Seeking advice on a situation with a remolding Contractor

[RTM2031]

I'm seeking advice or opinions on how to handle this situation and don't know the best way to go.

Back in January of this year I paid a remodeling contractor half the cost to do some remodeling for me. The project is putting in all new base trim, window trim, bifold closet doors, interior doors, and adding french doors going into my living room.

This same contractor has done work for me in the past putting in replacement windows and fixing two exterior doors that another contractor hung improperly. The job was completed in a timely manner and the work was superb.

Now the dilemma. As of today the contractor still has not started the work. I have myself torn out all the woodwork: base trim, window trim, existing bifold closets, and all interior doors. I have called the contractor every week for the past four weeks to ask when they plan to start. I'm told I'm on the schedule for following week and will be called a day inadvance. Now 4 weeks have gone by each week the contractor was suppose to have started the work.

My house needs to get done. My wife and I have a baby and we can't even put him in his room because its unfinished along with our bedroom and all other rooms in the house. We can't hang curtins or blinds for privacy because theres nothing to hang them on.

I do have a receipt or a bid sheet showing the cost of the job whats being replaced and how much I paid.

I would like the contractor to start the job, but I don't want to be to aggresive or sound to threating when I call him this week. I don't know what to say. Should I tell the contractor I'm contacting an attorney and filing a claim with better business bereau in hope that they will start.

I believe the members on this forum give great advice and opinions. I need and could use the advice or some ideas of what to do or how to proceed.

[yocan]

fool me once shame on you

fool me twice shame on me

sue him now, file the paperwork if its under 3k (may be different per state) tell him you drop given full refund +filing fee.

do the work yourself

you have a kid, he's dishonest do you even want him in your house at this point? I've been run through the ringer twice in a year, my dad has the contract in his name, he paid, he won't let me sue, I dunno he's a pastor doesn't want to be involved, but I'll sue people, I sued a bad roomate. I've waited 7 weeks for a job to get done, the job took me doing it while in school 4 weeks, and would have been better to do at the beginning of the semester rather than the end.

[RodasJ]

Call him and be firm with him. People need to learn to open their mouths sometimes and be aggressive with what they want. If he doesn't want to comply under the contract then you can sue him. 9 times out of 10 if the words court or sue come up in a conversation the work gets done immediately.

[Majk]

I'd echo the same advice that's given. He may be good at what he does, but if he doesn't show up he can't be good anymore.

Be fair to yourself and to your family, give him an ultimatum or you file suit, then have him served by constable or sheriff. That usually wakes them up really fast and want to make it right. Plus I would think a 10% rebate would be in order for your trouble.

[Cannibul]

Don't call. Send a Certified Return Recipt Letter. That way if you have to sue you have PROOF that you contacted him.

[tomfoolery]

Like said, send him a certified letter forcing his attention. If it makes it to court you will have proof. I hope it doesn't get that far. Just let him know you mean business, you have paid him half already so he knows whats going on.

If he tells you itl be another week, get that in writing signed by him....that way you have leverage if he bails again.

[Modificationvt]

Originally Posted by Cannibul

Don't call. Send a Certified Return Recipt Letter. That way if you have to sue you have PROOF that you contacted him.

often times seeing officail paperwork gets lazy people off thier ass. If it looks like your taking steps to sue him he will probably be at your house the next day to do the job.

and if he doesn't show up then you are already on the right path towards suing him.

Be sure you keep all the original paperwork, and anything you send to him is coppies.

[drivetodrink]

Sounds like you have a lot of good advice act now and save yourself a lot of grief!

[oldfart]

I had a similar situation once. The guy would never answer his phone, only voice mail and he had half the job done. Finally I got POed and three things got the guy going.

One was I had his pager number and I lit it up once or twice every hour along with VMs reminding him that I was fair to him and he was messing me over. I think I may have said something about him being a pantie waste for not even manning up and talking to me about it.

The second thing was I did a little research and found his home number and started calling his wife. I was nice about explaining the situation, no threats, just that I paid the money and wasn't even getting lip service.
After a day or two with no call backs, I rang her again & of course got VM but I just re-stated and said I was going to keep calling until resolved.

The last thing I tried was leaving a VM reminding them that I had paid them X and I was going to file a 1099 so I hope they claimed it on their taxes. (tax time had just passed) That of course was BS but it was worth a shot.

In the end, the job got done. I really think of the three things, calling the wife about what a low life her husband was made the difference. It's easy to shine someone on but when your ole lady ain't happy.......you know the rest.

Good luck - it's never fun dealing with this stuff

[tcroc]

I hate when I hear this crap,,I'm a contractor myself.
If he's been telling you for a month your next week,call him and tell him your done being told your next week,,and you want your money back if it's not scheduled and taken care of appropriately,,if it's a voice mail tell him the same and the Better Business Bureau is the next call,,don't put up with it as you shouldn't have too