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Suing unlicensed draftsman

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recharged95

Junior Member
SoCal (CA)

I've contracted an "unlicensed architect" (i.e. he's a draftsman) at the end of Jan.--his sales pitch & price was good, and was initially responsive for the 1st 2 weeks. It's now over a month (6 weeks total), and we cannot get a blueprint sketch from him for approval for structural engineering. We've seen only 2 floorpan sketches (not detailed) during those 1st 2 weeks. This is for a [basic] room addition+bath (ground floor, 400sq. ft total).

He mentioned a personal emergency Feb 17 after canceling a meeting to approve the blueprints. Well, I found out a week later the medical emergency turned out okay (he found out Feb 18 things were ok, but didn't notify us). I had to leave voicemail almost everyday for a week before he responded. We then promised to fax us sketches to sign off, and now it's 3 weeks later after repeated voicemails. I finally talked to him yesterday and he says he will fax some sketches, but no dice--I left several messages again today.

I'm out $2K so far, can I sue in small claims and get that money back? I noticed from unlicensed gen. contractors it maybe hard, but I found there's no license requirement for draftsman/architects, so, can i sue? (I'm frustrated to the point that's I feel it's the only option). We do have a written contract with him to provide us with blueprints, plan check, and followup with a contractor for changes, but no delivery schedule--he gave us a verbal that it should be no longer than 6 weeks+city planning time.

thanks!
 
Last edited:


recharged95

Junior Member
Thanks. I was worried from the few articles on the net saying you can be fined by the state by using an unlicensed contractor (and considering CA has it's weird laws)--but in my case it's a draftsman...

I attempted to contact this guy again last night once more with no success, so I sent a fax demanding my refund early this morning--so far no response, so it looks like it's time to file.
 

fairisfair

Senior Member
Thanks. I was worried from the few articles on the net saying you can be fined by the state by using an unlicensed contractor (and considering CA has it's weird laws)--but in my case it's a draftsman...

I attempted to contact this guy again last night once more with no success, so I sent a fax demanding my refund early this morning--so far no response, so it looks like it's time to file.
don't get too excited, all Linda said was of course you can sue. After all, I could sue you for that matter.:rolleyes:
 

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