LSUTigerFNP
Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Tennessee
I am going to try and post everything in order for me to get accurate advice. Below is a brief overview of what has occurred.
On 7/18/2012, my husband signed a contract with a local landscaping company to build a retaining wall in our yard. On the contract, the contractor wrote the completion date as 8/10/2012 (weather pending). When my husband signed it on 7/18/2012, WE were told the work would begin the following Monday----well, its now 8/5/2012 and NOTHING has been done other than the utilities being marked in our yard. We have had two "weather days" which consisted of rain. The weather hasn't been the issue.
We haven't seen any receipts regarding materials/supplies and nothing has been delivered to our home. Every time my husband has contacted the contractor regarding the work, he comes up with another excuse.
On the contract it states that the wall would be built to the edge of our property line. The contractor told us he would contact our builder to find out the property line. Well, we ended up finding this out on our own, as the contractor received incorrect information and would have built our wall on an easement and not on our land.
Do we have any legal right to back out of this contract for breach of contract? I must add that we have paid 60% up front for this work and at the bottom its states "$8,000 as a downpayment non-refundable". I have a feeling this will prevent us from getting out of the agreement, however, he hasn't even started the work and the completion date is less than 5 days away.
I need advice regarding this---the contractor knew up front that the wall needed to be completed on time due to some circumstances that are beyond our control. My husband is leaving the country a few days after the completion date, and I didn't want to be left here to ensure the build was completed as my husband will be unable to be contacted for weeks after he leaves. There is no possible way for it to be complete by the completion date nor is it going to be complete by the time my husband leaves the country. At this point, I just want to get our 8k back and find another contractor as my faith in this one is gone.
Any advice?
I am going to try and post everything in order for me to get accurate advice. Below is a brief overview of what has occurred.
On 7/18/2012, my husband signed a contract with a local landscaping company to build a retaining wall in our yard. On the contract, the contractor wrote the completion date as 8/10/2012 (weather pending). When my husband signed it on 7/18/2012, WE were told the work would begin the following Monday----well, its now 8/5/2012 and NOTHING has been done other than the utilities being marked in our yard. We have had two "weather days" which consisted of rain. The weather hasn't been the issue.
We haven't seen any receipts regarding materials/supplies and nothing has been delivered to our home. Every time my husband has contacted the contractor regarding the work, he comes up with another excuse.
On the contract it states that the wall would be built to the edge of our property line. The contractor told us he would contact our builder to find out the property line. Well, we ended up finding this out on our own, as the contractor received incorrect information and would have built our wall on an easement and not on our land.
Do we have any legal right to back out of this contract for breach of contract? I must add that we have paid 60% up front for this work and at the bottom its states "$8,000 as a downpayment non-refundable". I have a feeling this will prevent us from getting out of the agreement, however, he hasn't even started the work and the completion date is less than 5 days away.
I need advice regarding this---the contractor knew up front that the wall needed to be completed on time due to some circumstances that are beyond our control. My husband is leaving the country a few days after the completion date, and I didn't want to be left here to ensure the build was completed as my husband will be unable to be contacted for weeks after he leaves. There is no possible way for it to be complete by the completion date nor is it going to be complete by the time my husband leaves the country. At this point, I just want to get our 8k back and find another contractor as my faith in this one is gone.
Any advice?
