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change orders

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mitzi56

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? florida
I made some changes at the beginning of my home construction but never signed anything agreeing to pricing of these changes, i called him 2 weeks later to ask him how much those changes were gonna be so that i could see if i could afford them. and he said we were about even since i removed appliances and such. meanwhile right before closing he handed me a bill of 16.700 for the changes he made on the house i went and paid him for these changes, but feel i should sue him for lying to me on the costs and for adding other changes i did not agree to. there were no change orders between us on any of these things. can i sue him and get that money back?
 


mitzi56

Junior Member
he told me we were about even on the costs of the changes that we made between each other, obviously by handing me a bill for 16,0000 does not qualify for even or about even
 

lcannister

Senior Member
You can sue, will you win, who knows. Over 16K is not small claims court though.

Why on earth did you pay the money then expect to get it back. Why pay it o begin with if you did not agree?
 

mitzi56

Junior Member
because i got scared and afraid hed come after me if i didnt pay him, i wasnt thinking straight , i hadnt had the time to learn about change orders yet, now i know what went wrong. even though it didnt seem right i just didnt know better at the time, this construction stuff is all new to me this is the first time i built a house. also because i did speak to an attorney and he suggested paying him and going to small claims court at a later time to fight him, this was before knowing it was going to be more than a small claims court issue
 
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lcannister

Senior Member
this is the first time i built a house.
Let me guess, and YOU are not alone, you wanted to save some money so you did this "first time" building thing without benefit of an Agent or Attorney who would have protected your interests here.

In the end, as several of us around here try and tell folks, see how much more that mistake may cost you.

Good luck
 

mitzi56

Junior Member
yes

yes i did this totally alone, but not to save money, but because im not the brightest cookie in the world and assumed since the bank that was loaning me the money for the construction was also the ones who suggested hiring this contractor, I assumed and trusted the companies i was dealing with.. I had a friend who was an attorney, who was retired and glimpsed over the paperwork for me and said everything seemed ok,and it generally was, but I was excited to get my home built and to get this paperwork back.Whereas I should have gotten another opnion, but I dont remeber my friend telling me to make sure there were change orders needed on every detail I made with this contractor. Im certainly not going to blame my friend (the attorney) for overlooking that detail as it was not his responsibility, it was mine to go seek a proper real estate attorney. I know that now. But now is too late. But Im also too much of a trusting person, and I trusted the bank and I trusted my contractor to do things properly.
So by being a trusting person, should I have to pay for these mistakes? The bank and the contractor had been in business of doing this a lot longer than I have, I trusted that they knew more about these issues than I did. And they did know these things! I'm sure im not the first person the contractor did a change order with! They simply just didnt care, so again is it my fault that others dont care about what the outcome could do to another person? NO!!! This is not my fault I am just an average person, whos never needed an attorney in my life and was told many times by family members and friends, not to trust attorneys as there only goal is to take your money.and the horror stories of many crooked attorneies im sure came across my mind as well. And mind you I had very little to take as im on disability. Now im learning attorneys can also be your friend and help with issues such as this. what do you want me to say????? Im a person whos just lkearning these things.
 
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mitzi56

Junior Member
one more thing

my job or the right thing to do was to ask this contractor for something quoting me a price for these changes and i did that, but its not my fault he refused to give me that price in writing or at least honestly verbally, he did not make the effort to tell me in any way shape or form, what things would cost!! its not my job however to call him over and over again to ask him the cost of these changes. I asked him once or twice that was all my duties were.
 

RichardAtty

Junior Member
I would recommend that you quit while you're ahead. At this point, you will only be paying another attorney to prove your point to the contractor. If by chance, a court should award you anything you can be sure that the attorney's fees will consume your recovery. I've been involved in similar cases where there was no documentation of change orders. You basically agreed to the prices of the changes when you paid your contractor. Should you have had any dispute, you should have addressed it at the time your contractor billed you for these additional charges.

Not to sound too harsh but, you're crying over spilled milk. Your money is gone and in the future, you can remember how much this little mistake cost you so you won't be inclined to let it happen again.
 

mitzi56

Junior Member
no ty

im afraid i am in the right here, people cannot just take your money and spend it without your knowledge, when you go into a grocery store and ask a price of an item and it rings up a different price, you simply tell them youll refuse to pay for the item, because you were told differently.even though you already paid for it under false pretences. i will not give up on this, as he is at fault.I did not agree to those prices, one of my legal council which you pride yourself so much on, at the time told me to pay him and go after him later, and here one minute im being told that i should have paid a lawer to help me with this in the begginning, now im being told a lawer will absorb any money that I may have a chance of winning, whats with you people? I was already given a price by my present lawyer and its very reasonable, you however i have a feeling would suck me dry!.I had 1 week to find a lawyer and went through 3 before i found one i trusted.
This contractor has one more issue to deal with me he basically built my house in a fish bowl and my proprety is flooding up to my doorway on an easy rain, so this guy is in the wrong again,and.... handed me a check at time of closing for 6,300 dollars which i thought was being used to make things right between us, only to find out 3 weeks later that it was a mistake and i was going to be sued if i didnt pay it back to the bank, so i got hit with a 15% interest rate on that mistake as well. you cant tell me somethings not wrng here and if you tell me im in the wrong after all this than your obviously not the attorney i would hire to help me with this probablem..so good luck to me. im not sure how many cases you lost in my paticualr predicament, but obviously your not the lawyer i would hire.as your very unsupportive.
 
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lcannister

Senior Member
you simply tell them youll refuse to pay for the item, because you were told differently. .
Pardon me, you would do this over a grocery item and 16K you just hand over?????

Your options
Pay an Atty go to court of the 16K
Go to small claims for your areas max
or move on with life.

You keep on and on about none of this being YOUR fault but you are absolutely wrong from the day you handed the seller 16K.

Go back to that Atty and ask them how you go about getting that money back the way they advised you to. You wanted this house so badly you would have done anything.

Good luck
 

mitzi56

Junior Member
no problem

i guesss ill take a chance with my 3,000 to find out if im in the wrong, this guys a crook, and im determined to go if not for anything but to prove all the mistakes hes made maybe hell learn something too and i have my daughter as a witness as he also told her i only owed him around 3-4,000 total
 
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lcannister

Senior Member
i guesss ill take a chance with my 3,000 to find out if im in the wrong, this guys a crook, and im determined to go if not for anything but to prove all the mistakes hes made maybe hell learn something too and i have my daughter as a witness as he also told her i only owed him around 3-4,000 total
Hmmmm. I thought it was break even???

You embellish like this in court their side will eat you alive!!
 

mitzi56

Junior Member
hmm is right

thats excatly what i said when he told that to my daughter, so i called him, and he said no that was for extra sand he brought in, so i said what sand? why wasnt i notified about this?
and he said dont worry its only about 11 loads at 125 a load, so at that point i figured i owed him about 3,000. and in the end when he handed me the bill right before closing the bill had said 16 loads at 145.00 a load, so here we go again with lies about costs, and not telling me of the extra work. i have no controll if hes doing things behind my back. there has got to be a law stating that these contractors cannot do things with out asking permission from the owner before doing them. yes we sat and agreed to 3 changes together, but the other 3 or so changes he did without my knowledge, thats just not right!!! and then to lie about the changes we did half way agree to. halfway because i only agreed to those changes if i could afford them, in which he told me i could we were about even remeber? im not letting this go this is not right but ty for trying to help me see the problems im going to have
 
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RichardAtty

Junior Member
I'm sorry to be the one to break it down for you but, your contractor's attorney will eat you for lunch and your daughter for dessert. You talk in circles. Bottom line: When you paid the contractor the additional expenses with no argument, you agreed to the price and the changes. You must have had an initial contract between the contractor and yourself in reference to the final price on your new home and any deviation from that initial contract would have to be documented. Since you willingly paid the additional $16,700, now in the eyes of the courts, it is now documented and you are the one who is reneging on a contract or agreement. Your willingness to pay is simply the ultimate indication that you agreed to your contractor's terms. Should you have felt his claim, that you owed him the additional costs was invalid, he should be the one taking you to court now to collect the additional costs but, NO, you willingly paid him.

Please, go back and read your posts above. Try to put yourself in the shoes of a judge hearing this case. When you realize that it was your very own ignorance that put you in this situation to begin with, you will save yourself and your daughter the embarrassment of reliving this experience in front of a crowded courtroom. Cut your losses now and save your money to purchase new furnishings for that nice, new house you built. If you choose to pursue this matter, you can rest assured that there are plenty of attorneys that will be willing to accept your money for this case. They have nothing to lose. You do. I would be willing to place a wager on the fact that you will also provoke a counterclaim by pursuing this case. In that event, just on listening to your above ramblings I would further bet that the contractor will prevail. In this event $16,700.00 was an inexpensive lesson, compared to what you'll be paying on his counterclaim.

I sincerely wish you the best in whatever your choice is but, be forewarned. You don't sound like you have a very strong case against this contractor. He may very well be a crook and believe me, I have nothing to gain or lose here by giving you my honest opinion. I'm just trying to save you additional money and further embarrassment by offering my honest opinion.

Please, keep us posted on the status of your case. I'm very curious as to the outcome.
 

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