My question involves a consumer law issue in the State of: Tennessee.
My kitchen flooded recently. It was a mistake and our fault. We filed a claim to our insurance and received an estimate. We shopped around for contractors and found a guy who owns a small home repair and remodeling business where he does most of the work himself with a few assistants. He was inexpensive enough so that we could afford to pay the difference and upgrade from the linoleum flooring to a ceramic tile. The downside was that since he did the work himself, he wouldn't be able to start for a week, and he quoted that it would take him up to 2 weeks to complete the job. We agreed and signed a contract.
The contract states all of the work needed for the job including to "clean, level, and inspect the subfloor, replacing any boards as needed." It also states that he would "replace all trim work and baseboards." These statements are important because our initial insurance claim did not mention replacing subflooring or replacing baseboards - only replacing trimwork and painting baseboards. It also states that the "Client agrees to pay Contractor the total price of $2,500 (two thousand and five hundred dollars), for the labor and materials required for completion. A downpayment of $500 (five hundred dollars) shall be made for materials upon the signing of this Agreement. The cost for any additional materials required for completion of the project not previously estimated will be provided by the Client and transported as needed by the Contractor."
He had given us an estimate of 8$ per square foot for labor, which may increase if any new items (replacing subflooring) come up. The final price ended up being a little higher, and I was fine with that. He told us the project would begin on July 18th and be finished between July 27th and 29th - this was not in writing, just a verbal agreement which he noted in his personal calendar. We wrote him a check for the materials downpayment that day. He called us on the 18th and said he would not be able to start the job until the 22nd because he was delayed repairing a deck because of rain the previous week. We all agreed that he would be at our house on the 22nd, and each day after that, between 8 and 9am and would work no later than 6pm each night. When he arrived on the 22nd, he was over 4 hours late, showing up at 1pm. It was at that time he told us he needed to go to purchase materials. He left and did not come back that night. We, expecting some sort of communication, called him and asked when he was coming back. He said he had already gone home after buying the materials he needed. The next day, he showed up at noon to begin work. He had one assistant. They worked until about 4pm and left. The only thing that was accomplished that day was removing the nails in the subfloor to prep for a backerboard. This went on for the rest of the job. He showed up on time only twice in 9 days and left early on all but the last two days.
After the first few days, he called us saying he could not complete the job because he did not have the funds for materials. At that point, we asked for receipts (We were planning on collecting them at the end.) to see what he had spent our 500$ on. The receipts showed candy bars, bottle sodas, tools (drill bits, saw blades, grouting tools, buckets, etc) and 2400 screws along with the wood materials needed for the subflooring, backerboards, mortar, and grout. He had still not bought the baseboard, quarter-round trim, toe kicks, paint, or thresholds. For the record, we purchased the tile ourselves and had it waiting for the job on the 18th. When we confronted him about these charges, we adjusted everything down and he had only spent just over 300$ on our job - tools included. We disputed the charges for the tools since they were not included in the initial fee. However, we came to a resolution that since we purchased all of them, we would just keep all tools used after the job was complete. Not ideal, but I accepted those terms. He then said he still had no working capital to make the purchases. So, I went with him to his store and bought all of the materials he needed to finish the job for 207$. He continued working.
On Friday, the 29th, the job was not complete. The tile was did not have grout, transition pieces were not in place, and baseboards were removed and not replaced. He then claimed he would spend the weekend to finish the job. He did not show up on Saturday or Sunday. Monday morning, he showed up at 6am without notice, expecting us to be ready for him to start working. While we appreciated the enthusiasm, we asked him to come back in 30-45 minutes so my wife and I could shower and finish our morning routine to be out of his way (basically, we didn't want to be walking around half naked with strangers in the house.) He showed up at 10am. At the end of Monday, he handed me an invoice and asked for the remaining payment. I inspected his work and found it was unfinished - there was no baseboard in our utility closet, no quarter-round trim under the cabinets on the toe kicks, and our appliances (fridge, washer, dryer, stove, dishwasher) were still in my garage. I asked him to do that and I would do another walk-through before signing and paying. He said that would need to be another day because he had somewhere he needed to be. It was about 4pm. I agreed and saw him at 8am the next morning.
He completed the work and handed me a new invoice for $2500. This invoice had an additional 700$ on it - I had already paid 500$ plus an additional 200$ for materials, which should have left $1800 due. I asked about the charges. He said that the original contract was for 2500$ on labor and 500$ for materials. I pointed out that the contract said specifically the price of $2500 included labor AND materials. He then claimed it was due to the added days of labor and "extra" work that he did that was not in the original proposal. He claimed that replacing the subflooring and baseboards was not in the insurance estimate, and that those added to the labor. And because we did not allow him to work and to complete the project on Monday, he charged for an additional day.
I tried to explain that we were paying a flat rate for labor and any additional time it took was on him because he did not show up on time each day on top of delaying the project's start time by 4 days. He said that since our contract included a clause that stated "Prices are subject to change based on any additional work not included in this Contract that are asked or required to be completed during the project." that he could adjust it as needed, and this job required more detail than anticipated. I then pointed out that his original contract specifically stated that subflooring would be replaced (we would gladly pay material costs, and did) and that baseboards would be replaced (again, we paid all material costs.) He said he would not take less, and he was going to call his lawyer. I wrote a check for $1800 and told him he could take that and not deal with anything. He walked to his truck and has been sitting out there on his phone for about 2 hours.
I have no issue with going to court. I know he has nothing to stand on here. I just need to know if there are any preliminary steps I should be taking now so that it's easier in the future.
Sorry for the novel. This is all recent and I wanted to make the details as clear as possible. Thank you in advance!
My kitchen flooded recently. It was a mistake and our fault. We filed a claim to our insurance and received an estimate. We shopped around for contractors and found a guy who owns a small home repair and remodeling business where he does most of the work himself with a few assistants. He was inexpensive enough so that we could afford to pay the difference and upgrade from the linoleum flooring to a ceramic tile. The downside was that since he did the work himself, he wouldn't be able to start for a week, and he quoted that it would take him up to 2 weeks to complete the job. We agreed and signed a contract.
The contract states all of the work needed for the job including to "clean, level, and inspect the subfloor, replacing any boards as needed." It also states that he would "replace all trim work and baseboards." These statements are important because our initial insurance claim did not mention replacing subflooring or replacing baseboards - only replacing trimwork and painting baseboards. It also states that the "Client agrees to pay Contractor the total price of $2,500 (two thousand and five hundred dollars), for the labor and materials required for completion. A downpayment of $500 (five hundred dollars) shall be made for materials upon the signing of this Agreement. The cost for any additional materials required for completion of the project not previously estimated will be provided by the Client and transported as needed by the Contractor."
He had given us an estimate of 8$ per square foot for labor, which may increase if any new items (replacing subflooring) come up. The final price ended up being a little higher, and I was fine with that. He told us the project would begin on July 18th and be finished between July 27th and 29th - this was not in writing, just a verbal agreement which he noted in his personal calendar. We wrote him a check for the materials downpayment that day. He called us on the 18th and said he would not be able to start the job until the 22nd because he was delayed repairing a deck because of rain the previous week. We all agreed that he would be at our house on the 22nd, and each day after that, between 8 and 9am and would work no later than 6pm each night. When he arrived on the 22nd, he was over 4 hours late, showing up at 1pm. It was at that time he told us he needed to go to purchase materials. He left and did not come back that night. We, expecting some sort of communication, called him and asked when he was coming back. He said he had already gone home after buying the materials he needed. The next day, he showed up at noon to begin work. He had one assistant. They worked until about 4pm and left. The only thing that was accomplished that day was removing the nails in the subfloor to prep for a backerboard. This went on for the rest of the job. He showed up on time only twice in 9 days and left early on all but the last two days.
After the first few days, he called us saying he could not complete the job because he did not have the funds for materials. At that point, we asked for receipts (We were planning on collecting them at the end.) to see what he had spent our 500$ on. The receipts showed candy bars, bottle sodas, tools (drill bits, saw blades, grouting tools, buckets, etc) and 2400 screws along with the wood materials needed for the subflooring, backerboards, mortar, and grout. He had still not bought the baseboard, quarter-round trim, toe kicks, paint, or thresholds. For the record, we purchased the tile ourselves and had it waiting for the job on the 18th. When we confronted him about these charges, we adjusted everything down and he had only spent just over 300$ on our job - tools included. We disputed the charges for the tools since they were not included in the initial fee. However, we came to a resolution that since we purchased all of them, we would just keep all tools used after the job was complete. Not ideal, but I accepted those terms. He then said he still had no working capital to make the purchases. So, I went with him to his store and bought all of the materials he needed to finish the job for 207$. He continued working.
On Friday, the 29th, the job was not complete. The tile was did not have grout, transition pieces were not in place, and baseboards were removed and not replaced. He then claimed he would spend the weekend to finish the job. He did not show up on Saturday or Sunday. Monday morning, he showed up at 6am without notice, expecting us to be ready for him to start working. While we appreciated the enthusiasm, we asked him to come back in 30-45 minutes so my wife and I could shower and finish our morning routine to be out of his way (basically, we didn't want to be walking around half naked with strangers in the house.) He showed up at 10am. At the end of Monday, he handed me an invoice and asked for the remaining payment. I inspected his work and found it was unfinished - there was no baseboard in our utility closet, no quarter-round trim under the cabinets on the toe kicks, and our appliances (fridge, washer, dryer, stove, dishwasher) were still in my garage. I asked him to do that and I would do another walk-through before signing and paying. He said that would need to be another day because he had somewhere he needed to be. It was about 4pm. I agreed and saw him at 8am the next morning.
He completed the work and handed me a new invoice for $2500. This invoice had an additional 700$ on it - I had already paid 500$ plus an additional 200$ for materials, which should have left $1800 due. I asked about the charges. He said that the original contract was for 2500$ on labor and 500$ for materials. I pointed out that the contract said specifically the price of $2500 included labor AND materials. He then claimed it was due to the added days of labor and "extra" work that he did that was not in the original proposal. He claimed that replacing the subflooring and baseboards was not in the insurance estimate, and that those added to the labor. And because we did not allow him to work and to complete the project on Monday, he charged for an additional day.
I tried to explain that we were paying a flat rate for labor and any additional time it took was on him because he did not show up on time each day on top of delaying the project's start time by 4 days. He said that since our contract included a clause that stated "Prices are subject to change based on any additional work not included in this Contract that are asked or required to be completed during the project." that he could adjust it as needed, and this job required more detail than anticipated. I then pointed out that his original contract specifically stated that subflooring would be replaced (we would gladly pay material costs, and did) and that baseboards would be replaced (again, we paid all material costs.) He said he would not take less, and he was going to call his lawyer. I wrote a check for $1800 and told him he could take that and not deal with anything. He walked to his truck and has been sitting out there on his phone for about 2 hours.
I have no issue with going to court. I know he has nothing to stand on here. I just need to know if there are any preliminary steps I should be taking now so that it's easier in the future.
Sorry for the novel. This is all recent and I wanted to make the details as clear as possible. Thank you in advance!
Construction Contracts: Contracter Wrongfully Billed in Excess of the Contract Price
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire