Flooring Contractor's Damage to Walls

[TSimpson]

What is the name of your state? Florida

I hired a contractor to restore terrazzo floors in a home I purchased in December. He recommended a peroxide treatment. He offered a very good price. But the entire house had been painted by the prior owner and I told him I could not do it if it I would have to repaint the walls. He assured me that only the baseboards would need to be sanded and repainted. I signed on and he preformed the work before I moved in.

When the work was done I found a hole in the wall where the buffer had jumped the baseboard, broken tile on the wall in the bathroom, a closet door he had re-hung not working and dust everywhere. He patched the wall (but did not paint) and the tile, plus said he would reimburse for the cost of repairing the mirrored closet bi-folds.

When I started to clean the dust off the walls I found that the peroxide had speckled the paint on the lower 3rd in most rooms in the house. From that point on he did not return my calls.

I went out and received 3 quotes and had the walls painted. I had that invoiced separately from repainting the baseboards. I sent the invoice, plus a receipt for a set of replacement doors (inexpensive non-mirrored bi-folds from Home Depot since the mirrored originals could not be repaired) and requested reimbursement.

His wife, the company secretary, said they are not liable since the proposal I accepted contains a clause that excludes damage to "unprotected surfaces." She claims they are also not liable for the doors since the proposal excludes damages to "household items that have to be removed to perform the services".

I believe that the statements made by the contractor (he's also the company president) have to be taken into account. His claim that only the baseboards would need repainting was made in front others during his bargaining the night I signed the proposal. Plus the way she_s interpreting the proposal they could have pulled out the entire kitchen and not put it back because they needed to treat the floor underneath.

I don't have any photographs but do have the old electrical wall plates that show the damage, plus the paint contractor would be willing to fill out a statement. Does this sound like enough to take the contractor to small claims court? If so, is this a contract dispute or one of the other civil categories?

The total is a bit over $800 (700 for the painting and 130 for the door). I'm on a very tight budget and getting that 700 back would go a long way, especially since I spent a bit more for that _move in ready_ paint. Foolish 1st time home buyer_What is the name of your state?

 

[dcatz]

You have enough to take the matter to Small Claims Court, but there are a few things that you might think about to ensure that it’s a success:
1) Name your defendant correctly. That should be obvious, but you would be astonished at the number of plaintiffs who name and serve the owner of a corporation, instead of the corporation itself, or who designate a sole proprietorship by the fictitious business name (eg. “Acme Sales”), instead of by the owner of the fictitious business name (eg. “John Doe dba Acme Sales) or just “John Doe”, when the bank account is in the name of “Acme Sales”. It’s lazy, sloppy, and, at best, can result in the need to do things twice or, at worst, result in a judgment that you can’t enforce. The following link is not the most complete explanation of FL Small Claims, but it gives some phone numbers for names for Dade County. If that’s not your County, read the explanation and find your counterparts.
http://www.miami-dadeclerk.com/dadecoc/Small_Claims.asp
2) Prepare your case as a short narrative and pre-organize your evidence to support it as you go along. Organizing paperwork in a binder and having a copy binder for the court helps, so the court can follow along. Don’t go to trial with a box of invoices and wall plates and fumble through while you’re looking for evidence. Number or alphabetize pages for the Court’s easy reference, if you can.
3) Tell your story and then listen to the defendant. Don’t be so wrapped up in your own story and how you went from A to Z that you don’t listen. As the plaintiff, you have the “burden of proof”. If you can’t show the Court that you have a valid claim, the defendant can win without saying a word. While that seldom happens, the defendant’s story will be different from yours. Listen to what he says and be prepared to show the Court why it’s wrong or doesn’t relieve him of liability. But don’t argue or interrupt!
4) You want to prove some things that the defendant did through the testimony of witnesses and the written Declaration of your painter. Just realize two things: Courts prefer live testimony to written Declarations, because the Declarant can be cross-examined, if appropriate. Written Declarations tend to be given less weight than live testimony, if they are accepted at all. In a similar vein, there have been many disappointed litigants, when their critical witness failed to appear for trial. It costs a little bit to subpoena a witness, but that goes a long way in ensuring they’ll be there. Even best friends can break promises and disappoint, and then it’s just “he said-I said”, and you have the burden of proof. You have to be 51% persuasive to his 49% or you lose.
5) Calling it a contract dispute is fine. The Court’s going to be weighing the evidence, not the title.

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Now, delete your double post.
Thank you.