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Contractor repairs need more, but found out he has no liability insurance

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Proejo

Member
Texas.

Saw the truck going down the road with painted sign: TILE XXXX - Tile Remodeling. Call XXX-XXX-XXXX. Okay. Called. Young man comes out. Estimates repairs at $600 with me paying for materials. I have enough tile, so sure. Sends me a contract, very simple. No legal verbiage at all. Seemed odd.

Okay, finally, he shows up. Tells workman what to do. Starts to leave and then asks me to pay for the repairs. I refuse and tell him I never pay for repairs, painting, remodeling, etc.. up front. Okay. He leaves. Four hours later, the workman is done. Can't walk on floor for 24 hours. Fine. We adhere to that and block off the area.

The contractor starts bugging me by text message to "send a check for the repairs and oh, uh... don't send it to the company address... send it to my personal address and, uh... don't write the company name on the check, just make it out to me." Red flags go up. I decide to wait a few days.

I asked him when he's coming back out to seal the grout. "Well... you said that you were going to recolor all the grout in the floor, so that will seal the new work then." Maybe so, but I hadn't planned on doing that for several months. Anyway...sure enough, cracks in the grout appear after four days and grout is coming up in areas where the workman didn't chisel out the old cracked grout, but instead, just pushed some grout on top of the old grout.

He tried to explain it away as there were some tiles that were loose and if we're stepping on them then that would cause the cracks. Doubtful. These are thinset mortar on concrete and they've been in place for 13 years. Regardless, he agreed to come back out and repair. Now... my conundrum:

The address he used as his company address? A religious seminary. I then got a little worried. What if, in the process of "repairing" what they've done already, they come back in and break one or more tile. I don't have anymore of these tile and this repaired area is part of over 725 square feet of tile floor, so to fix it (where all tile match) would cost $5k - $6k if a 13 year old tile can't be found. With that in mind, I asked him for a copy of his liability insurance coverage. Uh oh. No coverage.

So, I still have not paid him. I still need repair that is unfinished and it turns out he is neither licensed nor insured nor is he located at the address stated on his web site and documents. I do not want to let them back in my house. I called my insurance company and they said if I knowingly allowed a non-insured contractor to work on the floor and it gets damaged, then they would not cover it.

I want to hire another contractor (that is licensed and insured) to come in to make the neccesary repairs. My question is (after all this rambling); Can I deduct the cost of the repairs that I incur from another contractor to fix the first contractor's poor workmanship from the amount that I owe the first contractor? I would assume, under normal circumstances, that the first contractor should be allowed an opportunity to make the repairs, but now that I know he is not insured or licensed, does that make a difference? In other words, am I still liable for the full amount of the contract to him if I don't let him try to make the repairs to his shoddy workmanship? If he filed a lein, would it be enforceable and, it would it cost me more than it is worth to deal with a lein legally?
 


Mass_Shyster

Senior Member
Unbelievable. This is the first answer I've seen you give that is correct.

Congratulations!!!!

OP, you can pretty much do whatever you want. An unlicensed contractor cannot sue you (and win) to collect. Go ahead and have someone finish the job, and pay first guy whatever is left.
 

Proejo

Member
Thanks for the replies. I never mind paying for what I get, as long as what I get is what I expect. I should have known better. I know that you're supposed to call the BBB or Angie's list, etc... and neighbors! And to check insurance. Why I didn't I just don't know.

Anyway... Thanks!
 

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