What do you do when you paid the contractor most of the money upfront and they just stopped showing up for the job? It’s been over a year now and the job is less than 50% completed. Mind you it was a $40,000 job!
The best option for an unfortunate situation like this is to file a complaint with the Registrar of Contractors.
First step I think should be to establish it legally, you should send formal letters and emails demanding him to show up and finish, file a complaint with the cslb and go after his bond. Hope all works out.
Keep in file all the estimates , contracts and proof of payments to the Contractor. Check the scope of work and the time lines that the contractor should finish each stage. If he was overpaid or has caused damage to the property, there should be a record of his insurances and bonds that you can call. There should be formal report to the licensing authority in your state and the appropriate rating agencies.
This is a very hard and unfortunate circumstance due to the high number of unqualified construction companies. I wont say it is always the construction companies fault but it is 99% of the time. I have helped homeowners in a number of these legal issues so I do have some perspective as to what you need to do to protect yourself if legal action is taken. First take a look at the contract and what was promised, bid, budgeted, wording used in contract EVERYTHING. Over analyze it to see if there is something there. Keep every scrap of paper and have dates/notes about the project and things that stand out now that you look back. Dates are very important in the process as well. Then you need a 3rd party inspection not another contractor as the legal system says there could be bias there as he wants the work a codes inspector is perfect as that is a really good base. Then once you have that you can have contractors come in to bid and start putting this in order for you as to the work that has been completed and what needs to be done in order to finish. One of the biggest factors you need is to prove that he maliciously deceived you, lied to you or was negligent in some way. Bad workmanship doesnt count in the eyes of the law as they will tell you that you should have hired a better contractor but if any violation of the consumer protect act has happened then he is liable. These things give you a big advantage in legal proceedings. I would also file a complaint with the contractors board, any consumer divisions, BBB, yelp etc. I am sorry this has happened to you and would be happy to answer anymore questions you may have along the way.
Call the attorney general’s office. Then file a lawsuit with your county. Some states have treble damages, which the client can recover 3 times the cost of the job. In addition, call the office that administers the license, the can revoke it.
Start with making multiple phone calls to the owner of the company (look this information up either on the Contractor’s Board website or through the secretary of state if they are a corporation, you can also try the local business license or building department if permits were pulled), make notes of when you call, who you spoke to and what was discussed. Ask for a specific resolution to the problem and give a timeframe to get back to you.
Follow that up with an e-mail listing what was discussed over the phone. If the phone call doesn’t happen, word the e-mail in the same way, ask for a specific resolution and a timeframe.
Follow that up with a certified letter asking for those same items. Let them know you plan to file a complaint with their bonding company as well as the contractor’s board if you don’t hear from them within a specific timeframe.
If they do not respond within the timeframe (I would give 72 hours), then file a formal complaint with the contractor’s board and their bonding company.
If they have not finished the project and owe you money, you may be able to get money from the bonding company. The contractor’s board will usually try to step in and act as a mediator first, but they will take the contractor to task on this and the contractor could potentially lose their license if they do not respond.
In our state we are not allowed to ask for more than 10% up front and it must go to materials purchased for any residential job. If the contractor has something to lose (i.e. contractor license, has to pay back his bonding company), you may get him to perform, or at least give you back enough of the money so you can complete the project with a new contractor.
I am sorry this happened to you after the fact. Hopefully you can get some resolution with the contractors board or bonding company.
First of all, I would say before hiring make sure the person is licensed, so you can turn to some authority if the worst happen. If it’s already happen, try to contact local agencies that is related to consumer affairs, contractor association/board to file a complaint.
All great advice. I too have been involved in “rescuing” homeowners in this type of situation. The most prominent one went the furthest in terms of legal proceedings. The homeowner did get a judgement against the contractor. Even went as far as to seize property but the contractor had more experience in hiding his assets -
In that particular case - the homeowner lost $50k, spent another $20+k on legal fees and had absolutely nothing to show for it except grey hair and a disbelief in society and the legal system.
So - first thing you should do is find out if there are any “assets” tied to the agreement with the company. Most likely not else that person would not have walked off with your money, but it is worth looking into.
If there are no assets, I recommend moving on but follow advice for hiring a legitimate contractor …
People like that give us honest contractors a bad name … sorry they portrayed themselves to you as a legitimate concern for you and all of us.
First you should try and contact the contractor within 24 hours, leave a message or voice mail. since it has been over a year you should hire a lawyer as well as notify the contractors state license board, the BBB and notify, even file a complaint…next time do not let your payments get ahead of the work.