What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Iowa
I hired a guy to do a remodeling project in my house last October. We agreed that he would do the work on the side since he had another full-time job. He showed up a few times, but most of the times that he was scheduled to show up, he didn't and we were left sitting there waiting for him. He had several excuses for not making it - all personal issues, ex-wife, bankruptcy, etc. We remained patient throughout the process, but the last day he showed up on the job was December 6, and after that, he would not return phone calls or texts to tell us what was going on with his unfinished project. When I finally did get in touch with him (in January), he said he had so many personal problems and people calling him harrassing him, that he just stopped taking calls/texts on his phone. It was at that point, he said he could get the job done for us, but I told him I wasn't interested in having him finish the work since he was so unreliable. I hired someone else to finish the job (on January 17), and the work has since been completed. After his final day of work, he left many of his tools in our basement and we hauled them up and stored them in our garage for two months before he finally came to collect them. Now, several months later, he wants us to pay $1300 for the unfinished job. We gave him $500 up front, and he did buy some supplies and did some work, but we have no signed contract with him on the work, and no signed estimate or design layout of what he was actually going to do, and no invoices for the materials he purchased. The people we hired to finish the work did 90% of the necessary work to finish the project. Now, he is sending certified letters, threatening to charge us interest and demanding payment. Do we owe this guy money if there is no signed contract or signed statement of work?
I hired a guy to do a remodeling project in my house last October. We agreed that he would do the work on the side since he had another full-time job. He showed up a few times, but most of the times that he was scheduled to show up, he didn't and we were left sitting there waiting for him. He had several excuses for not making it - all personal issues, ex-wife, bankruptcy, etc. We remained patient throughout the process, but the last day he showed up on the job was December 6, and after that, he would not return phone calls or texts to tell us what was going on with his unfinished project. When I finally did get in touch with him (in January), he said he had so many personal problems and people calling him harrassing him, that he just stopped taking calls/texts on his phone. It was at that point, he said he could get the job done for us, but I told him I wasn't interested in having him finish the work since he was so unreliable. I hired someone else to finish the job (on January 17), and the work has since been completed. After his final day of work, he left many of his tools in our basement and we hauled them up and stored them in our garage for two months before he finally came to collect them. Now, several months later, he wants us to pay $1300 for the unfinished job. We gave him $500 up front, and he did buy some supplies and did some work, but we have no signed contract with him on the work, and no signed estimate or design layout of what he was actually going to do, and no invoices for the materials he purchased. The people we hired to finish the work did 90% of the necessary work to finish the project. Now, he is sending certified letters, threatening to charge us interest and demanding payment. Do we owe this guy money if there is no signed contract or signed statement of work?
Last edited: