Builder has possibly walked off job.
We are renovating a house and I think the contractor has walked off the job. Last week my husband went to see the progress and the contractor screamed at him. We are fairly sure that he’s psychotic and now think he’s stopped work. And this isn’t about payment, it’s about our asking for a completion…
We are renovating a house and I think the contractor has walked off the job. Last week my husband went to see the progress and the contractor screamed at him. We are fairly sure that he’s psychotic and now think he’s stopped work. And this isn’t about payment, it’s about our asking for a completion date (4 times over due already).
The good part is that we owe them lots of money but it’s because they wrote a schedule of payment and haven’t finished the work for the first payment.
They have also done quite a lot of work that we haven’t committed to in writing. But they have skimped on some parts of the job too.
We just want them to finish the contracted work and leave. I’d love any advice on what to do if I confirm that they have walked off the job. And then if they do finish the job, how do I deal with the un-contracted work? And how long can I string them along with the final payment?
To reiterate, the guy is an abusive, threatening bully. He’s banned us from the house, he won’t deal with us over the phone, only by email, and refuses to give us any progress or completion dates.
Thanks in advance.
I have worked for many GCs as a carpenter for more than 12years. Most contractors are lousy business men. They may be talented carpenters but that doesn’t mean they can schedule, or manage other people (subcontractors and homeowners alike), or keep track of their payroll and expenses. Ask any accountant out there he will agree with me.
So what happens halfway into a job is that this guy realizes that he is not making any money for what ever reason… maybe he underbid because he doesn’t know what he’s doing or maybe he’s just new and real hungry for work. Half way through and he can’t cover his payroll and now his workers walk off the job because no one works for free, unless you are paying off the family for smuggling you into this country.
So his best number one man finally decides to leave as well, because, ” Hell, I might as well start my own company.” Now your contractor has to pick up some guys from the home depot parking lot who can’t speak english or even know the smart end of a tape measure but heck they will work for $50 a day unsupervised in your home.
Your contractor may also have a past substance abuse problem which due to the stress of running his own failing business is suddenly reactivated. Or maybe he just found out his wife has been sleeping with Mr. Leakmaster while he’s been putting in 12 hours a day hustling work, because if he can just get more work he will eventually make more money. I am not making excuses, just saying that running a contracting company pretty much sucks. Personally I have always had work. I am not particularly talented. But I show up sober and on time and that beats most of my competition. As to your question, I’m guessing this is a second home upstate? Not the end of the world if it gets finished on time? Just do your contractor a favor and cut him loose. Put him out of his misery. He probally realizes with out a license to do business anyway that he will not have any standing before small claims court… or you can kiss and make up and start again.
I’d hire a lawyer first thing. They can tell you if anything you are considering doing, changing the locks etc., might be a bad idea. Plus, for about $200 to $300 they will write a threatening letter to you contractor telling him in no uncertain terms to leave, and that if he threatens you he will get to know the ins and outs of law enforcement much better. The contractor sounds like an idiot, and idiots get scared by lawyers.
I sincerely empathize with you. Our contractor threatened my wife and that was the last straw. We took the keys back and forced he and his crew out of the apartment and never gave them their tools back that they left behind. We changed the locks and never heard from him again. We lost some money, but we’re done now and much happier with the work the new contractor did.
Mistake #1: Not hiring an architect. You can write a termination letter yourself, but you can also try to get a restraining order and change the locks.
I hope his name is not Jayford Dionysius. My wife and I used his on our apartment and the same problem happened. Stay way from him. I suggest just getting a locksmith and changing the locks on the weekend when he’s not around and installing an alarm system.
good luck.
If you fire him, do it with an attorney. I fired my contractor and did not use an attorney. He sued me and I had to settle rather than experience litigation. Believe me, the merits of your case do not matter, anyone can still sue anyone. If you thnk he is type that is not going to sue, you are wrong.
Listen, you can’t let this guy intimidate you. Don’t be scared of him. You have to learn to shout louder than him. Fire his ass and call the cops if he threatens you. Then change your locks and sleep with a lead pipe and fire extinguisher under your bed. I’m only half joking. I actually did that, but I didn’t need to use them. I scared him away. The trick is to act crazier than them. Good luck!
Dealing with a contractor is a 2 way street. I think you both need to develop an understanding on how you are going to work together and as the customer know when to apply pressure and when to back off.
Having said that, if you are afraid of him, you have a reason. Take charge of the situation – I don’t think you should deal with a person who is bullying or abusive in any way and I am with the poster who said terminate the contract and change the locks right away.
My contractor and I figured the thing out but we had some tense times. He took my job as what I would call a “baseline” contract and worked all kinds of smaller jobs around mine, sometimes not showing up for days and when confronted, he would point out some undecided matter on my part (100 things to do, me undecided on 3 – he focuses on the 3). He ran all over NYC and NJ hustling jobs while his workers worked unsupervised a major part of the time on my house. I did the quality control. I can’t say how many times I would see some harebrained thing and bite my tongue, wait till I calmed down and then call the guy to get the guys to do it right. I was there every day and I had to be. Somehow we got through it but if I had to do it all over, I would have probably gotten someone else OR gotten an architect to supervise the entire process.
Sometimes I think the Stockholm syndrome sets in. On some level you feel so terrified and hijacked by the entire process and so dependant upon this contractor (on my part due to my lack of knowledge and my exhaustion), that you begin thinking that this person is your friend.
In your case, I think you should get rid of this guy.
Not necessarily, 4:37pm. I have never worked with or even ever heard of a contractor who did everything well, did it on time and on budget. There’s no such thing. My theory is the kind of guys who become handymen and contractors in the first place are guys who can’t work with bosses or in an office or company, because of personality issues. So when the homeowner starts to seem like “the boss” to them (which the homeowner IS) then they get resentful and rebellious.