What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Texas
The first 2 paragraphs is mainly a little history and how I came about doing what I did. If not needed I posted the real questions are in the 4th paragraph. Thank you.
Hi, my name is Chip, I have a business remodeling/handyman, I will try to be brief and truthful as possible. I was recently hired by a woman to install wood horse fence around 2 fields. Work was slow so I took it at a cost plus basis, $18 hr plus materials, no mark-up. She already had a contractor remodeling her 1800's home so I was just doing the fence. After about 2 weeks I guess I had been in the house only a couple of times but I noticed the guys working on her house did not know anything about construction, they were literally destroying her home. They cut-out openings for 4 double entry doors on the exterior load bearing walls of the 2 story house and did not install headers, or any kind of support at all for the walls and crudley nailed the doors into place, for example. They also tore out 2nd story floors and load bearing walls of both first and second story and did not support the cieling, no beams installed, nothing, just big open room now. Well I informed her and warned her about all this and after a few days of my warnings, pointing out the extent of damages they were causing she finally ran them off and now they have criminal charges against them. She then started accepting bids for contractors to fix and finish her house, I have the knowledge but not the manpower at the time. After recieving some really large bids, $170,000 +, she asked me if it was something I could do if I got help. I told her yes I know how, I have a plan where-as f she used me it may take a little longer but I could get those huge prices down quite a bit with little risk for either of us. I proposed a deal via email, basically stating if I was to do it I would bid each room separately, hire and come up with a dependable crew as I went, each week I would make a draw on the bid just for employee payroll and any materials I personally purchased plus a little for myself to get me through the bidded room. At the end of the work on that room we would settle up on the bid, move to the next room. Plumbers and electrical to be subbed out. Also, I would hire and keep the horse fence going at our original agreement. She liked the plan and agreed we would come up with a contract when her loan was available. Basically that is how I got into working on her house. No written agreement yet, I was to just continue with the fence until her loan was available.
She came to me a couple of days later and asked me how critical it was that something be done about the structural damage the first contractors did, of course it was very critical whether I did it or not. (I had been telling her that) She had me go in and just sure up the critical places, I told her it was imperative that it be fixed before something real bad happened, so I agreed to correctly install 2 headers above the double entry doors that had nothing, I also used 4 x 4 posts for the fence as braces to support the upstairs ceiling in which load bearing walls was removed and just left hanging. Just so it did not collapse and the headers above the doors to keep the upstairs from sagging down over the doors or collapse. I also installed a wood pellet stove per her request, all just for the $18 per hour, I was fine with it I just didn't want to see her house in ruins. I also did some winterizing around the house, put up thick plastic over places where siding was tore off, sealing holes and drafts etc to help it stay warm inside. I was then to keep going on the fence. All per her request.
OK, here is where I need the real advise. A week before Christmas she told me she was going up North to Maryland to be with family. She asked if I could feed and water the horses while she was gone and I agreed. A couple of days later, after she left it froze hear real bad. I got to her house one morning and I needed to fill up my big barrel with water for the concrete for the fence posts. The water pipes were frozen. I had permission to go in her house while she was gone. The copper pipe to the outside faucet was still exposed in a wall in the house, so I went in and placed heaters and boiled horse trough water to thaw out the pipes so I could work and water the horses. (had to bust up ice in water troughs) Well of course thawing the pipes started reveling all the busted copper pipes. I am not a licence plumber and this house is out of the city limits. Per her request/permission I cut out the bursts and capped the pipes so to have water to the outside faucet so to be able to water the horses, there was no other water and the horses was running dangerously low, and also we could continue with the fence but the horses HAVE to have water, about 5 horses. Well, after cutting out those bursts and capping, it just revieled more bursts, so I cut and capped. Now, this is all temporary mainly for the horses, she told me a plumber was coming in a couple weeks to re-plumb the entire house, so this was all temporary. At one point I just had a water hose clamped to the main pipe to use to water the horses. Since it was there, we did fill up my barrel to keep posts going on the fence. She emailed me and told me her and her 5 year old son is coming home and could I please get temp water to the toilet and shower at least. I told her I would and told her it was temporary until the plumber got there. She also informed me that her bank got suspicious of the purchases in Maryland and froze her account, she would pay me when she got home. (Originally she was just going to transfer funds into my account, we have same bank) OK, fine. when she got home she gave me $800 cash, partial payment for the week, I payed my 2 helpers. The following friday, I gave her an invoice with the balance forward and she wrote me a check. I went ahead and paid my helper and deposited the check. Now, that makes 2 weeks for me living on $300 after paying my help. Since that Monday was a holiday (day after new year) it would be 5 days before the money was available. She emailed me and told me that the whole project was to be put on hold for 10 days. I told her OK well I would need to find something to do for the 10 days, I cannot afford to take 10 days off. Can I come get some of my tools, leave the rest there so I could dig up something to fill in the 10 days, by the way your check of $1087 is being returned for NSF. She said she would leave my tools in the garage unlocked, nothing said about the check. I called and left a polite message about the check. I emailed her and said OK I will be there in the morning and reminded her about the check. I went the next morning and no tools in the garage, no word about the check. Other than informing me about the 10 day wait and tools in the garage she had not returned my emails or phone calls. I am now going on 3 weeks living on the same $300. Water and electricity final notices have come and due to be turned off the next day and 2 days. I am now frustrated and worried, I sent another email that was niether polite or rude, informing her of my cut off notices and can I at least have my tools. A couple minutes later she called and was irate, yelling, telling me I was walking off the job, I could not get a word in. She sent emails telling me how extremely hostile I was getting, etc, etc. I am telling the truth when I say I was not even a little hostile and all I asked for was my tools and I informed her of the bounced check. I got the check back, I went to her bank and they said it was still no good.
I am going to send a certified letter next. What I want to know is, since I am not a plumber, I know how but I am not and since it was an emergency for the horses, they was almost out and they drink a ton, and her and her 5 year old needs a toilet and since it was understood that it was temporary, outside city limits and a plumber was coming in a couple weeks to re-do all of it anyway, does she have legal grounds not to pay me and is that any kind of excuse for me temporarily repairing the pipes only to the toilet, shower and outside faucet? I have all the emails confirming it was temporary, per her request and I was not trying to re-plumb her house or anything of the sort. And also it proves I was not hostile in any way at all and not just walking off the job. I also have plenty of pictures of the work other than the temp plumbing, so she cannot say I didn't do any work or my job she was paying for. Before and after pictures.
I don't know if it makes a difference but this was the week of and during Christams, I don't know if a plumber would come out and I didn't have the money and her account was locked.
Thank you in advance, I am sorry it is so long, it is complicated
The first 2 paragraphs is mainly a little history and how I came about doing what I did. If not needed I posted the real questions are in the 4th paragraph. Thank you.
Hi, my name is Chip, I have a business remodeling/handyman, I will try to be brief and truthful as possible. I was recently hired by a woman to install wood horse fence around 2 fields. Work was slow so I took it at a cost plus basis, $18 hr plus materials, no mark-up. She already had a contractor remodeling her 1800's home so I was just doing the fence. After about 2 weeks I guess I had been in the house only a couple of times but I noticed the guys working on her house did not know anything about construction, they were literally destroying her home. They cut-out openings for 4 double entry doors on the exterior load bearing walls of the 2 story house and did not install headers, or any kind of support at all for the walls and crudley nailed the doors into place, for example. They also tore out 2nd story floors and load bearing walls of both first and second story and did not support the cieling, no beams installed, nothing, just big open room now. Well I informed her and warned her about all this and after a few days of my warnings, pointing out the extent of damages they were causing she finally ran them off and now they have criminal charges against them. She then started accepting bids for contractors to fix and finish her house, I have the knowledge but not the manpower at the time. After recieving some really large bids, $170,000 +, she asked me if it was something I could do if I got help. I told her yes I know how, I have a plan where-as f she used me it may take a little longer but I could get those huge prices down quite a bit with little risk for either of us. I proposed a deal via email, basically stating if I was to do it I would bid each room separately, hire and come up with a dependable crew as I went, each week I would make a draw on the bid just for employee payroll and any materials I personally purchased plus a little for myself to get me through the bidded room. At the end of the work on that room we would settle up on the bid, move to the next room. Plumbers and electrical to be subbed out. Also, I would hire and keep the horse fence going at our original agreement. She liked the plan and agreed we would come up with a contract when her loan was available. Basically that is how I got into working on her house. No written agreement yet, I was to just continue with the fence until her loan was available.
She came to me a couple of days later and asked me how critical it was that something be done about the structural damage the first contractors did, of course it was very critical whether I did it or not. (I had been telling her that) She had me go in and just sure up the critical places, I told her it was imperative that it be fixed before something real bad happened, so I agreed to correctly install 2 headers above the double entry doors that had nothing, I also used 4 x 4 posts for the fence as braces to support the upstairs ceiling in which load bearing walls was removed and just left hanging. Just so it did not collapse and the headers above the doors to keep the upstairs from sagging down over the doors or collapse. I also installed a wood pellet stove per her request, all just for the $18 per hour, I was fine with it I just didn't want to see her house in ruins. I also did some winterizing around the house, put up thick plastic over places where siding was tore off, sealing holes and drafts etc to help it stay warm inside. I was then to keep going on the fence. All per her request.
OK, here is where I need the real advise. A week before Christmas she told me she was going up North to Maryland to be with family. She asked if I could feed and water the horses while she was gone and I agreed. A couple of days later, after she left it froze hear real bad. I got to her house one morning and I needed to fill up my big barrel with water for the concrete for the fence posts. The water pipes were frozen. I had permission to go in her house while she was gone. The copper pipe to the outside faucet was still exposed in a wall in the house, so I went in and placed heaters and boiled horse trough water to thaw out the pipes so I could work and water the horses. (had to bust up ice in water troughs) Well of course thawing the pipes started reveling all the busted copper pipes. I am not a licence plumber and this house is out of the city limits. Per her request/permission I cut out the bursts and capped the pipes so to have water to the outside faucet so to be able to water the horses, there was no other water and the horses was running dangerously low, and also we could continue with the fence but the horses HAVE to have water, about 5 horses. Well, after cutting out those bursts and capping, it just revieled more bursts, so I cut and capped. Now, this is all temporary mainly for the horses, she told me a plumber was coming in a couple weeks to re-plumb the entire house, so this was all temporary. At one point I just had a water hose clamped to the main pipe to use to water the horses. Since it was there, we did fill up my barrel to keep posts going on the fence. She emailed me and told me her and her 5 year old son is coming home and could I please get temp water to the toilet and shower at least. I told her I would and told her it was temporary until the plumber got there. She also informed me that her bank got suspicious of the purchases in Maryland and froze her account, she would pay me when she got home. (Originally she was just going to transfer funds into my account, we have same bank) OK, fine. when she got home she gave me $800 cash, partial payment for the week, I payed my 2 helpers. The following friday, I gave her an invoice with the balance forward and she wrote me a check. I went ahead and paid my helper and deposited the check. Now, that makes 2 weeks for me living on $300 after paying my help. Since that Monday was a holiday (day after new year) it would be 5 days before the money was available. She emailed me and told me that the whole project was to be put on hold for 10 days. I told her OK well I would need to find something to do for the 10 days, I cannot afford to take 10 days off. Can I come get some of my tools, leave the rest there so I could dig up something to fill in the 10 days, by the way your check of $1087 is being returned for NSF. She said she would leave my tools in the garage unlocked, nothing said about the check. I called and left a polite message about the check. I emailed her and said OK I will be there in the morning and reminded her about the check. I went the next morning and no tools in the garage, no word about the check. Other than informing me about the 10 day wait and tools in the garage she had not returned my emails or phone calls. I am now going on 3 weeks living on the same $300. Water and electricity final notices have come and due to be turned off the next day and 2 days. I am now frustrated and worried, I sent another email that was niether polite or rude, informing her of my cut off notices and can I at least have my tools. A couple minutes later she called and was irate, yelling, telling me I was walking off the job, I could not get a word in. She sent emails telling me how extremely hostile I was getting, etc, etc. I am telling the truth when I say I was not even a little hostile and all I asked for was my tools and I informed her of the bounced check. I got the check back, I went to her bank and they said it was still no good.
I am going to send a certified letter next. What I want to know is, since I am not a plumber, I know how but I am not and since it was an emergency for the horses, they was almost out and they drink a ton, and her and her 5 year old needs a toilet and since it was understood that it was temporary, outside city limits and a plumber was coming in a couple weeks to re-do all of it anyway, does she have legal grounds not to pay me and is that any kind of excuse for me temporarily repairing the pipes only to the toilet, shower and outside faucet? I have all the emails confirming it was temporary, per her request and I was not trying to re-plumb her house or anything of the sort. And also it proves I was not hostile in any way at all and not just walking off the job. I also have plenty of pictures of the work other than the temp plumbing, so she cannot say I didn't do any work or my job she was paying for. Before and after pictures.
I don't know if it makes a difference but this was the week of and during Christams, I don't know if a plumber would come out and I didn't have the money and her account was locked.
Thank you in advance, I am sorry it is so long, it is complicated
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