Home remodeling contract

[tschidc0]

What is the name of your state?MN
Hello,
Hired a contractor to remodel parts of our house. Written contract was fine and we asked him to do a few additional things during the project.
During the project I pointed out errors he made. Some he fixed, some he didn’t. He left the job with about a days work to do. He told me he would discount the price and I had to finish myself.
Got the final bill today and he is charging for things involved in the previous contract. He says he didn’t know these things needed to be done at the time of initial contract but he got the wrong plans from the place that designed our cabinets.
His painter subcontractor said he could do a ceiling project for us but they messed it. My GC told me it was “not acceptable” and said “I can fix it”. He did a fair repair then unbeknownst to me chose to charge me
$2000 to fix the ceiling.
We told him from the beginning we had a dual sink vanity but dual sink vanity isn’t listed on initial contract. It just says vanity. He’s now charging us extra to plumb a dual sink setup.
He verbally stated he would charge me $800 to install a sliding door but is now charging me $1200.
He’s charging me for 2 hours of “wait time” while he waited for me to get home from work to ask me a lighting question. When I walked in the door he said, “Good. Just in time. We have a question”.
He’s charging me for taking it upon himself to
Modify a light for over the sink when we had a different light purchased for that spot. He never asked first.
There’s more but you get the idea. What options do I have?
How can alert others to him without him suing me?
Thanks

 

[quincy]

What is the name of your state?MN
Hello,
Hired a contractor to remodel parts of our house. Written contract was fine and we asked him to do a few additional things during the project.
During the project I pointed out errors he made. Some he fixed, some he didn’t. He left the job with about a days work to do. He told me he would discount the price and I had to finish myself.
Got the final bill today and he is charging for things involved in the previous contract. He says he didn’t know these things needed to be done at the time of initial contract but he got the wrong plans from the place that designed our cabinets.
His painter subcontractor said he could do a ceiling project for us but they messed it. My GC told me it was “not acceptable” and said “I can fix it”. He did a fair repair then unbeknownst to me chose to charge me
$2000 to fix the ceiling.
We told him from the beginning we had a dual sink vanity but dual sink vanity isn’t listed on initial contract. It just says vanity. He’s now charging us extra to plumb a dual sink setup.
He verbally stated he would charge me $800 to install a sliding door but is now charging me $1200.
He’s charging me for 2 hours of “wait time” while he waited for me to get home from work to ask me a lighting question. When I walked in the door he said, “Good. Just in time. We have a question”.
He’s charging me for taking it upon himself to
Modify a light for over the sink when we had a different light purchased for that spot. He never asked first.
There’s more but you get the idea. What options do I have?
How can alert others to him without him suing me?
Thanks

You can go over with an attorney in your area the contracts (both written and oral) - what was completed as per these contracts and what wasn’t completed, the estimated costs as first presented and what was actually charged - this after you have a discussion with your contractor about the work and the billing.

You should try first to negotiate a reduction in costs where reductions are reasonable. If negotiations are unproductive, you could sue.

 

[tschidc0]

How viable is a lawsuit based on the verbal estimates he made to me?
I brought many problems to his attention during the project. Very politely and giving him the benefit of the doubt that he would corrrect them. He did spend time correcting, or creatively covering the problems up,now he’s trying to claim he was unaware of some parts of the project and is charging creatively to
Cover his time fixing things. He told me at one point he wasn’t going to charge for
Fixing the ceiling after I questioned why I was being charged. Now he’s charging me for it.
Can I ask for receipts for all of the materials he bought for my job and the subcontractor bought for my ceiling? What if he says he had materials on hand at home and didn’t have to buy some materials?
Also,
Can I put a sign in my car saying “I had a bad experience with *** “ without him suing me?

 

[quincy]

How viable is a lawsuit based on the verbal estimates he made to me?
I brought many problems to his attention during the project. Very politely and giving him the benefit of the doubt that he would corrrect them. He did spend time correcting, or creatively covering the problems up,now he’s trying to claim he was unaware of some parts of the project and is charging creatively to
Cover his time fixing things. He told me at one point he wasn’t going to charge for
Fixing the ceiling after I questioned why I was being charged. Now he’s charging me for it.
Can I ask for receipts for all of the materials he bought for my job and the subcontractor bought for my ceiling? What if he says he had materials on hand at home and didn’t have to buy some materials?
Also,
Can I put a sign in my car saying “I had a bad experience with *** “ without him suing me?

You can claim oral agreements but you will want some sort of evidence that shows these agreements existed. Otherwise it could wind up being your word against his. That is why written and signed and dated agreements are always preferred.

Yes, you can request he supply you with receipts. He should be able to justify his charges to you. A receipt alone, however, does not include the costs of labor.

I would avoid posting signs or writing reviews until you have resolution or have no hope of resolution outside a lawsuit. It is way too easy to injure a business reputation with generalizations, exaggerations, and falsehoods - and it can be hard to avoid these when you are upset. You don’t want to be sued for defamation.

 

[tschidc0]

So when this is done would a BBB complaint or a sign in my yard simoly saying “I had a bad experience with (business/contractor name)” get me in trouble. I’m not saying anything about them. I’m just describing my experience as bad.

 

[quincy]

So when this is done would a BBB complaint or a sign in my yard simoly saying “I had a bad experience with (business/contractor name)” get me in trouble. I’m not saying anything about them. I’m just describing my experience as bad.

If you feel it absolutely necessary, you can write about the personal experience you had with the business/contractor, as long as you stick to provable facts and the pure opinions of your personal experience.

Just be aware that negative reviews can attract the attention of not only other consumers but also the attention of the reviewed-company and the reviewed-company’s attorneys. Business reputations are valuable. Negative reviews can harm these reputations and potentially lead to lawsuits.

I would try to work things out with the contractor first.

 

[adjusterjack]

a sign in my yard simoly saying “I had a bad experience with (business/contractor name)” get me in trouble. I’m not saying anything about them. I’m just describing my experience as bad.

You're complaining about money you've been charged for things not done and things done badly yet you are willing to risk having to pay an attorney tens of thousands of dollars to defend you against a libel lawsuit.

You have a variety of "legal" remedies at your disposal. Might cost you some to litigate but if you aren't willing to do that I suggest you don't put up signs.

Check with the state to see if he's licensed and bonded. An official complaint to the state will provide some protection.

 

[tschidc0]

I’ll bring up the discrepancies to him but he is not acting good faith.
I believe he is the type of guy that thinks his stuff doesn’t stink and doesn’t like to. E questioned. He acted like the project was his to as he thought looked good and when we confronted him about things done wrong or done poorly he was full of excuses.
I think this last bill is intentional to screw us for pointibg out the problems.

You're complaining about money you've been charged for things not done and things done badly yet you are willing to risk having to pay an attorney tens of thousands of dollars to defend you against a libel lawsuit.

You have a variety of "legal" remedies at your disposal. Might cost you some to litigate but if you aren't willing to do that I suggest you don't put up signs.

Check with the state to see if he's licensed and bonded. An official complaint to the state will provide some protection.

I had 2 questions.
1) What are my options for the billing
2) What are my options for alerting others to his work practices without being sued myself.
The legal remedies are what I was looking for.

 

[adjusterjack]

1) What are my options for the billing

Pay it.
Refuse to pay it.
Go to court on it if you have to.

2) What are my options for alerting others to his work practices without being sued myself.

None. You always risk being sued. Nothing prevents the lawsuit from arriving at your door, no matter how right you are.

The safest is to litigate the dispute if you can't negotiate a written settlement.
The second safest is an official complaint to the state contractor regulatory agency.
The riskiest is going public with just your sayso.

The legal remedies are what I was looking for.

Litigation and/or complaint to the state are the only "legal" remedies.

Anything else has nothing to do with "law."

 

[tschidc0]

Thanks

 

[quincy]

I’ll bring up the discrepancies to him but he is not acting good faith.
I believe he is the type of guy that thinks his stuff doesn’t stink and doesn’t like to. E questioned. He acted like the project was his to as he thought looked good and when we confronted him about things done wrong or done poorly he was full of excuses.
I think this last bill is intentional to screw us for pointibg out the problems.


I had 2 questions.
1) What are my options for the billing
2) What are my options for alerting others to his work practices without being sued myself.
The legal remedies are what I was looking for.

1. Have the contractor justify his costs. Negotiate. Pay the contractor for the work completed.

2. Any time you complain about anyone or any entity, the individual or the entity probably will not like it. No one likes to be told they suck. If in complaining about the individual or entity you also state or imply something false, and the falsehood affects the personal, professional, or business reputation of the individual or entity, you can be sued for defamation.

There have been numerous defamation cases making the news this year. I am pretty sure you are aware of at least some of them. The damages awarded in these suits so far have been in the millions of dollars.

Granted, it is unlikely that you would be faced with a multi-million dollar lawsuit, depending on the contractor and his business - but reputations are valuable. You want to avoid injuring a reputation with careless words. The best way to avoid careless words is to not make them.

You have legal avenues to explore. It is best if you stick with those for now.