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contractor screwed up & isn't licensed statute of lim to sue him??

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ancientoaks

Junior Member
We live in Tn and contracted with a local, well known builder last May to bulld our house.. We parted ways Aug 8 of the same year due to problems with him, his subs, etc.
We paid him 10% of the money spent to that point. He refused to give us any of the bills he paid on our behalf, said they 'were his'..We took over and finished the house by Christmas.
There are several major problems (main girder is misplaced and not under load bearing walls, porches slope IN towards house, carport concrete is cracking, brick porch columns way out of plumb, upstairs walls out of plumb so storage doors don't open fully, etc etc)
He came out, finally, July 25, and pretty much 'excused' all but the girder issue..said 'he'd be back in two weeks (about the time that would be 12 mo from when we parted ways). I am sure he is just stalling, husband wants to 'give him the benefit of the doubt'..I say we need to do somthing now....what is the limitation on this and when does it start? when we discovered the problems? ( some only 1 month ago) or from when he was let go?
THANKS!
 


JETX

Senior Member
what is the limitation on this and when does it start? when we discovered the problems? ( some only 1 month ago) or from when he was let go?
THANKS!
The Limitation for Construction Defects in your state is three years from the time of discovery.
Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-105.

For more: http://tennesseeconstructionlaw.blogspot.com/2008/04/evidence-of-significant-and-pervasive.html

But.... why wait. Send him a certified letter detailing your complaint and asking him to respond in writing with his proposed resolutions within 14 days. Then, if he doesn't respond, quit playing games and go see a local attorney about a lawsuit.
 

ancientoaks

Junior Member
Thank you so much...was my thought from the start...
two other points.
One - I cannot find this man listed under the contractors' licensing list on the Tennessee site where ALL licensed contractors are listed.

Two- someone mentioned to us that certain 'defects' not spelled out in our punch list that are unreasonable, and or impossible to rectify could affect the value of a future sale (we don't anticipate selling, we are retired people who are in our forever home) since 90% of sales are now inspected by home inspectors..some of these issues could cause problems at that point..soooo
Should we attempt to include 'unspecified damages' if we are forced to sue considering the above?
 

seniorjudge

Senior Member
One - I cannot find this man listed under the contractors' licensing list on the Tennessee site where ALL licensed contractors are listed.

A: Irrelevant.


Two- someone mentioned to us that certain 'defects' not spelled out in our punch list that are unreasonable, and or impossible to rectify could affect the value of a future sale (we don't anticipate selling, we are retired people who are in our forever home) since 90% of sales are now inspected by home inspectors..some of these issues could cause problems at that point..soooo Should we attempt to include 'unspecified damages' if we are forced to sue considering the above?

A: List every possible defect you can discover; the court may throw out a few, but if you don't mention specific defects, then you can't recover for them.
 

ancientoaks

Junior Member
One - I cannot find this man listed under the contractors' licensing list on the Tennessee site where ALL licensed contractors are listed.

A: Irrelevant.


Two- someone mentioned to us that certain 'defects' not spelled out in our punch list that are unreasonable, and or impossible to rectify could affect the value of a future sale (we don't anticipate selling, we are retired people who are in our forever home) since 90% of sales are now inspected by home inspectors..some of these issues could cause problems at that point..soooo Should we attempt to include 'unspecified damages' if we are forced to sue considering the above?

A: List every possible defect you can discover; the court may throw out a few, but if you don't mention specific defects, then you can't recover for them.
thank you for your assistance. will have that cert. letter out on Monday. It's not the direction we wanted to take, being retired, on a VERY tight income, and having to have spent more than needed due to these problems, we just wanted to be left alone in peace...
we are not interested in 'punishing' someone, just getting what can be fixed, fixed.. Tennessee requires anyone doing construction work to have a license, but I see now that this really has nothing to do with our problem I guess.
The problem now is to come up with some sort of figure on all this stuff, as some, as I said, are next to impossible to remedy (like the incorrect tie in of the roof from mudroom to carport, carport roof is too large for the pad OR the pad is too large for the carport roof (posts supporting are not able to be centered under the beam, etc etc etc) . so we are going to have to take a stab in the dark to come up with a figure of reduced value on theses items..
again, thanks for your time. appreciate it greatly.
 

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