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Hi All! Need some advice. I am coming to the end of a kitchen/Living Room renovation. The work thus far has been subpar. My kitchen cabinets have 4 upper fillers, lighting hung unevenly, big gaps on sides of appliances, cheap crown molding, it is just bad, bad, bad. At this point, I just want these guys out of my house. So, today, the owner sends me an additional 15k bill on top of what I owe for my final bill. This bill includes additional charges for sheetrock, an extra LVL, molding for doors, permit fees (umm, I paid permit fees), installing lighting, an extra 3k for molding on doors...the list goes on and on and on....I am in shock. I sorta feel like he thinks because I am a single woman, he can take advantage of me. Anyway, I let him know this was ridiculous and that he couldn't just arbitrarily come up with numbers for things that I assumed was included in our contract. I am already paying a ridiculous amount for this reno. So, anyway, I just want them to finish and get out, but I am not willing to hand over an extra 15k to this guy cause he says so. Should he not have told me if he felt he was doing extra work and let me decide if I wanted him to continue? Advice on how to proceed. TIA!
This one's easy...if you didn't sign any owner approved change orders, tell him to take everything out that was extra because you didn't agree to it. Tell him you will pay the full contracted price once everything in the contract is completed to your satisfaction. Put it in writing, email is fine.
Also....hold 10% retainage on him until you get lien releases from all his suppliers and subcontractors as well. If he doesn't pay his workers or pay for the materials, those suppliers and contractors can come back and sue you for the money. If you've already paid him, then you end up paying twice for the same work.
I heavily suggest that at this point you find yourself a really good construction attorney that specializes in construction contracts. It might cost you a little more now, but could save you 10's of thousands down the road.
I understand this might all be a bit overwhelming to you at the moment, but a good attorney can guide you through it all and give you some much needed support and leverage. If it gets ugly, which it sounds like it might, you'll be ahead of the game. Do not hesitate with this or you will lose out.
* He bids work
* You review contract and sign
* If there are changes, he provides you with a change order, which you pay during the course of the project.
I am not sure what you should do but I bet someone will come along to advise you.
Thanks, everyone. The contract is not specific, as it does not list the exact number of LVLs to be used. Before he gave the proposal, I used his recommended architect to draw plans so he would know how many LVLs to use. So, not sure why he needed to add an additional LVL. We had a verbal agreement for him to hang 20 doors and agreed on a price. Now he says the price did not include adding more of his cheap molding (never asked for molding to be changed)...and he wants an additional 2k for this. It is insanity. He is asking for 2k for sheetrocking a 3x6 section of the kitchen where there were shelves (wanted to close it up). I actually have renovated several kitchens and homes. Generally, when it is a big-ticket reno, little things like sheetrock are included. This guy is adding extra charges for everything he touches. He wants an additional $1500 for cabinets (which were included in our contract) because he said I selected some drawers (3) and that was an additional cost. Ummmm, why did you not tell me that when we were ordering the cabinets? Why now? Why did he not tell me there would an extra charge for drawers? Also, he will not tell me where the cabinets are from, who the manufacturer is, etc. I want to know why there are so many fillers? Someone made an error with measurements. The list goes on and on with 15k in additional charges. Anyway, since I verbalized my disagreement with these charges, he has not shown up to the house nor responded to my texts. Very strange.
This one's easy...if you didn't sign any owner approved change orders, tell him to take everything out that was extra because you didn't agree to it. Tell him you will pay the full contracted price once everything in the contract is completed to your satisfaction. Put it in writing, email is fine.
Also....hold 10% retainage on him until you get lien releases from all his suppliers and subcontractors as well. If he doesn't pay his workers or pay for the materials, those suppliers and contractors can come back and sue you for the money. If you've already paid him, then you end up paying twice for the same work.
I heavily suggest that at this point you find yourself a really good construction attorney that specializes in construction contracts. It might cost you a little more now, but could save you 10's of thousands down the road.
I understand this might all be a bit overwhelming to you at the moment, but a good attorney can guide you through it all and give you some much needed support and leverage. If it gets ugly, which it sounds like it might, you'll be ahead of the game. Do not hesitate with this or you will lose out.
thank you...I realize now that I am way too trusting. I have always had good experiences with contractors, probably because they always came from recommendations of friends. This did not and was available to start, asap (should have been a red flag). I had to nag him for weeks to even give me a contract.
* He bids work
* You review contract and sign
* If there are changes, he provides you with a change order, which you pay during the course of the project.
I am not sure what you should do but I bet someone will come along to advise you.
No change order. The only things we verbally agreed upon were the doors (now changing the price on that) and the price for flooring guys to refinish upstairs floors, which I am fine with. I have a text that states that price and that I agreed to it.
You are required to pay for work that was agreed upon and completed. If it was in the estimate and not completed, you don't have to pay for it. If it was something you discussed with him and agreed to (verbal contracts ARE a thing), you have to pay for that. If he got some cool idea that he did and thought you would like it but didn't talk to you about it beforehand, you do NOT have to pay, even if you love it.
Did your contract discuss cost of materials? Generally, you have to cover costs even if they are much more than estimated, but sometimes contractors will "eat" a portion of the rising costs in order to keep the work. But that would have to be in writing.
No discussion on the cost of materials (believe me, he made sure his costs were covered in his estimate). He discussed stuff with me...always wanted to do more (pushing me to do bathrooms, turn patio into a den, new exterior doors, finish the basement)..he would give me quotes and I would say "not now"...he gave me an estimate for painting last week (absurd number) and I said I was going to get some other quotes. He was not happy and soon after that....he texted me this new 15k bill. Like, we discussed sheetrocking the shelves as a possibility, but I came home and it was done. No discussion about cost. Assumed it was included in reno cost, but now he says it is 2k. I would never have agreed to sheetrock some shelves for 2k. That's nuts. But, I am responsible for the sheetrocking if we discussed it as a possibility, but never agreed to definitely do it or a price? The baseboards upstairs, I texted him not to do. He did it. The doors....we agreed on a price and he never uttered a word about changing the price. I complained about the doors, but he said it is what it is...so I let it go, and then he has the audacity to charge me thousands extra for his crappy work. He added some shelves in a pantry, guess what! Charged me for that. No, my contract does not explicitly state he will add new shelving to the pantry (shelves were fine), but he did it.
Get a professional involved (i.e attorney). If all you say is true, this guy is a hustler. This is why I hate dealing with contractors and consequently, why not much gets done around this house, unfortunately.
Our governor just vetoed a bill that would require contractors to register with the state on jobs over $3500. People are not happy about this. The state has had a couple hundred complaints similar to the OPs.
Get a professional involved (i.e attorney). If all you say is true, this guy is a hustler. This is why I hate dealing with contractors and consequently, why not much gets done around this house, unfortunately.
Our governor just vetoed a bill that would require contractors to register with the state on jobs over $3500. People are not happy about this. The state has had a couple hundred complaints similar to the OPs.
Good luck Jego.
Thanks for the advice! Think this is the last of my projects for a while I just want him to finish up our contracted work and get the heck out. I will pay him for the contracted work, once it is done. If it ever gets done. Not sure if I should get an attorney just yet...but sounds like I eventually will need one.
Thanks, everyone. The contract is not specific, as it does not list the exact number of LVLs to be used. Before he gave the proposal, I used his recommended architect to draw plans so he would know how many LVLs to use. So, not sure why he needed to add an additional LVL. We had a verbal agreement for him to hang 20 doors and agreed on a price. Now he says the price did not include adding more of his cheap molding (never asked for molding to be changed)...and he wants an additional 2k for this. It is insanity. He is asking for 2k for sheetrocking a 3x6 section of the kitchen where there were shelves (wanted to close it up). I actually have renovated several kitchens and homes. Generally, when it is a big-ticket reno, little things like sheetrock are included. This guy is adding extra charges for everything he touches. He wants an additional $1500 for cabinets (which were included in our contract) because he said I selected some drawers (3) and that was an additional cost. Ummmm, why did you not tell me that when we were ordering the cabinets? Why now? Why did he not tell me there would an extra charge for drawers? Also, he will not tell me where the cabinets are from, who the manufacturer is, etc. I want to know why there are so many fillers? Someone made an error with measurements. The list goes on and on with 15k in additional charges. Anyway, since I verbalized my disagreement with these charges, he has not shown up to the house nor responded to my texts. Very strange.
After doing all of those projects, the practice of change orders seems to have escaped everyone in this transaction. It's not that difficult. If whatever is in the contract is upgraded, a change order needs to be produced and signed. If you don't sign it, you don't agree to the new order. There's no mystery.
After doing all of those projects, the practice of change orders seems to have escaped everyone in this transaction. It's not that difficult. If whatever is in the contract is upgraded, a change order needs to be produced and signed. If you don't sign it, you don't agree to the new order. There's no mystery.
Believe it or not, I had never heard of a change order prior to this discussion, but I bet my contactor had...and I didn't realize there had been any changes, other than adding floors and doors, to which was a verbal agreement. So, yes he should have been writing up change orders, to which I would have declined each and every one.
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I just want him to finish up our contracted work and get the heck out. I will pay him for the contracted work, once it is done. If it ever gets done. Not sure if I should get an attorney just yet...but sounds like I eventually will need one.
