What would you do legally?

[Brazos Hunter]

More than likely our contractor is going to dig his heels in and I will have to get an attorney but I’m going to ask for your advice anyway because not only do we really not want to go there, we really can’t afford it.

For the past year our contractor has been building our retirement home at the coast and it has been one nightmare after another. Originally he said he would be finished in four months but here we are into month 13! Anyway, he is finally almost finished and we discovered over the weekend while cleaning and moving some stuff in that he had been running our HVAC system without a filter for around two months while doing drywall work! This not only makes a giant mess but it makes my COPD and allergies go crazy plus it has voided the manufacturer’s warranty. He has not received his final draw though he should wrap up with punch out items this week and is beginning to get a little pushy and demanding when it comes to final payment. I know when I pay him we are stuck with what he has done for us so what would you do? He made it a point today to let me know he has lost $54k on our build. I’m already going to have to rebuild the entire screened porch because of the tacky work done (his excuse was he had never built one before). Up until now everything has been very cordial and we haven’t argued over anything.


I’m at my whits end and can seriously use some advice.





Michael

[twistedmidnite]

Don't pay the last draw, you pay when work is completed satisfactory. That is not. Take lots of photos. Did you have an inspector along the way?

[Traildust]

Don't pay the last draw, you pay when work is completed satisfactory. That is not. Take lots of photos. Did you have an inspector along the way?

This! ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

[60 Deluxe]

I'm assuming that he has a mechanics lien on your house. Were you acting as your own general contractor or was your contractor designated as the general contractor? If he wasn't, you are, and you might as well pay the man to get rid of him. Obtain a signed release of the mechanics lien prior to final payment, along with an affidavit that all supplies and sub-contractors have been paid prior to making the final payment.

Buy a couple of cans of coil cleaner and a pump-up garden sprayer. Open up the air handler and spray the coils as per directions. Let the cleaner work for a while then rinse it off with fresh water. It is a pain, but usually works pretty well. The other option is for an HVAC man to pump the refrigerant out of the system and physically remove the coils for cleaning. My HVAC guy said that it isn't uncommon to have to remove them for pressure washing.

It sounds like your contractor is closer to a handyman than a contractor.

[Brazos Hunter]

My apologies, I should have said builder. The way we have had to be it feels like he is more of a sub. We have plenty pictures and continue to take more as we come across issues. The city we are building in does not do inspections and the independent guy we hired didn’t look at the AC so I’m calling him back today.




Michael

[Atfulldraw]

I'm assuming that he has a mechanics lien on your house. Were you acting as your own general contractor or was your contractor designated as the general contractor? If he wasn't, you are, and you might as well pay the man to get rid of him. Obtain a signed release of the mechanics lien prior to final payment, along with an affidavit that all supplies and sub-contractors have been paid prior to making the final payment.

Buy a couple of cans of coil cleaner and a pump-up garden sprayer. Open up the air handler and spray the coils as per directions. Let the cleaner work for a while then rinse it off with fresh water. It is a pain, but usually works pretty well. The other option is for an HVAC man to pump the refrigerant out of the system and physically remove the coils for cleaning. My HVAC guy said that it isn't uncommon to have to remove them for pressure washing.

It sounds like your contractor is closer to a handyman than a contractor.

the hvac can be cleaned, but I would not suggest doing it yourself

documentation is key at this point, so hire a licensed hvac company to come do the work.

hire an inspector to document all of the deficiencies, offer a settlement to get rid of him, and move on with your life.

[RiverRat1]

Him saying he lost 54k would tick me off because that just has to be a lie. IMO it's just a line to make you feel guilty or like you got such a good deal you should ignore the faults and just pay up.

I'm not an expert but have a couple questions that may/may not help others help you.
Was this a set bid/price for a specific build? Or was it pay as you go with him telling you a guess on price per sq/ft? If it was the latter how far over was the build?

How much money do you estimate it will take to make everything right?

[Brazos Hunter]

It was a set price bid for the turnkey build. He really should have been a used car salesman (stereotyping a bit).

I’m reaching out to AC guys in the area today and am asking our home inspector to go back out and document the AC. It’s definitely nothing I will attempt to do ourselves.



Michael

[DUKFVR]

Good Luck ! I hope you can get this behind you as easily as possible.

[Bryan11]

Hold your payment back. That is the most powerful leverage you have to get your contractor to make things right. Whether or not he lost money on the job, he's obligated to make the work to your satisfaction. My girlfriend and i have been going through a nightmare scenario on a commercial bid and unfortunately have had to get attorney's involved. If she hadn't paid a couple invoices when the contractor had pressured her, the outcome would have been entirely different.

[Hoggslayer]

I had a few issues with my builder on our first house. I refused signing the final draft until he got it right. We both dug our heels in, but I won in the end. We got a mediator to help settle it. Basically the mediator spells out everyone's legal rights in front of each other. At the end of that meeting, everyone knows who would win if it went to court; so the looser just say uncle if he's smart.

[HDWRENCH]

best of luck taking advice from 98% of these wanna be legal experts

[Tx.Fisher]

the hvac can be cleaned, but I would not suggest doing it yourself

documentation is key at this point, so hire a licensed hvac company to come do the work.

hire an inspector to document all of the deficiencies, offer a settlement to get rid of him, and move on with your life.

What he said^^

[Bassdeer]

Yea hold the payment and deducted whatever it's going to cost to fix. Offer him the balance and if he says no go to court. He doesn't want to drag this out in court either. I also bet he's has a bad reputation somewhere in his past. The 54k is a lie, he would have been long gone if he started losing money like that.

[Quackerbox]

If he lost 54k on an agreed price, that's his fault