CSC Georgia
Junior Member
Georgia
I am a small contractor new to area but with a 30 years work history in State. I recently bid a remodel that was approved by the bank. As soon as the new home owner got the loan money she began to request that each individual part of remodel be bid separatly. She wanted to do some work herself. This is common in area so I agreed. I bid and was accepted for the first portion of job, ie, Construction of fence around property ( needed as home is in a transition area with lots of theft.) I used a standard contract for materials and labor which was signed. We expected this fence to take about 7 days. I showed up on agreed date and problems started.1st, she wanted to keep full control of all material money herself instead of just giving me the money agreed upon to purchase materials specified in the contract. 2nd, She wanted me to shop each fence component for best price, the go from location to location setting up the order for her to go behind and pay for. ( this took all day) Then she did not want to pay delivery charges, so I had to have my crew pick up the fence components making 2 trips and taking most of a 2nd day( Friday) . Monday, we finally got to start putting up the fence ,3rd day , We got about 50 feet finished when we had to stoip work because a neighbor disputed the property line. We had to stop work for the day. On the 4th day (Tuesday) we arrived only to be told that it may take up to 3 weeks for a surveyor to come in a guarentee the lines. We spent the rest of the 4th day making custom gates then talked to the owner. At this point there was no way we could finish the work in 7 work days. We had an earlier existing contract for someone else that needed to be started and asked the owner if we could do this job during the 3 weeks she would be waiting and she agreed. We started the Tile job Wednesday afternoon expecting it to take about 8-10 days. Friday- two days into the tile job the fence owner called and said the surveyor had been able to come out earlier than he had said and now she wanted us to stop work on the tile job and come back to finish her fence. We explained that we needed to finish the floor as it was at a stage that could not be left unfinshed , she did not like it but agreed to the delay . The following Wednesday she called again, claiming that she had been robbed of some building materials she had left outside in the yard unsecured. She demanded we come immediatly and complete her fence or she would find someone else to finish it and sue us. At this time we feel we have gone out of the way to try to satisfy this woman but still have 2-4 days of work on the tile job. We feel that she had breeched the contract several ways herself, first over the materials, lack of building permits, problem with property lines etc. . We also feel she should be understanding of our needing to finish the tile , as we were about all the wasted time standing around while she got everything straight on her end. Can she sue us for not coming back immediatly? At this time we feel we should not bid any other part of the remodel job but fell obligated to complete our agreement on the fence, even with all the delays.
I am a small contractor new to area but with a 30 years work history in State. I recently bid a remodel that was approved by the bank. As soon as the new home owner got the loan money she began to request that each individual part of remodel be bid separatly. She wanted to do some work herself. This is common in area so I agreed. I bid and was accepted for the first portion of job, ie, Construction of fence around property ( needed as home is in a transition area with lots of theft.) I used a standard contract for materials and labor which was signed. We expected this fence to take about 7 days. I showed up on agreed date and problems started.1st, she wanted to keep full control of all material money herself instead of just giving me the money agreed upon to purchase materials specified in the contract. 2nd, She wanted me to shop each fence component for best price, the go from location to location setting up the order for her to go behind and pay for. ( this took all day) Then she did not want to pay delivery charges, so I had to have my crew pick up the fence components making 2 trips and taking most of a 2nd day( Friday) . Monday, we finally got to start putting up the fence ,3rd day , We got about 50 feet finished when we had to stoip work because a neighbor disputed the property line. We had to stop work for the day. On the 4th day (Tuesday) we arrived only to be told that it may take up to 3 weeks for a surveyor to come in a guarentee the lines. We spent the rest of the 4th day making custom gates then talked to the owner. At this point there was no way we could finish the work in 7 work days. We had an earlier existing contract for someone else that needed to be started and asked the owner if we could do this job during the 3 weeks she would be waiting and she agreed. We started the Tile job Wednesday afternoon expecting it to take about 8-10 days. Friday- two days into the tile job the fence owner called and said the surveyor had been able to come out earlier than he had said and now she wanted us to stop work on the tile job and come back to finish her fence. We explained that we needed to finish the floor as it was at a stage that could not be left unfinshed , she did not like it but agreed to the delay . The following Wednesday she called again, claiming that she had been robbed of some building materials she had left outside in the yard unsecured. She demanded we come immediatly and complete her fence or she would find someone else to finish it and sue us. At this time we feel we have gone out of the way to try to satisfy this woman but still have 2-4 days of work on the tile job. We feel that she had breeched the contract several ways herself, first over the materials, lack of building permits, problem with property lines etc. . We also feel she should be understanding of our needing to finish the tile , as we were about all the wasted time standing around while she got everything straight on her end. Can she sue us for not coming back immediatly? At this time we feel we should not bid any other part of the remodel job but fell obligated to complete our agreement on the fence, even with all the delays.
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