Unauthorized "agent" controlling billing

[Torellian]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? WI

If 2 people who live next to each other have a job that needs to be done on a piece of land that is on the property line and involves both sides (69% on one side and 34% on the other) and they agree to hire a contractor to have the work done---is it legal for one of the people to appoint himself as an "agent", and have the entire bill sent to himself without permission from the other person whose other property the work was going to be done on?

If I understand correctly, the proper way of doing it is to simply let the contractor do the work, and then the contractor figures the total cost and sends 69% of the bill to one person, and 34% to the other. In my case, the 2 people are me and my neighbor. My side is the 34% side. My neighbor told the contractor to bill him only. When I found out about it, I told the contractor to bill us seperately based on what he does on each property. He agreed to do this, but now has gone back on his word and is billing the other guy (probably because of the fact he has worked for him before several times before and would like to again in the future). Now my neighbor is insisting that I reimburse him 50% of the bill. This makes no sense to me.

My main question is: Was it legal for my neighbor to have to whole thing billed to himself without my authorization? It seems to me that my right to receive a fair billing from the contractor for work on my property has been taken away from me.

 

[FarmerJ]

I would guess the best way for this to have been done is that the contractor would have had separate contracts for each of you explaining what was being done for each and each persons share. Did you have a aprox amount for the total before the changes in billing method ?

 

[Torellian]

I would guess the best way for this to have been done is that the contractor would have had separate contracts for each of you explaining what was being done for each and each persons share. Did you have a aprox amount for the total before the changes in billing method ?

The contractor had sent a fax of the estimate for the entire job (both properties) to the neighbor, who then mailed a copy of it to me. That was the time when I discovered that it was being billed only to him. At the top, it stated "Bill to", and then it had the neighbor's name and address. So then I called the contractor to tell him that I wasn't comfortable with that arrangement and that I wanted a seperate bill sent to me for work done on my side of the property line.

The work is done now and he said he was going to give me my bill the next day. That never happened. It's been a week now and I still don't have it. I called him to ask why and he said he hasn't gotten around to doing the calculations and making up the bill yet. I also told him my basement now has a leak after a rainstorm we had last night. He said he'll come out and look at it.

 

[Zigner]

69% + 34% = 103%


Or was I teached wrong?

 

[Torellian]

69% + 34% = 103%


Or was I teached wrong?

No. It's my math and mixing up numbers.

The square footage is 76 feet on his side and 34 square feet on mine.
That translates to a percentage figure of 69% on his and 31% on mine.

 

[HuAi]

What kind of work is it, and what kind of money are we talking about?