Need to fire contractor/hire new contractor
I’ve tried to avoid this for months, which is my bad – but I need to remove my contractor for our job & hire someone new. There are the basics – no communication, only 1 guy on site at a time, I’m finding subcontractors (and materials) myself bc he won’t use good people/won’t do it, I did my own construction schedules. Then the mid-level screw ups – putting green board in a shower skylight, incorrect install of cement board, not doing all work that could be done while waiting for a plumbing inspection. Then the bigger issues – incorrect structural engineering work (resulting in 2x the cost for a structural engineer), cutting 2 main beams of my house, improperly cutting for skylight which I then paid to have installed out of pocket. He’s added at a minimum of 2mo to the project, and I’m being generous. This is just a summary & not all inclusive.
I have found another contractor, through my architect, highly trusted & am trying to negotiate cost. It will cost me at least another 40K on top of the $ that remains on the current contract. I’m not trying to recoup this money, I can’t recoup this time – I just need to know how best to proceed to get this man out of my house/my life.
I don’t think he’ll threaten legal action, but he may try to ask for more $ since he hasn’t been paid in a while (the last time I paid him about 11K more than what he was owed under the contract, per my architect, bc I wanted to be sure he could pay his guys/buy materials – so that more than covers the minor work done b/t him last being paid and now.)
Advice, suggestions & encouragement all appreciated. Thanks.
MRONeill
in General Discussion 7 years and 6 months ago
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15 replies
slopefarm | 6 years and 7 months ago
Presumably, the OP, who posted this query in January, isn’t still waiting for advice from this forum in order to act. It is silly for old posts like this to get bumped back up into active rotation.
coconut | 6 years and 8 months ago
Just stop the job and fire your contractor immediately before you waste any more time and money. Hopefully he was only paid for what he did. Also before you fire him read your contract and see if he broke any rules that would make it null and void. I have fired so many contractors. Some I had to tell them to leave immediately before I go koo koo on them. Also you must micro-manage the job. My neighbor next door moved into her brownstone and during the moving their was a hole in the wall. Turns out the guys were putting their garbage in the walls and sealed it. She went crazy ripping out the walls and waited years before she started renovating a brownstone that was turn key.
Master Plvmber | 7 years and 6 months ago
I’m always amazed at the incompetence and general sleaziness level of contractors that seems to exist in Brooklyn like none of the other boroughs.
Lurker | 7 years and 6 months ago
NoPermits has a point in that whatever GC you find will have to agree to vouch for the shoddy work of the previous GC and that’s a tall order. But I disagree that you’re married if the GC has walked away or is destroying your life, as it seems. Yes walking away is complicated, but so is sticking around for years on end while no work gets done, or bad work. The GC is hoping you’ll walk away so he can be done with this mess and move on. Don’t let him go easy.
A suggestion: Assumign your GC is licensed by the DCA (a call will confirm it) spend a couple hours and pull together (and scan) your contract with your GC, and any communications further where price and payment are discussed. Pull together all payments with check numbers and dates. Pull together additional expenses for items that should have been paid by contractor but weren’t. Add it all up, then formalize a document spelling it all out. What was agreed, what was paid, what wasn’t, and who messed up and why. Then open a case with the DCA, like tomorrow. It take 30-45 days for them to respond, and then the GC has 3 0 days yada yada. But the process, in my experience, works. Whether you end up going the whole route doesn’t matter–get the process started ASAP while you handle the other stuff. Again this only works if your GC is actually licensed by NY/the DCA, btw. If not, he’ll just walk away.
In the meantime, email and put a certified copy of the letter in the mail to your GC stating that you have a contract, he has broken it in these exhaustive list of ways, and the only remedy is to pay back or finish the job in 30 days. Explain you have opened a claim with the DCA to these ends. If he’s licensed it’s a big deal and he’ll be forced to finish or pay you back or potentially lose his license and get sanctioned as well.
In the meantime get bids for new GCs, and also have a long hard talk with your architect who, if you have documents backing up your requests for the AIA contract etc, may be liable. No idea how you sort that out ;( Look for a GC who is organized and more expensive than the shitty one you have. Get references. Check them. Spend the time up front so you don’t end here again.
Oh, and consider reducing your scope as much as humanly possible just so you can be finished, get your inspections, and move on with your lilfe.
MRONeill | 7 years and 6 months ago
Thank you all – been dealing with an overload of BS so only now just caught up with your so kind & helpful replies. Just a few updates on my sad case if interested…apparently my architect (who now seems to be the worse character) didn’t get the AIA contract (therefore no delay penalties/other protections) signed by my contractor (despite my requesting he do so in writing), nor did he get a not-to-exceed clause (per his own contract he’s supposed to have done.) Furthermore, the ‘new contractor’s’ costs keep increasing, quickly exceeding what we can afford & requiring us to take out another loan. Architect seems to be utterly disinterested & is claiming no responsibility. So, we are proceeding as follows: meeting ‘new’ contractor at house (with his subs, to avoid any up-charges later) to get a final proposal/amount and timeline. If we do this, I will demand that our architect stay with our original contract price for his fees as I believe him to be in a clear breach of contract & negligence in not having done the above. We will evaluate once we receive this final number & decide whether its worth taking out an additional loan (in terms of time & quality & headache.) If yes, we will present our current contractor with his breeches, outline the reasons why we don’t owe him $ (and present to him the ways he actually owes us money) and hope that instead of proceeding with any sort of litigation or proceedings, he will instead sign the lien waiver and get his subs to do the same. But, if we cannot afford this new price…we may have to stick with the original contractor – who isn’t actually a bad person, but just terrible at his job. But, I plan on drawing up our own contract/micromanaging regs, parse it out for him & and I will micromanage the $hit out of him. We will also get him to (hopefully) sign an AIA contract that my architect neglected to get him to sign. AND, hopefully as incentive, we’ll offer him ‘bonuses’ for abiding by the new contract and finishing on time. UGH. Lessons learned…sooo many lessons! Thank you all again.
Brooklynreno | 7 years and 6 months ago
Sounds like the poster already decided to get rid of the original contractor, the question being how to proceed.
yudashasom | 7 years and 6 months ago
It rarely makes sense to fire a contractor mid project. It will end up costing more money, more delays and more trouble. I would continue with the original contractor under supervision of the architect. What you’ve mentioned doesn’t sound that bad.
Brooklynreno | 7 years and 6 months ago
Don’t let this SOB get away with it. After you follow the excellent advice above, fire the contractor, specifying all the ways he has broken your contract with him and documenting everything, and if they won’t pay up, file a complaint with the DCA — assuming the contractor is licensed thru the city. Submit a new bid from a licensed contractor for fixing everything and be prepared t wait a good while — for me it was about 14 months — for the DCA to get back to you. They will appoint you a lawyer at no charge. The whole process is long and opaque but it should get you your money back, or a good chunk of it (if the contractor still won’t pay, he’ll lose his license — my DCA case is stuck in this neverland fyi).. Note small claims court settlements are limited to $5K and hiring an independent lawyer to damages is really expensive and not worth it for cases of this size. DCA process seems to be the only route for pursuing this kind of case. At least this is what I learned in my own experience. Good luck!
Guest User | 7 years and 6 months ago
Engaging a lawyer definitely a good idea. Depending on how much money is left on the contract with the GC it’s also possible that they will just walk away, stop returning calls, refuse to sign anything, etc. If that happens, all you can really do is make sure you have a full record of attempts to contact them, requests with no response etc. They can walk away and still file a lien. Liens last a year and can be renewed once without any review, but you can just wait them out.
EJR | 7 years and 6 months ago
@MRONeill, the more people involved in the project that you can get waivers from the better. Practically as you note, this may be difficult. Therefore, regardless of what other waivers you are able to obtain, you should consider including in the waiver with the GC a full indemnity for any and all costs, expenses, damages, etc. (including legal fees) you incur or suffer in connection with any action taken by any of the subs. That should cover you, though you may need to go to court to enforce it. It’s better than nothing. I agree with @slope that it may be worth the expense of hiring a lawyer to ensure you have the best legal protection you can on this. a couple grand spent now on legal fees could save you tens of thousands later, not to mention lost time. Also consider that the farther “off the grid” the particular sub is, the less likely the will utilize the legal system to pursue recourse against you.
slopefarm | 7 years and 6 months ago
Oy, now you are above my paygrade. I hate to say it. but you may need a lawyer to work this through to a signed document, but see how far you can go with the architect first. Architect should know how this works and may have forms, but can’t actually give you legal advice. This is all a well-worn path, I would think, but i have just never been on it, thank goodness.
MRONeill | 7 years and 6 months ago
Thank you @slopefarm & @EJR – that is really helpful. Do I need a waiver signed from each subcontractor? I don’t know who they are/don’t have contact info/they don’t speak English – so I’m not confident I could actually accomplish that. Is there such a waiver that he signs protecting me from his subs as well? Much appreciated.
EJR | 7 years and 6 months ago
to highlight a point in @slopefarm’s advice, whether you pay him or not to go away, once he actually agrees to go away, you should have him sign a full release and covenant not to sue/place a lien. They are pretty basic documents but are highly protective when walking away from a business relationship on less than stellar terms.
slopefarm | 7 years and 6 months ago
Yes, agree with the above. start with your architect. Does your contract provide for architect sign-off before progress payments are made? Quit frankly, if you are in for an extra $40k, and the contractor wants more money to walk away, my gut reaction is to counteroffer mutual releases, no liens, etc. with no exchange of money. But base whatever position you take on solid orofessional assessment of the facts and advice. But I am sure your architect has handled this kind of thing before; get some advice on this aspect.
Guest User | 7 years and 6 months ago
my advice would be to ask your architect to help you put together, in writing, the value of the work that has been completed by the contractor , measured against the additional costs incurred as a result of the faulty work. based on that information you can make a proposal to the original contractor that terminates the contract. you might not anticipate legal action but if the gc has sub contractors that he doesn’t pay they could potentially put a mechanic’s lien on your property. the gc could also easily put a lien on your property claiming non-payment. as much as you might want it all to just go away you would be wise to actually go through the proper steps to terminate the contract in order to protect yourself.