Dream Home Nightmare

[alfoung]

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? California

I am a retired engineer building a 2000 feet addition with my life saving. I was persuaded by a sweet talk constructor (unlicensed) who vowed to make the home a showcase. He brought in a licensed contractor as a partner and we entered a contract with the licensed contractor. The constructor serves as the construction manager on the job.

The construction started a year ago and still not finished. There were numerous stoppages of works and often only one or two workers showed up for a few hours. The manager claimed that he could not speed up the works because his partner refused to pay his crafts. The contractor claimed that he paid his partner enough money to do the job. It appears that I am caught in the middle of a partnership dispute.

I have paid 90% of the contract and thousands dollars more of extra works. Some of the checks for the extra works were paid to the manager directly upon his requests to pay his crafts. He claimed that he needed the money to pay his crafts.

We had a meeting with the contractor, who presented three illegitimate change orders, which I refused to pay. He also accused me for paying his partner direct. The contractor declared that he wanted no part of the job and we should have his partner finish it. The manager, who was not invited to the meeting, talked to me afterwards that he would contract with me to finish the job.

Questions:

1.Can I terminate the contractor for breaching of contract?

2.Can I hire his partner to finish the job?

3.Is the contractor liable for the works he has done and the payment he owes to the subcontractors and suppliers?

4.Am I in trouble paying the manager directly?

5.Can I sue the contractor for damages, if the balance of the contract is not the sufficient to complete the works?

Thanks

 

[HomeGuru]

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? California

I am a retired engineer building a 2000 feet addition with my life saving. I was persuaded by a sweet talk constructor (unlicensed) who vowed to make the home a showcase. He brought in a licensed contractor as a partner and we entered a contract with the licensed contractor. The constructor serves as the construction manager on the job.

The construction started a year ago and still not finished. There were numerous stoppages of works and often only one or two workers showed up for a few hours. The manager claimed that he could not speed up the works because his partner refused to pay his crafts. The contractor claimed that he paid his partner enough money to do the job. It appears that I am caught in the middle of a partnership dispute.

I have paid 90% of the contract and thousands dollars more of extra works. Some of the checks for the extra works were paid to the manager directly upon his requests to pay his crafts. He claimed that he needed the money to pay his crafts.

We had a meeting with the contractor, who presented three illegitimate change orders, which I refused to pay. He also accused me for paying his partner direct. The contractor declared that he wanted no part of the job and we should have his partner finish it. The manager, who was not invited to the meeting, talked to me afterwards that he would contract with me to finish the job.

Questions:

1.Can I terminate the contractor for breaching of contract?

2.Can I hire his partner to finish the job?

3.Is the contractor liable for the works he has done and the payment he owes to the subcontractors and suppliers?

4.Am I in trouble paying the manager directly?

5.Can I sue the contractor for damages, if the balance of the contract is not the sufficient to complete the works?

Thanks

**A: you need an attorney like before building.

 

[dallas702]

Your contractor is bound by the agreement/contract you made with him. While you shouldn't have paid his manager directly, the licensed contractor has the responsibility to do the job as specified. Hiring the (unlicensed) manager would put your whole project at risk.

One thing you might do before putting down a big retainer for an attorney is have a conversation with the CA State Contractor's Board. As memory serves me growing up in CA, they take these matters very seriously. I am pretty sure they have arbitration available, and I am dead sure the contractor doesn't want to risk his license over a small job like this.

 

[alfoung]

Thanks for the advices.

During our meeting, the contractor presented some false claims. I was supposed to pay him thousands more according to the contract and change orders.

I noticed that the contract attachment he showed me was originally on his proposal and never signed. I told him that I signed the contract with a different attachment.

One of the change orders was another surprise. It has my signature on it. But, I have never actually signed. The paper I signed has notes, check number and statement of “Paid in Full”. It was initialed by his partner.

The only explanation I could think of is that he pasted my signature onto the change order.

Can I sue him for fraud?

 

[dallas702]

Fraud is only one possibility. You'd better research the contractor's guidelines asap.