The worse contractor ever - what should I do?
Howzer Stamein
with some mold in the crawlspace. I did not start using the master
bedroom. I got some contractors to look at it. Some thought it was
under the shower. Some thought it was next to it.
Out of those, one seemed knowledgeable. He said that tiled shower pans
leak all the time and it has to be the shower pan. I asked him to go
in the crawlspace and try to find it but he said that he was sure
about it. I told him about the damaged wood / mold / fungus. He said
that when he takes the shower pan out, he will remove the damaged
wood.
He suggested cultured marble pan. I said ok. He asked for half the
money down. I gave it to him.
The day they started demolishing the shower, I wanted to be sure that
all the damaged/mold/fungus wood is removed so I asked the contractor
to call me so that I can take a look at everything myself. I drove
back from work to home.
He was waiting for me. He said that they did not find any damaged
wood. I was so surprised. I told him that everyone who went into the
crawlspace said that there was mold/damage to the wood. I asked him to
still go ahead and replace the wood since I wanted to be sure. He
started yelling at me and said that he will not do it. He said that
the contract says that wood will be removed only if damaged. He said
that there is no damaged wood at all. I told him that there was no
need to be rude. I said I still want the wood removed. He said that he
will have to charge me extra because he had not figured that out in
his bid. I said ok I will pay you extra but I want it removed. He took
out the top one layer of the wood (2ft x 2ft). There was no damage to
it. The contractor also said that his partner is very detailed and
that he went in the crawlspace and found nothing.
I still could not believe it. So after work I went into the crawlspace
and looked and there was fungus and mold right next to the place they
were working on. I took several pictures. I also thought that leak was
not due to the shower but possibly something next to it.
I called the contractor and emailed him the photos. He said that he
will go in the crawlspace himself. I asked him to remove the moldy/
damaged wood but he said that no body does that and it should just be
treated.
Next day he went into the crawlspace and then called me to say that he
had treated the wood. He also said that most probably the leak was not
from the shower. I was very disappointed because the bathroom tiles
were not a great match and the cultured marble pan did not look as
good as the previous tiled floor. And all of this was not needed.
I reminded the contractor that I had asked him to go look in the
crawlspace. He started blaming me by saying that I had confused him.
Things did not go as I had planned. I was pretty unhappy with this
state of affairs so far. He continued to finish the job the way he
thought it should be done. I did not argue with him after that.
When they were almost done and ready to put the shower door back, my
wife and I looked at the shower and saw that the bottom threshold
tiles were not only not cut straight but they were also spaced too far
apart and if we changed the door to a trackless door it would not look
good. I called the contractor and discussed it with him. He said he
will take a look at it.
The next day my wife called me and she was very upset. Apparently when
she showed it to the contractor's helper, he started yelling at her
and demanded more money to fix that. I was upset. I called the
contractor immediately and told him that he or his helper had no
business being rude and yelling at my wife.
That day the contractor and his employee left. The contractor later
called to say that his helper is not coming to fix it.
By this time I was very fed up of the whole fiasco. I was spending
thousands of dollars to have a problem fixed and get some peace of
mind. Instead I had some hostile workers in my house. I told him to
just put the door in and be done.
Today he and his helper came. I had told my wife to just let them work
on it and not talk to them any more. They worked on it and then left.
The contractor then called me to say that his helper wanted his money
today or else he wanted to place a lien on the house. I asked the
contractor for an invoice.
I felt that he had threatened me indirectly to place a lien.
After they left, after a few hours the bottom strip on the door fell
off. I told my wife that I will fix it as I do not want them in my
house again.
Why they were so rude and yelling?: I think that they were just racist
(we are from Asia). I also feel that I should not have to pay the
balance. I feel that I should be refunded the original amount and
should be compensated for the damage they had done by doing a job that
was not needed at all.
What should be my course of action? Is it very easy to place liens?
Thanks,
Cy Pres
<hows...@gmail.com> wrote:
>Why they were so rude and yelling?: I think that they were just racist
>(we are from Asia). I also feel that I should not have to pay the
>balance. I feel that I should be refunded the original amount and
>should be compensated for the damage they had done by doing a job that
>was not needed at all.
Maybe they've just discovered they can swindle people out of money by
being so rude and abrasive that people just pay them off to get rid of
them. Maybe they're just jerks. It doesn't really matter, though,
except that if they act like that in court, the jury/judge will hate
them and you will have a better shot at winning.
>What should be my course of action? Is it very easy to place liens?
Consult legal counsel. The law is going to vary state by state and a
lawyer would need more facts to know whether you have anything worth
suing over.
The general principle in contract law is that if you contract for
something, for a certain cost, you are entitled to get what you paid
for. If the original contractor failed to do the job, and you had to
pay someone else to finish it, they are usually going to be on the
hook for it.
I don't know how much money is involved. Damages to a bathroom can be
pretty expensive and lower the value of the house. But the damages
might not be enough to justify it, and if they're lower than the
amount for small claims court, you could just try that route.
In any case, if you hire someone to finish the work, make sure they
know why you're doing it, and are able to itemize in their invoice
exactly what they did and how much it cost, especially if you are also
having them do other stuff you didn't pay the first guy to do. The
more paperwork you have, the better. If the money amount is big, make
sure you talk to a lawyer *first* so you know whether or not you'll be
able to stick the first contractor with the bill for the second one.
Some states also have very aggressive consumer fraud laws that, if
fraud is involved, allow treble damages (New Jersey being an example).
Sometimes some types of home repair comes under this rubric. In any
case, only a lawyer in your state could give advice on this.