Breach of Contract-Oh.

[sonnym1]

We entered into a contract in Ohio with a contractor to add a family room,bathroom and deck to our home. His bid was for $23,000 to be paid in 4 installments and he gave us a completion date of 14 weeks. The first installment of $9,000was paid to him on May 15th and the work began.He started out working everyday and had our home tore apart so that we had very little use of the kitchen or a guest bedroom. He than began to miss days of work for various reasons and was falling behind schedule. He purchased a lot of the materials needed and stored them in our basement or yard. The 2nd installment of $7,000 was paid in June and he still wasn't making very much progress and was using all types of excuses why he couldn't come to work or had to leave early.He kept promising us that he would meet the contract deadline.We paid the 3rd installment of $4,000 dollars in July and he purchased more materials and still was far from being in a position to complete the job by the 14 week deadline.The final $2,000 was to be paid at the completion of the job. He has the shell of the family room done and the shell of the bathroom done but he has nothig finished on the interior,no plumbing done for the bathroom,none of the deck,none of the kitchen cabinets and no drywall hung or electric completed. Now he has less than 2 weeks before the deadline and he says that he doesn't have the money to hire some help and he has a kidney stone and he can't finish the job. He claims that he has $3,000 left of our money that is for materials needed to finish the job.He says that he can finish it after he recovers from the kidney stone but he can't pay anyone to help him and he doesn't know how long it will take. We have paid him over $21,000 dollars and are no where near having our rooms completed. What are our options and what is his responsibilities as far as honoring the contract. Thank you in advance forany advice you can give.

Sonnym1

 

[lawrat]

You sue him for the cost for completion.

So, if it costs 2 thousand to complete, you don't owe anything and he doesn't have to pay you.

BUT, if it costs 15 thousand more, 23 - 21 paid is a 2 thousand savings. he owes you 13K.

 

[circuitetc]

breach - oh my

I understand your pain. On 02/23/01 a company (we'll refer to them as "BI") was hired to remove all the old paneling from the existing house, add on to our bedroom & bathroom, add a dining room & a walk in closet. The job was to be completed in 60 days; it is 08/17/01 & our house is a wreck. They used our clothes to clean their tools. They stood on our furniture. Our 2 year old son swallowed a nail that he picked up among building material & other sharp objects. There are rooms that were never started on. The roof is incomplete & during several storms, some of the ceiling & walls were damaged. Electrical sockets & wires hang out of every wall. There is no light, running water in one of the bathrooms. The faucet that was outside our house is now sticking out of the floor & the bathroom floor can't be installed until it is removed. The toilets & washing machine backup & there is an awful smell since they poured the concrete. The contractor promised us he would get that corrected but has not. We have NO stove, sink or cabinets in the kitchen. We paid the contractor separately $678.92 for kitchen cabinets; he said they were ordered but never were. The concete slab in the dining room is severly uneven. The flooring contractor can't complete the installation because BI won't pay them. Within the past month or 2, I think we've seen them 5-7 times. The contractor said "It hurts me on payroll to send my crew for an hour a day... I'm TRYING to CONVINCE them to work weekends" & laughed. There is more than "an hour a day" of work to be done. BI has moved & the address listed is in a residential neighborhood. Every phone # we have for them is disconnected. We call cell phones but never get an answer. They don't call back when we leave messages. We now have to hire new people to finish our house, put in new kitchen cabinets (that are already paid for), electrical, AC/heat & flooring. Over $1200 worth of personal items were stolen from our home; Mr. Bernard told us that he would file a claim with his insurance company & give us the money; that was in March. We bought the faucet & drain trap for our new tub (that was to be purchased by BI) & Mr. Bernard took it. We've asked for the faucet & have not received it nor have we heard from him. He was to be paid $17K up front & $16K when the work was complete. The bank paid them all the money except $9488.28 & they aren't coming back to complete the work. My husband doesn't want to have them back in our home & we've been instructed by the bank to change the locks on all the doors. We've filed complaints with the BBB & FTC.