Being Screwed

[gklindsey]

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

I had a home fire. The insurance company recommended a contractor - which I hired. The original adjuster summary was for 96 thousand and change. After digging into the job extra stuff was found which brought the total up to what the contractor says was 128 thou. There were some items on the first summary which they wanted to install that I wanted upgraded and I verbally told them this and they agreed to reimburse me (For example I wanted tile counter tops but the adjuster report specified formica). As the project was nearly finished I signed an affidavit of completion and the contractor immediately sent me an intent to lien with not only no reimbursement but also an extra $3000. This has gone back and forth and recently went into arbitration which I felt went very poorly as the arbitrator appeared to be biased. How can I get the unfair $13000 knocked off the bill. When I signed the affidavit of completion I had no idea about the total that the contractor total was going to be. I was expecting a cordial exchange of cash and instead I've been saddled with a lien that has kept me from selling the house. Now the house is worth about 1/3 what it would have been worth when it was supposed to be complete and I'm an emotional wreck.... Does the insurance company have the right to change the contract without an official change order if the contract specifically requires it?

 

[ecmst12]

I'm confused - you wanted upgrades but you didn't want to pay for them?

 

[gklindsey]

The supplemental were new a/c units and replacement of the siding...
I didn't even know about most of the supplemental additions until after the fact. The only change I wanted was the tile countertops - which they would not do - I had to do them myself including the sink and garbage disposal, which I should have but was not credited for. My point is that they asked for 3 thousand more than the original contract - when they didn't even complete all of the items in the original adjuster summary. I asked for none of the supplemental items, so why should I have to pay anything out of pocket for something I didn't ask for? Let alone how do I get reimbursed for the stuff I did... I guess my real question is - can the insurance company ask for supplemental items that I become financially responsible for?

 

[ecmst12]

If the supplemental items were needed, your insurance should have covered them.

 

[gklindsey]

agreed - so how can they send me a bill for $3000 more than the contract was for? The contract literally says "per insurance estimate" for the dollar amount. Their final bill includes 2 supplemental amounts which are not itemized and the total was for some 128 thou the contractor says they received checks for a total if 106 and they send a final bill with an intent to lien for 22 thousand but the final check that is still being held by the mortgage company is for 19.2 thousand - leaving a difference of around 3 thousand between what they say they did and what is left to pay them. Not to mention the items that were not done or not done to what the building department ordered (lowering windows to meet the 2003 IRC code), the sink, the countertops, the garage floor was supposed to be epoxy coated to hide the scarring, etc which total up to around 11000. Now I have a lien on the house and in the mean time the house has sunk so low in value that I doubt it will ever be worth what I owe on the mortgage not to mention the 22000 lien that they slapped on the house as well