Waiting for a Roofer

[cbman]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California

Hi,

I live in northern California and hired a roofing contractor to replace my roof. They have a good BBB record and a clean California Contractor License and good Yelp reviews. Near the end of September 2015 I signed a contract with the company to replace the roof, although I never actually put down any money. It gives most of the standard details a contract should have, except no start/end date and no cancellation terms other than the 3 day rule.

We were told we'd be near the end of the line because there were several people ahead of us and that was understandable. But it got to the point that it was ridculous because there was always an excuse for them not to start the job. If if it was not people ahead of us, it was the weather. If it was not the weather, there were jobs with excessive dryrot that were taking a long time. Months of this.

It went something like this: We'd make phone calls, leave voicemails, write emails, begging with them to start the job on a sunny week. We had a lot of these stretches in between storms. We wanted to go on a trip, but we couldn't leave without fixing the roof. But they always had some sort of excuse.

Eventually it got to the point that they just ignored our emails and didn't return our calls. They stopped responding. We could not reach them, we gave up on them and moved on.

In total we spent half of Autumn and ALL of Winter waiting for them. Sept 25 - March 16. No money was ever exchanged. While waiting for them to replace the roof, we had a couple bad storms and there was some water damage.

We finally reach a deal with another company to replace our roof. Within a week of signing that contract, they have started work and should finish in a few days.

And on the second day of work, LITERALLY out of the blue, we hear from the first company. This is the first time we hear from this company in a month, we tried to contact them in that time. They are saying they can start work in a couple weeks.

Obviously, I don't need the first company anymore. But is that contract legally binding? And how can it be without a start/end date and no cancellation terms, other than the 3 day rule? 6 months is not a reasonable amount of time to wait for a roof replacement. And while I'm waiting for them my house takes water damage.

What are my options here? What are my rights as a consumer? How long should I be expected to wait for them?

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I appreciate any advice you might have.

 

[quincy]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California

Hi,

I live in northern California and hired a roofing contractor to replace my roof. They have a good BBB record and a clean California Contractor License and good Yelp reviews. Near the end of September 2015 I signed a contract with the company to replace the roof, although I never actually put down any money. It gives most of the standard details a contract should have, except no start/end date and no cancellation terms other than the 3 day rule.

We were told we'd be near the end of the line because there were several people ahead of us and that was understandable. But it got to the point that it was ridculous because there was always an excuse for them not to start the job. If if it was not people ahead of us, it was the weather. If it was not the weather, there were jobs with excessive dryrot that were taking a long time. Months of this.

It went something like this: We'd make phone calls, leave voicemails, write emails, begging with them to start the job on a sunny week. We had a lot of these stretches in between storms. We wanted to go on a trip, but we couldn't leave without fixing the roof. But they always had some sort of excuse.

Eventually it got to the point that they just ignored our emails and didn't return our calls. They stopped responding. We could not reach them, we gave up on them and moved on.

In total we spent half of Autumn and ALL of Winter waiting for them. Sept 25 - March 16. No money was ever exchanged. While waiting for them to replace the roof, we had a couple bad storms and there was some water damage.

We finally reach a deal with another company to replace our roof. Within a week of signing that contract, they have started work and should finish in a few days.

And on the second day of work, LITERALLY out of the blue, we hear from the first company. This is the first time we hear from this company in a month, we tried to contact them in that time. They are saying they can start work in a couple weeks.

Obviously, I don't need the first company anymore. But is that contract legally binding? And how can it be without a start/end date and no cancellation terms, other than the 3 day rule? 6 months is not a reasonable amount of time to wait for a roof replacement. And while I'm waiting for them my house takes water damage.

What are my options here? What are my rights as a consumer? How long should I be expected to wait for them?

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I appreciate any advice you might have.

Is the first company trying to enforce the contract?

 

[cbman]

Hi Quincy,

I'm not sure if they are trying to enforce the contract. After ignoring us for a couple months suddenly they are interested in fixing the roof, but it's done already. So I'm not sure if I should ignore them or email them and tell them we were fed up waiting for them after they didn't respond to emails/phone calls.

Thanks.

 

[quincy]

Hi Quincy,

I'm not sure if they are trying to enforce the contract. After ignoring us for a couple months suddenly they are interested in fixing the roof, but it's done already. So I'm not sure if I should ignore them or email them and tell them we were fed up waiting for them after they didn't respond to emails/phone calls.

Thanks.

There is no enforceable contract. Terms were not agreed to by the parties (no consideration, no start or end date, no performance).

You can inform the company that the work was completed by another company and leave it at that.

 

[tranquility]

Hi Quincy,

I'm not sure if they are trying to enforce the contract. After ignoring us for a couple months suddenly they are interested in fixing the roof, but it's done already. So I'm not sure if I should ignore them or email them and tell them we were fed up waiting for them after they didn't respond to emails/phone calls.

Thanks.

What you should have done (I know, but someone else might read the thread.) is once time started getting longer than you believed you agreed to, you should have sent a letter to the company explaining why you think they are not going to complete the contract in a timely manner and demand assurances they will. (Google, anticipatory repudiation california.)

Now you have some defenses if they try to sue you to enforce the contract. One is that the length of time it took before they were ready to start work for a job of this sort was not in the contemplation of the parties at the time of the making of the contract. In other words, there was no real meeting of the minds. You might also claim they are in breach as the contract needed to be completed in a timely manner. Perhaps the breach was of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing and you were only trying to mitigate your damages and countersue for the difference between what you would have paid and what you did pay.

 

[cbman]

Thank you both Quincy and Tranquility for your responses. I'll update the thread when I hear from the company, in case anyone is in a similar situation in the future.

 

[quincy]

Thank you both Quincy and Tranquility for your responses. I'll update the thread when I hear from the company, in case anyone is in a similar situation in the future.

You're welcome, cbman. Both tranquility and I appreciate the thanks and would be interested in an update.

 

[Cedrus]

If you want to tweak the bad roofers......write a letter to the CSLB and let them know what transpired. CC the bad roofers ....and it might give them second thoughts about doing ANYTHING to you....

 

[quincy]

If you want to tweak the bad roofers......write a letter to the CSLB and let them know what transpired. CC the bad roofers ....and it might give them second thoughts about doing ANYTHING to you....

There is no indication (at this point) that the first roofers have done anything wrong. cbman was informed from the start that there were other jobs that needed to be completed before the roofing company could start work on cbman's roof.

I doubt that the first roofers, a company that has good reviews and ratings according to cbman, will try to enforce an unenforceable non-contract. It appears that what cbman received from the roofing company was a bid for a future job and not a contract. Terms were never finalized and no money was paid.

 

[tranquility]

I doubt that the first roofers, a company that has good reviews and ratings according to cbman, will try to enforce an unenforceable non-contract. It appears that what cbman received from the roofing company was a bid for a future job and not a contract. Terms were never finalized and no money was paid.

It seems the OP believe he signed a "contract" and not just an estimate. I bet it had all the terms that would generally be required except a time of performance, which a court would probably determine the term rather than void the contract. That no money has been paid is of no legal meaning as to if a contract was created.

I agree there seems no meeting of the minds based upon the actions of the roofer. We have no idea that is the case as it is more likely the roofer is in breach or the time reasonably supplied by the court. I bet, at the end of the day, it is the roofer that would claim there was not a meeting of the minds. My thought is that he is the one in breach. That will be an issue decided on the facts including the expectation this year's El Nino was going to pour enough rain down that would make God jealous with his mere Noah thing. Let's just say CA roofing companies were busy this winter. (I finally had to get a guy I knew who would put up a gutter on the office building as EVERY roofer I called let me down on even making an estimate.) But, I think the time between signing and offer to act is too long to be anything reasonable.