Is my Contractor overcharging me for labour?

I just found that my General Contractor overcharge me for the labour. He pays $20/hour to a subcontractor (The subcontractor told me under the big secret), but he charge me $70\. His interest is included in the total contract, 30% + management expenses 10%. Is it legal? Can I request him breakdown for overhead cost? Thank you!

vanessaiv

in General Contractors 10 years and 3 months ago

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willevans83 | 9 years and 11 months ago

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Your general contractor is charging too much from you. Might be your General contractor is not renouned one. I have filtered out some General Contractors from Porch. The following link might be helpful for you: [https://porch.com/seattle-wa/general-contractors/cp](https://porch.com/seattle-wa/general-contractors/cp) to select the best contractor fr your area

jrjb2010 | 9 years and 11 months ago

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I agree with August as the general contractor is for the scope of project. You should analyse him based on his work, its fine even if he is charging more.

resident2 | 10 years and 3 months ago

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It seems that you are dealing with some shoddy workers. But the bottom line is;that you should never accept an hourly rate for a job, even a change order, if you are not there to watch them and see the hours. Especially when you are not happy with the work anyway. If there is a language issue with your contractor, it is a good idea to pay for an interpreter; many NYC community groups can help with arranging for an interpreter if that is an issue.

greenmountain | 10 years and 3 months ago

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I am pleased by resident2 and August’s replies, as they mentioned characteristics of licensed contractors, and we licensed contractors must compete with cheaper, unlicensed ones. Here in New York City, a “General Contractor” can be registered with the Department of Buildings with a tracking number, enabling them to pull permits, if they have a workers’ comp policy. If the contractor performs residential work, the license is from the Department of Consumer Affairs, for the protection of home owners. The DCA also requires workers’ comp policy, because it is a state law, but charging the home owner an hourly or day rate is illegal by city law. A New York City contractor must work by contract, and the DCA provides an approved contract form. But, that is in New York City. What do you mean by: “We gave him a plan that was approved by our city.”? If we are discussing hourly work in another city, with different laws, that could be misleading to our usual participants, mostly from New York city, especially Brooklyn. In what city is your property?

vanessaiv | 10 years and 3 months ago

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I tried to figure out his billing and contract numbers. For example: We gave him a plan that was approved by our city. Per this plan 3 shear walls have be done. He included 2 in the contract (“E+W sear wall per plan…”) and after we signed it, he told that he “forgot” to include 3rd shear wall and charged us extra. We are not construction persons, we did not pay too match attention for the details…. 1) We have 3 change orders that my husband was verbally agreed to pay 70$/per hour. Before he started the extra work I sent to GC 2 requests to bring the Change orders to sign, but he ignored my emails and started all extra work. He brought the change orders when the job was done for 75%. The total hours on the orders is more than 100 for one week. He told me that he charged us for 2 workers (one of them his nephew who always played on the phone when I came back to the house). The total amount of the change orders is over 10K (it is half of the our contract’s total). When we check their work, we found that he hired inexperienced subs that provided unsatisfactory work. We told GC that the part of the work have to be redone. What can I do at this point? I am absolutely disagreed the the amounts of the change orders? Should I stop all works and brake the contract or let hem finish and negotiate the price? How to talk to him? How I can check the time he tries to charge me? 2) They did not turn off the heater system when they start the demolition process and our filter was broken. The heater system is just 6 month old…. 3) They did some sanding wood work close to the garage and they did not close the garage door. Our garage got dirty (walls, floor, tools, sport supplies, shoes….all…) Do they have to clean up the garage? Thanks a lot!!!!

resident2 | 10 years and 3 months ago

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On top of the hourly rate the General Contractor pays the laborer; there is workman’s, comp, disability, general liability insurance and whole lot of other employer expenses as well as his time to manage and oversee the laborer etc. As August above has stated; you agreed to a price for the whole job? If it gets done quicker than expected, do you expect a reduction because the amount of time it took was less than expected? Or do you pay more because there were delays that had nothing to do with the contractor?

Augustiner | 10 years and 3 months ago

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Usually a General Contractor is paid for the scope of a project, not on a hourly rate. I don’t think there is anything illegal going on. It should be all specified in the contract you made with the GC.