Contractor Job Abandonment Question

[magtwo]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Idaho; contractor is in Utah

What is the length of time with no contact from a contractor until we can consider our project abandoned?

We hired a welding company to install custom powder-coated rails throughout our residence, inside and out. Original completion date was promised to be the end of July, 2015. After numerous delays caused by contractor errors, the job is still incomplete. Until two months ago, the contractor would send us an invoice requesting payment, we would remind him of the incomplete portions, he would send employees out to partially complete touch ups, then leave and not contact us until the next time they send an invoice. The cycle continued like this until the end of June 2016. Our last contact with the contractor was a text message assuring us he would come to our house to review the incomplete portions and schedule completion. That was the last we heard from him.

 

[quincy]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Idaho; contractor is in Utah

What is the length of time with no contact from a contractor until we can consider our project abandoned?

We hired a welding company to install custom powder-coated rails throughout our residence, inside and out. Original completion date was promised to be the end of July, 2015. After numerous delays caused by contractor errors, the job is still incomplete. Until two months ago, the contractor would send us an invoice requesting payment, we would remind him of the incomplete portions, he would send employees out to partially complete touch ups, then leave and not contact us until the next time they send an invoice. The cycle continued like this until the end of June 2016. Our last contact with the contractor was a text message assuring us he would come to our house to review the incomplete portions and schedule completion. That was the last we heard from him.

If the contractor failed to complete the project within the time outlined in the signed contract, he has breached the signed agreement, unless you amended the agreement to allow for extensions or there was a good reason outside the contractor's control that excuses the delay in completion (e.g., natural disaster).

What is it that you wish to do now? Have another contractor come in to finish the job? Not pay the original contractor what is owing for the work already completed? Seek a refund of payments already made?

 

[magtwo]

If the contractor failed to complete the project within the time outlined in the signed contract, he has breached the signed agreement, unless you amended the agreement to allow for extensions or there was a good reason outside the contractor's control that excuses the delay in completion (e.g., natural disaster).

What is it that you wish to do now? Have another contractor come in to finish the job? Not pay the original contractor what is owing for the work already completed? Seek a refund of payments already made?

We have not paid anything up to this point, so we are not out of pocket; matter of fact, we are ahead of the game. It is baffling to us as to why they would just let this one go, as they will be out materials and labor for what has been completed up to this point. Believe it or not, they haven't asked for an initial deposit or progress payments of any kind. We simply received emailed invoices for the total. When we objected to paying off the invoice until the work was complete, they never even asked for a partial draw.

If they did not ever contact us again, we would most likely make do with what we have, as the structural pieces are all installed and, for the most part, painted. We can do touch up painting as necessary ourselves.

However, there are some issues that we may want to bring in another contractor to correct. In the event we do that, we want to make sure that, in the eyes of the law, we can consider the job abandoned. We think 60 days is an ample time frame, as it has been 60 days this week. At the same time, we don't want the original contractor to come back to us and say they had 90 days by law, or something like that.

But like I said, we are way ahead of the game from a payment standpoint. Nowhere for them to go but up.