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 -…
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?
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
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
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.
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.
Cheap contractors do this. Expensive ones tend not to. You get what you pay for.
–from an architect.
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.
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.
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.
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.