What is the name of your state? GA
We're having a master bedroom and bathroom built onto our house and my builder showed up today and insisted on getting the final payment. I told him we didn't expect to have to pay until the job was finished and it had been inspected. He said he needed his money before 2:00 PM. The final bill was for 8,633. I asked if 5,000 would do and he said I could only hold back 1,000. I went ahead and wrote the check, but I really felt uncomfortable with it. He had just presented the final bill and my husband hadn't had a chance to see it. It didn't show how much we were paying for labor or materials. There was an overcharge to the marble company and he said that was taxes. I called them and they don't charge tax. Besides the job not being complete (6 weeks overdue), there are problems. They put the door handles on wrong so I took them off and put them on right. The workers said they didn't know how to put on the faucets so we put one on for them, the insulation under the house was put on upside down, etc., etc., etc. He told me he was going to charge extra labor because some of the fixtures I had bought were "complicated" to install. They also damaged my deadbolt and he says it just needs WD-40. Plus, he damaged my Maple tree in the front yard. And when I didn't get things I asked for like the picture window and $600 allowance for the tub he says he doesn't have anything about it in his records. Anyway, I put a stop payment on the check. Was that the right thing to do? And do I have a right to a breakdown of all costs and materials? And where it shows credit for the things we bought? Can we deduct labor charges for things we had to do? Can we deduct 1/2 the labor for the things they did wrong and had to come back and correct? Thanks for any advice.
We're having a master bedroom and bathroom built onto our house and my builder showed up today and insisted on getting the final payment. I told him we didn't expect to have to pay until the job was finished and it had been inspected. He said he needed his money before 2:00 PM. The final bill was for 8,633. I asked if 5,000 would do and he said I could only hold back 1,000. I went ahead and wrote the check, but I really felt uncomfortable with it. He had just presented the final bill and my husband hadn't had a chance to see it. It didn't show how much we were paying for labor or materials. There was an overcharge to the marble company and he said that was taxes. I called them and they don't charge tax. Besides the job not being complete (6 weeks overdue), there are problems. They put the door handles on wrong so I took them off and put them on right. The workers said they didn't know how to put on the faucets so we put one on for them, the insulation under the house was put on upside down, etc., etc., etc. He told me he was going to charge extra labor because some of the fixtures I had bought were "complicated" to install. They also damaged my deadbolt and he says it just needs WD-40. Plus, he damaged my Maple tree in the front yard. And when I didn't get things I asked for like the picture window and $600 allowance for the tub he says he doesn't have anything about it in his records. Anyway, I put a stop payment on the check. Was that the right thing to do? And do I have a right to a breakdown of all costs and materials? And where it shows credit for the things we bought? Can we deduct labor charges for things we had to do? Can we deduct 1/2 the labor for the things they did wrong and had to come back and correct? Thanks for any advice.