Home renovation issues. Help

[NRGie]

Hello Beyond,

I hired a contractor to replace the carpet on the top floor and basement (we supplied the carpet), replace the flooring on the main floor with laminate flooring (we supplied the laminate, plywood and underlay), and to paint the interior of the house (he supplies the paint).

Start date was September 8, he said the work would be done September 11. The work went on until September 19. Come the 20th I go to see the house and the work he has done is complete garbage.

The carpet that was installed looks like it is in patches (you can clearly see where they cut and such), the laminate flooring feels squishy, and the edges around the doors look horrible, and the house doesn't look like its been painted, rather just touched up.

He gave us an invoice and tells us that he will take us to court if its not paid.

I brought in another flooring guy and he told me that the laminate and carpet would have to be redone (he also mentioned that we would need new carpet because the old one was not cut properly).

Do I have any recourse now? Technically he did the work that was promised but was done very poorly.

We have nothing in writing between us (no written quotes or anything promising a certain quality of work).

Can I withhold payment because of poor work?

I will post pictures in a bit to give you guys an idea.

Thanks

[dj_rice]

Did you do any back-ground checking before hand for this guy?Check out his references to see his quality of work?Etc etc?

I think you are SOL, because he did finish the job. Just shitty quality. If he did not finish the job, and left you high and dry, I think its in your favour but I'll wait and see what others say.

[NRGie]

A family member used to work with him so that's how I got into contact with him. He painted another one of our houses and it went couple days over but he charged less as a result. Quality was good and no complaints so decided to give him a call for this job.

But aside from checking references and such I did not.

[superman1]

I think the contractor is SOL in this situation since you never handed him the money yet.

[G-ZUS]

Originally posted by superman1
I think the contractor is SOL in this situation since you never handed him the money yet.

tell him to pound sand

[revelations]

Personally, I would do a partial payment for the contractor. He did his job (poorly) but it was finished.

He has a legal leg to stand on with regards to no payments. He could put a lien on your property. In the end the time and cost to deal with this clown could end up costing a lot more - even if you win in court.

Even if its a complete disaster, 50-60% might be appropriate (enough to cover materials) - this will also dissuade him from trying to seek legal retribution as the legal costs would likely be more than the remaining 40%.

**edit - forgot to read the part where you provided the materials. Just do as C_dave45 mentioned **

[roopi]

Don't pay him anything. Let him take you to court. Take a lot of pictures of all the work that was done.

My mother in law had a contractor come in and do a lot of poor work. She withheld the balance payment. They went to court. She provided picture showing how poor the work was done. Before anything was settled in the courts the contractor agreed to come back and repair all issues.

You might not win in court but don't give up so easily.

[spike98]

Tell him to pound sand. Get it fixed properly with multiple quotes and document the process with pictures. Save emails, texts, calls, anything and when (if) he sues you, counter sue for damages.

[mr2mike]

Time and time again I hear people say, I supplied the materials...
I think a contractor that allows the customer to supply the materials, its going to end poorly.

4 days to redo carpet on two levels, redo main floor subfloor and laminate and paint the whole house?? 1 guy and you believed him?

A modest house probably takes 4-6 days to properly paint.

Good luck with this.

[blairtruck]

from watching lots of judge judy. if you go the court route. have a professional give his opinions on the quality.

[Rocket1k78]

Originally posted by mr2mike
Time and time again I hear people say, I supplied the materials...
I think a contractor that allows the customer to supply the materials, its going to end poorly.

4 days to redo carpet on two levels, redo main floor subfloor and laminate and paint the whole house?? 1 guy and you believed him?

A modest house probably takes 4-6 days to properly paint.

Good luck with this.

It was actually 3 days lol

This is a tough call because this happens all the time, people hire the cheapest guys but expect top level work. The fact is he did do the work but the problem is the quality of it and without anything in writing. To go into a pretty big home renovation with no contract is the dumbest thing any homeowner/contractor can do because in the end it's he said she said. If you can post pics of the work done and how much he wants that will give us a good idea of the quality of workmanship to be expected.

[chathamf]

If his work is that bad good chance he doesn't even have a company. He couldn't really take you to court if he didn't have a company to be doing the work under could he? Maybe he does have one but I'd do some looking around see if the dudes even legit.

[C_Dave45]

Originally posted by chathamf
If his work is that bad good chance he doesn't even have a company. He couldn't really take you to court if he didn't have a company to be doing the work under could he? Maybe he does have one but I'd do some looking around see if the dudes even legit.
Whether or not he has a registered company is irrelevant. Anyone can place a lien on a property, or take someone to court over unpaid monies.
Bottom line is if he performed work, then he is owed money. Now how MUCH money, or what the QUALITY of work was worth, that is another matter. It's a very difficult thing to prove what is acceptable and what is not, or how much the work done was worth.

In the real world, however, if a person owns his home, and has no future plans to sell it, or take out any mortgages against it, a lien has no power. I put a lien on a property, and the owner just laughed and said "go ahead, I don't care. I'm not going anywhere for 20 years". And he was right. I could continue to renew the lien and it would do nothing.

As regards the OP's situation, I would not pay the guy out, and would get quotes to fix the work up to standard, and take as many pictures as he can. Close up, detailed pictures. Tell him "this is how much it will cost to repair and that is coming out of the total amount agreed upon". And go from there.