up again.
12:37 is right that, should it get that far, you should talk to an attorney, but don't let the fear of a lawsuit prevent you from gathering information, building a record and positioning yourself in case you need it. Everyone's situation is different.
Posted by: Anonymous at June 15, 2007 3:22 PM
I don't know why people are saying that it has taken too long. I don't think that you have discussed the scale of the project, the size of your kitchen or whether you are having custom work done. My kitchen took this long and there were people working everyday. I will tell you from experience that it is almost impossible to get a good contractor to finish another contractors incomplete project. Hang in there.
Posted by: anonymous at June 15, 2007 3:34 PM
How many times do we need some crap service provider to chant "you get what you pay for"!? I could post that my dog was fucking hit by a car and some twat builder/architect/painter/plumber and so on would somehow link it to what I paid workers in my home.
For all you architects (and you're by far the worst offenders) who paid out the ass for your educations only to find you aren't going to be Frank Gehry or Richard Meier - get over it. And the rest of you GED losers turned hammer swingers - maybe YOU got what you paid for.
Posted by: Anonymous at June 15, 2007 3:48 PM
Post company's name here and see if that gets results. Sorry all you posters making excuses -- the original poster said that the contractor was simply missing in action. For how long? Why hasn't the contractor contacted poster and told him why no one has shown up? If it's just for a day or two, no problem, but if no workers have shown up for 2 weeks and the contractor refuses to tell the client why, I would certainly want to know who this person is so I can avoid that company at all costs. I don't care how great someone's work is, or how reasonable he may be for good work -- if the person can't be professional and respond to legitimate questions with common courtesy, I don't want to work with him.
I know there are 2 sides to every issue, but there's really no excuse for not explaining why a job is taking so long to someone who has paid you good money.
Posted by: Anonymous at June 15, 2007 5:42 PM
A good attorney will strip the egos from the equation. S/he will act as a neutral third party and help everyone get what they bargained for. Litigation is one of many possible tools. Our firm is one of the largest real estate firms in New York City. The website is www.borahgoldstein.com.
Posted by: Craig M. Notte, Esq. at June 15, 2007 6:06 PM
what a mess. most of the advice here is useless and wrong.
you need to hire an attorney. now.
Posted by: Anonymous at June 15, 2007 9:29 PM
The attorney is going to cost you more than it would cost to just wait it out and let this guy finish the work. There must be a reason he's not there that you are not telling us. Most home owners are friggin' nuts and they drive the contractor mad.
Posted by: 3am eternal at June 15, 2007 10:04 PM
Our neighbor got burned in a similar fashion by Leon Alfonso-an unlicensed contractor who was later featured on Help Me Howard.
They took him to small claims court and were awarded $$ which was never collected as he declared bankruptcy. We have been told that Leon is "back in Business" in the Park Slope area - so post this just in case you come across him.
Posted by: Co op Believer at June 17, 2007 11:11 AM
I wonder if were dealing with the same contractor here (name begins with a N), if so I'd be interested in speaking with you? I've had this on-going problem with my contractor now for almost a year.
Posted by: Anonymous at June 18, 2007 9:27 AM
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