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Firstly, this is someone who has done a lot of work on my house. We've always had a good relationship and I've been very patient with him. However, this latest project just wasn't working for me. Nothing was in writing.
I bought laminate on 10/2. He would pretty much show up and leave whenever he felt like it and never worked more than four hours in a day. Then midstream he told me he had another job he had to work on and he wouldn't be back to my house until 11/16. I didn't like this as this meant my house in complete disarray but felt I didn't have much choice.
He left a giant mess behind that I cleaned up. Ok. So I cleaned it up. On 11/16 he calls to say he won't be there until 11/17. On 11/17 he calls to tell me his truck broke down but that he'll be getting one a couple days before Thanksgiving. I offer to pick him up and rent a truck from Home Depot and he declines. So Wed. night before Thankgiving I all to confirm he'll be there on the 26th and he agrees. So I mull all this over and decide to contact another guy I had been considering to finish up the job. Mind you, I paid contractor #1 $1000 of the $1200 we'd agreed upon and there was still an entire room to be done to include ripping up all carpet, etc and then replacing all baseboards in house. Oh, and contractor #1 told me it wasn't necessary to square off my concrete steps in the BR and both Home Depot and contractor #2 said it would be. Contractor #1 balked and said he'd had to charge me $1500 to do that and contractor #2 said he'd do that and finish the job for an additional $900. With such a hassle and doubting that the job would even be done by Christmas, I left contractor #1 a message Friday morning telling him the stairs DID need to be squared off and that I'd just be going with someone else to complete the job.
If you ask me, contractor #1 got off easy. He got most of his money and didn't have to do a lot more work. He did call me and leave me a message but I have not returned the call as I don't want a confrontation. Plus, I ended up having to rip up all the carpet, padding, nails, and tack strips myself in the last room (that contractor #1 was supposed to have done) and it was a lot of work. One more point - contractor #1 had no insurance and was using a friend of his to help out. Had anyone been injured, I could have been sued. Meanwhile, contractor #2 has been very good so far and is insured.
Can you see anyway contractor #1 could put a lien on my house when nothing was in writing? I am sorry for the length but it's been two months now and I still don't have my floors done! Thanks for any responses.
As for the lien, Contractor #1 only has a few weeks after his last workday to place the lien on your home. After that, he can't do it. So if he hasn't placed the lien by now, I doubt he can b/c he has likely missed the deadline. It depends upon the state you live in.
Go down to your town hall and see your tax assessor or town clerk. If a lien has been filed they will pull your home records, and if it is there, then he already has done it. If not, ask them how long a contractor has to file a mechanic's lien.
If you find the lien there, collect all of your evidence and sue him in small claims court for the damages and the return of the money you paid him. You did pay by check correct? If you paid by cash with no receipts, you are not only foolish, but enitrely out of luck in recovering anything and will likely have to pay him the amount of the lien to remove it. Keep in mind in court, he will have to prove he actually worked at your house just like you will have to show you paid him for work done and not finished.
There can be cases decided upon verbal agreements. This may, or may not be, one.
Does he have a license...? If he has no license, no matter how good, or how bad a job he did, he cannot collect any money.
If he is the best contractor alive, and did a wonderful job, he can't collect a penny if not licensed... It's the law...!!!
Does he have a license...? If he has no license, no matter how good, or how bad a job he did, he cannot collect any money.
If he is the best contractor alive, and did a wonderful job, he can't collect a penny if not licensed... It's the law...!!!
As for the lien, Contractor #1 only has a few weeks after his last workday to place the lien on your home. After that, he can't do it. So if he hasn't placed the lien by now, I doubt he can b/c he has likely missed the deadline. It depends upon the state you live in.
Go down to your town hall and see your tax assessor or town clerk. If a lien has been filed they will pull your home records, and if it is there, then he already has done it. If not, ask them how long a contractor has to file a mechanic's lien.
If you find the lien there, collect all of your evidence and sue him in small claims court for the damages and the return of the money you paid him. You did pay by check correct? If you paid by cash with no receipts, you are not only foolish, but enitrely out of luck in recovering anything and will likely have to pay him the amount of the lien to remove it. Keep in mind in court, he will have to prove he actually worked at your house just like you will have to show you paid him for work done and not finished.
There can be cases decided upon verbal agreements. This may, or may not be, one.
You have 90 days from your last day of work to record your lien and 1 year after recording to perfect the lien by filing a lawsuit. (MCL 570.1111 and 570.1118)
In California you have 30 or 60 or 90 days from completion of the entire project to record depending on your position (prime or sub) and on whether a notice of completion was recorded. If the work was not completed then the time runs from recording a notice of cessation of work or from a certain time period after actual cessation. (Civil Code 3115, 3116). You have nintey days to perfect the lien by filing a lawsuit. (CC 3144)
In Indiana. . . . . .
Well you get the picture. It varies substantailly from State to State. The procedure is very different and in most states there is no substantial complaince. Miss by a day and the contractor is out. (at least as far as the lein goes, they can still make a breach of contract claim).
The whole procedure is very complex in most states. There are prequisites that apply to certain types of contractors or in certain circumstances. In many states a contrctor canot lien or sue if they do not have the requried license. California goes a step further, if they do not have a license, you can sue them and make them give back all of the money that you paid them. Even if they did the job properly. However not all states requrie a contractor to be licensed. Michigan for example only requires a license for residential construction work.
Time runs from different points in some states it is from your last day of work, in others it runs from completion of the entire project. Many states have different dates based on documents recorded by the owner or lender and others have no procedure for the owner to record documents impacting lien rights.
I am not aware of any State that requires that the contractor have a written rather than an oral or implied contract to justify a lien, however in most states the contractor cannot do the work without the knowlege and at least implied consent of the owner or at least the tenant, or a person with authority to contract for the work to be done.
In your case, the contractor probably can record a lien, but he can only lien your property for work that he performed and for which he did not get paid. Since he did not complete your work and you paid him for more than what he performed, he has no basis for a lien agaisnt your property. If he threatens to record a lien, threaten him back with a slander of title lawsuit and a lawsuit to recover part of what you paid him for work that he did not complete. If you terminated him wrongfully, he is entitled to be paid the value of the work that he performed plus the profit that he would have obtained. If he bought materials that he cannot return, you may have to pay for the materials, but only if he gives or offers you those materials. You do not have to pay him for work he did not do or for materials that he did not buy. If the termination was justified, you are entlted to offset the your cost for finishing the work from the agreed price and then get the difference back. However you need to do an apples to apple comparison. You cannot deduct the price for the expanded scope of work from the agreed price for the original scope of work.
Again, depending on the state you are in, you may get some help from the contractors license board. If you are in California, you should contact the CSLB. In Michigan, don't bother. You cna also contact the BBB if it gets nasty.
However so far it seems that the contractor is not threatening anything. It appears that you are assuming that he is calling you to demand money or make threats. he may be calling to apologize and offer you some of your money back. Based on your factual scenario, that is what he should be doing, and surpsingly there are a lot of completely honest contractors out there. (At the single homeowner residential level, it seem like it is less than half, but there are some honest ones out there.).
I would think that he would be afraid that you would take him to small claims court as he didn't do most of the work but got most of the pay. Whenever you paid for most of the job they have no incentive to finish so many don't come back or do when they have nothing to do and you have called them 400 times.
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