General Contractor Agreement???
I have been working with a general contractor for some time now and we have an arrangement that is not working at all for me. Basically there is no written agreement on jobs or scope of work done to my houses and I basically pay him a small flat fee for each renovation. The catch…
I have been working with a general contractor for some time now and we have an arrangement that is not working at all for me. Basically there is no written agreement on jobs or scope of work done to my houses and I basically pay him a small flat fee for each renovation. The catch is I pay all the subs, call for inspections, schedule work to be done then check up on the renovations I have. He basically pulls the permit and drives by once in a blue moon. I recently heard this may be illegal for him to do and I would like to know what I should do to protect my projects? Thanks in advance
I had a different experience with this contractor, Ewa Budnik (E.K. Budnik) and her father Henryk Budnik. WARNING!!!! As a matter of fact, I just recently filed a complaint with Consumer Affairs and most likely taking this to court. It is actually a bad idea to hire a father/daughter team. It took me awhile to realize that I was constantly being talked out of what I wanted done by the daughter, father and other workers. If you dont like something, the father will keep telling you (he hardly speaks English) ‘its ok, its ok’. And his other workers will do the same thing too. In fact, they are always trying to
create less work (and cheaper) by taking short cuts with nearly everything. I completely regret hiring them and wish I had fired them early on but I kept my patience. At at the end, they took my money and ran. They wouldnt give me the receipts that they said they had to give me either. So dont be fooled by them. There is so much more I could write and complain about but I dont even know where to begin. All I can say is that they take no pride in their work and will take whatever shortcuts they can when you are not looking. DO NOT HIRE THESE PEOPLE INTO YOUR HOME!!!
I hired VIP Batista Constractors, Vinicio and Pedro they are licensed constractors and disappeared after 2 months. When I hired a new contractor I found out all the electrical and plumbing were done wrong and has to be re-done. These guys are terrible never use them, I made a complaint againist them at dept of consumer affairs and at a loss of 20,000.00 now
A homeowner or architect CANNOT “pull” a permit themselves. After Department of Buildings (DOB)approval, a construction permit is only issued to a licensed and insured contractor with a “tracking number” issued by the DOB.
the 2 biggest problem I had (and I had it with other contractors who I wouldn’t recommend) is that i wish they would work cleaner. very few of them clean up ona daily basis and they need to pay attenton to details more. The job was not huge but it required detail and precision. she brought this to the table. I also like that she was accessible and had great follow-up.If i didn’t like something i told her and she would correct it. if i wanted her there she would be there. Her dad is the actual, hands on labor person. she is the business head.
If you are starting to solicit bids you have nothing to lose by calling her. you don’t have to hire her if it doesn’t feel right. best of luck
11:02 How big a job did you have her run? Is she a fully licensed/insured GC? I’m starting to solicit bids for a rehab of a 4 story that needs everything. Shockingly few people seems to come out on the other side of these projects willing to recommend their contractor. Everyone seems to have had problems.
with pleasure. Her name is Ewa Budnick (pronounced eva). her phone # is 917-620-2888.
9:10 you actually found a GC who is competent, efficient, AND a woman. Please give her contact info. Sounds ideal.
Sounds like you’re doing all the work of a general contractor. Get rid of him. You have a permit, and all he’s doing now is stopping by; so what; you’re doing that too.
I hate to tell you, you could have pulled the permit yourself also. You didn’t need him to do that either. Or the architect who signed and sealed your drawings could have done it.
If there is no contract, not sure there’s anything legally binding the GC to do anything, but this allows you to end the relationship whenever you like. Even if you do sign a contract, he may end up pulling the same s$%t, so if you’re OK walking away and starting with someone new, you may want to do that. You’d probably want to interview new GCs after hours, in case no one wants to mess around with his work in case there’s violations. Once you’ve found someone new, you can tell the other guy to walk.