Contractor Negligence: drywall screw found in pipe

[bpwald]

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

We hired a contractor to do drywall and flooring for us. Six months after the work, we had to remove some (1/5) of the floor and drywall because of a leak. When the drywall was removed, our plumber pointed out that a pipe had a drywall screw in it, causing a slow leak. Given the appearance of the pipe and the extent of the leak, it is most likely that the drywall screw was placed during our contractor's work.

We are trying to work with the contractor to re-do the floor and drywall and are having challenges reaching him. We checked (too late!) and found out that he is not licensed or insured. We estimate that the replacement work will cost around $600.

Questions:
1) Can/should we ask the contractor to reimburse us the cost of floor/drywall removal and plumbing source identification and fix ($650)?

2) What legal recourse do we have? I've thought of county consumer affairs/state licensing board (I**m not sure if they'll intervene if he's not licensed)/small claims court (since total damages are around $1250) ? Are there others?

3) If contractor continues to not-respond and we have work done by another contractor, are we likely to recover those charges in small claims court? What 'teeth' does small claims court have in enforcing actions?

 

[justalayman]

Given the appearance of the pipe and the extent of the leak, it is most likely that the drywall screw was placed during our contractor's work.

Most likely will most likely not get you a win in court.


How can you not determine if it was the contractor? Either he installed drywall at that spot or he didn't.

 

[bpwald]

Knowledge, Deduction, and Questions

Here's what we know
a) Up to the point that the work was done, (and pipes were exposed for 3 months without drywall), neither the contractor nor us nor the other contractors who gave us estimates noted either a leak nor a drywall screw in pipe
b) No one other than contractor did any drywall construction in our home in the 20 years we've lived here.
c) Six months after contractor's work, leak was discovered as was the drywall screw in pipe.

Here's what we deduce
Is it possible that someone came illegally into our house while we were out and placed a drywall screw in pipe without leaving any evidence in drywall or evidence of entry?Perhaps? Is there another alternative, perhaps very small drywall-screw-bearing midgets who live within our walls and shoot screws into pipes for their own nefarious purposes?

So, let's return to the questions....
Can we charge the contractor for the fee of remediating the leak?
Do we have choices other than state licensing, consumer affairs, and small claims court?
What is likelihood of getting money from small claims court?

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

We hired a contractor to do drywall and flooring for us. Six months after the work, we had to remove some (1/5) of the floor and drywall because of a leak. When the drywall was removed, our plumber pointed out that a pipe had a drywall screw in it, causing a slow leak. Given the appearance of the pipe and the extent of the leak, it is most likely that the drywall screw was placed during our contractor's work.

We are trying to work with the contractor to re-do the floor and drywall and are having challenges reaching him. We checked (too late!) and found out that he is not licensed or insured. We estimate that the replacement work will cost around $600.

Questions:
1) Can/should we ask the contractor to reimburse us the cost of floor/drywall removal and plumbing source identification and fix ($650)?

2) What legal recourse do we have? I've thought of county consumer affairs/state licensing board (I**m not sure if they'll intervene if he's not licensed)/small claims court (since total damages are around $1250) ? Are there others?

3) If contractor continues to not-respond and we have work done by another contractor, are we likely to recover those charges in small claims court? What 'teeth' does small claims court have in enforcing actions?

 

[You Are Guilty]

Can we charge the contractor for the fee of remediating the leak?

You can charge him for cleaning your toilet too. But it doesn't sound like he is going to pay for anything willingly.

Do we have choices other than state licensing, consumer affairs, and small claims court?

Other than Cousin Luigi and his buddy from Louisville, not really.

What is likelihood of getting money from small claims court?

This is where it gets tricky. You may have issues proving it was this particular contractor who put the nail through the pipe (who did drywall before him? How long ago was it?)

More importantly, just because he put a nail through a pipe does not automatically make him liable to you. Was the pipe visible prior to the drywall going up?


{edit}
Just realized I failed to scroll down and read the entire post. Ignore my response to 3a

 

[justalayman]

So, let's return to the questions....
Can we charge the contractor for the fee of remediating the leak?
Do we have choices other than state licensing, consumer affairs, and small claims court?
What is likelihood of getting money from small claims court?

maybe I missed it but although no other contractor did any drywall work in your home in the prior 20 years, did this contractor do any drywall work where you found the screw in the pipe?


If the guy 20 years ago ran a screw through the pipe, there is a possibility it didn't leak until recently where there has been new work (including plumbing by the sound of it) and the pipe may have been jarred causing the 20 yo screw hole to leak.

So, if there was new drywall installed where this screw was found;

was there a nail shield (nailer, nail plate, many other names but it is a piece of metal about 1/16" thick placed on the stud to protect the pipes or wire behind it) on the lumber where the pipe went through the stud? If not, how long was the drywall screw that caused the leak? What was the thickness of the drywall installed? How deep was the stud? How far from the face of the stud was the front of the hole?

I am guessing the pipe (this particular pipe) was original so it is 20 years old or so. Is that correct?


while the sheetrock installer may be at fault, it could be the original plumber's fault or if this was a new pipe, the new plumbers fault.

typically a drywaller is not liable for damage if the plumbing was installed incorrectly and that was the cause of the pipe being damaged. That means that if the pipe was too close to the face of the stud that a proper nail shield was installed or not.

so, I guess while maybe somebody snuck in and ran a screw through the pipe, I'm willing to stick with what likely happened but there is more to it than the drywaller ran a screw into the pipe.

 

[ecmst12]

If you can't even find him, assume you're not going to be able to get him to pay you anything. Lesson learned, I hope, check licenses and insurance on all contractors! And make sure they get proper permits!

 

[Jimhassel]

I think for performing contract negligence is a breach. Your remedy would be to sue for breach of contract. Contact your local attorney, he would give more insight to the issue.

 

[Gotburned2012]

Did you get a building permit and was it in the contractors name?

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

We hired a contractor to do drywall and flooring for us. Six months after the work, we had to remove some (1/5) of the floor and drywall because of a leak. When the drywall was removed, our plumber pointed out that a pipe had a drywall screw in it, causing a slow leak. Given the appearance of the pipe and the extent of the leak, it is most likely that the drywall screw was placed during our contractor's work.

We are trying to work with the contractor to re-do the floor and drywall and are having challenges reaching him. We checked (too late!) and found out that he is not licensed or insured. We estimate that the replacement work will cost around $600.

Questions:
1) Can/should we ask the contractor to reimburse us the cost of floor/drywall removal and plumbing source identification and fix ($650)?

2) What legal recourse do we have? I've thought of county consumer affairs/state licensing board (I**m not sure if they'll intervene if he's not licensed)/small claims court (since total damages are around $1250) ? Are there others?

3) If contractor continues to not-respond and we have work done by another contractor, are we likely to recover those charges in small claims court? What 'teeth' does small claims court have in enforcing actions?