What is the name of your state? VIRGINIA (No. VA)
we hired a contractor to renovate our 3 full bathrooms and 1 Half bathroom and a spigot would be replaced in the backyard. References were checked, contract was written up with the information we had discussed, price, what the job involved, etc.
He had originally told us that it would take him about a week or 2 to finsh each bathroom, was not added to the contract. The contract states that he would pay $700 credit towards each bathroom(so total $2100), but was later agreed that we would get most of the materials and he would just credit us for this. This was never amended in the contract, but is obviously traceable as well, through the receipts that show that we bought almost all of the stuff with our credit card that is in the bathrooms. He did pay for the tile but the contract says that he would pay the full cost of tile as long as its below a certain amount, which it was.
We paid him in 4 or 5 installments, and every time my husband paid him, he got the amount that was hand written on the back of the page signed off by him. Next to the last installment he added, "paid in full" and signed it. All payments were made either in regular or home equity checks and fully traceable to his name(he owns the company).
Once he was all done with the 3 full bathrooms, he started on the half bath and after starting to put the sink in, said that he needed some more materials to finish up the job. My husband knows not to pay the full amount for a job until it is absolutely finished, but by now, didn't want the relationship to get any rockier and paid the guy since he said he would mark off the contract paid in full and then finish up the rest of the stuff in the following day/week. Then his story changed to that the contract only stated(which it does) that he would "replace the cabinet and sink in the half bath" and that it meant that it had to be a regular traditional cabinet/sink, as opposed to the more contemporary vessel sink that we had purchased.
When I confronted him about breaking the contract to which he kept babbling off that he had done everything that he had promised and that infact we had not paid him for everything and that we had paid him $200 or $300 short and that he was going to talk to his Company lawyer to see if he could file a lien against our house. Since I work in the real estate field and knew most of these were empty threats, but did not want to deal with this guy any longer, attempted to end the conversation in a more civil manner than he was speaking to me. He said that he would drop off the garage door opener that day(as I had asked, b/c we needed it to get plumber estimate) and that after that we were done and that he was glad that he was done w/ our project b/c we had not been nice to him?!....I'm not sure what that means or where that came from, as short of our rights to request for additional cost reasoning we had not asked anything much of him. He dropped off our garage door opener that day and we have not had any contact with him since.
My husband is a bit more laxed than me, and states that we should cut our losses, pay the $400(estimate we got from another plumber) and have this horrible person out of our lives. I on the other hand, realize that the risks of letting him go without being disciplined in any way, means that some other innocent person may be at the risk of having to be cheated by him. Also, I spoke to my broker for some advice from his expertise and he mentioned that though the contract was only one page, it clearly stated the duties he were to perform and the hand written and stamped paid and the last "paid in full" with his signature on the back of that contract page. The contract page states that the final amount is $600 higher than what all the paid amounts on the back of the contract page add upto. This is only due to the fact that I stated earlier that since it was agreed that we would pay for most of the bathroom materials(cabinets, faucets, shower door, etc) that the $2100 credit will be applied to the final cost(this is again traceable but he didn't provide receipts). He did end up paying for a small amount of the materials cost, but if all added up in the end, we paid him over the amount that he should have received doing the math. Needless to say it took him from 1st week of March to Mid-May to do all that he did accomplish that is in the contract. Thanks for any advice!
Questions:
1. Does this contractor have a leg to stand on stating that he will put a lein on our house for the $200/300 he is saying we owe him? On the back page of the contract he has clearly signed off "paid in full" with his signature. If anything, adding up all the payments and taking off the credits, we paid him over the amount decided!
2. How should we proceed re: his breach of contract. Should we just file complaints with the BBB, DPOR and the County licensing board? OR should we go after him through an attorney in court. Since all the undone work(spigots, half bath) will prob be under a 1000, not sure if thats worth the time or effort or the risk that we may not win and pay the attorney fees?!
What is the name of your State VIRGINIA (Northern)
we hired a contractor to renovate our 3 full bathrooms and 1 Half bathroom and a spigot would be replaced in the backyard. References were checked, contract was written up with the information we had discussed, price, what the job involved, etc.
He had originally told us that it would take him about a week or 2 to finsh each bathroom, was not added to the contract. The contract states that he would pay $700 credit towards each bathroom(so total $2100), but was later agreed that we would get most of the materials and he would just credit us for this. This was never amended in the contract, but is obviously traceable as well, through the receipts that show that we bought almost all of the stuff with our credit card that is in the bathrooms. He did pay for the tile but the contract says that he would pay the full cost of tile as long as its below a certain amount, which it was.
We paid him in 4 or 5 installments, and every time my husband paid him, he got the amount that was hand written on the back of the page signed off by him. Next to the last installment he added, "paid in full" and signed it. All payments were made either in regular or home equity checks and fully traceable to his name(he owns the company).
Once he was all done with the 3 full bathrooms, he started on the half bath and after starting to put the sink in, said that he needed some more materials to finish up the job. My husband knows not to pay the full amount for a job until it is absolutely finished, but by now, didn't want the relationship to get any rockier and paid the guy since he said he would mark off the contract paid in full and then finish up the rest of the stuff in the following day/week. Then his story changed to that the contract only stated(which it does) that he would "replace the cabinet and sink in the half bath" and that it meant that it had to be a regular traditional cabinet/sink, as opposed to the more contemporary vessel sink that we had purchased.
When I confronted him about breaking the contract to which he kept babbling off that he had done everything that he had promised and that infact we had not paid him for everything and that we had paid him $200 or $300 short and that he was going to talk to his Company lawyer to see if he could file a lien against our house. Since I work in the real estate field and knew most of these were empty threats, but did not want to deal with this guy any longer, attempted to end the conversation in a more civil manner than he was speaking to me. He said that he would drop off the garage door opener that day(as I had asked, b/c we needed it to get plumber estimate) and that after that we were done and that he was glad that he was done w/ our project b/c we had not been nice to him?!....I'm not sure what that means or where that came from, as short of our rights to request for additional cost reasoning we had not asked anything much of him. He dropped off our garage door opener that day and we have not had any contact with him since.
My husband is a bit more laxed than me, and states that we should cut our losses, pay the $400(estimate we got from another plumber) and have this horrible person out of our lives. I on the other hand, realize that the risks of letting him go without being disciplined in any way, means that some other innocent person may be at the risk of having to be cheated by him. Also, I spoke to my broker for some advice from his expertise and he mentioned that though the contract was only one page, it clearly stated the duties he were to perform and the hand written and stamped paid and the last "paid in full" with his signature on the back of that contract page. The contract page states that the final amount is $600 higher than what all the paid amounts on the back of the contract page add upto. This is only due to the fact that I stated earlier that since it was agreed that we would pay for most of the bathroom materials(cabinets, faucets, shower door, etc) that the $2100 credit will be applied to the final cost(this is again traceable but he didn't provide receipts). He did end up paying for a small amount of the materials cost, but if all added up in the end, we paid him over the amount that he should have received doing the math. Needless to say it took him from 1st week of March to Mid-May to do all that he did accomplish that is in the contract. Thanks for any advice!
Questions:
1. Does this contractor have a leg to stand on stating that he will put a lein on our house for the $200/300 he is saying we owe him? On the back page of the contract he has clearly signed off "paid in full" with his signature. If anything, adding up all the payments and taking off the credits, we paid him over the amount decided!
2. How should we proceed re: his breach of contract. Should we just file complaints with the BBB, DPOR and the County licensing board? OR should we go after him through an attorney in court. Since all the undone work(spigots, half bath) will prob be under a 1000, not sure if thats worth the time or effort or the risk that we may not win and pay the attorney fees?!
What is the name of your State VIRGINIA (Northern)
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