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Advice re: breaking a contract with a general contractor

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forensicdeac

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This past October my house in Columbia, SC was flooded and we lost almost everything. Luckily we had flood insurance for the structure and received a sizable (yet insufficient) check from insurance. We hired the brother-in-law of a family friend because we have seen some of his work and he agreed to work within the scope of the insurance claim. Unfortunately, our contract is very loosely worded and we didn't WRITE a time frame although it had been discussed. We are now a month behind schedule and I cannot afford to continue to pay a mortgage on the repaired house and rent on our current apartment.

How can I pressure him to get off his ass? How do I break a contract that doesn't give specific timelines? Any help at all would be appreciated.
 
Not a construction guy, but I've been highly involved in a 200,000 sq ft new building at work, we moved into a new construction townhome last spring, and my wife works for a company that builds multi-family residential. My thoughts:

1. It sucks but nothing is ever done on time, and
2. Construction has been hot for a while, so materials and labor are both in short supply these days.

If you are in a financial crunch, figure out a plan to get the stuff done so that you can get back into the house asap, then have him finish stuff while you are back in the house.
 
tell the dude he gets an extra (whatever you monthly rent payment is) if he finishes everything that allows you to move back in within this month and apologize to your wife for not being more specific regarding expectations in your contract.
 
It's not materials that are holding us back. All of our sheetrock is up. It has been three weeks since they started installing my kitchen cabinets, touching up the drywall and priming the walls in my 1400 square foot home. Three weeks! I could have had it done myself by now. However, the mortgage company requires me to have a licensed contractor.
 
Chill22 said:
Not a construction guy, but I've been highly involved in a 200,000 sq ft new building at work, we moved into a new construction townhome last spring, and my wife works for a company that builds multi-family residential. My thoughts:

1. It sucks but nothing is ever done on time, and
2. Construction has been hot for a while, so materials and labor are both in short supply these days.

If you are in a financial crunch, figure out a plan to get the stuff done so that you can get back into the house asap, then have him finish stuff while you are back in the house.
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I would be fine with this but my 5 year old has emotional issues since the flood and her therapists strongly recommends moving into a finished home to minimize the trauma of living in a 5th place since October. SC Public Radio actually did a short piece on my daughter in an attempt to bring attention to non financial flood damage.
 
forensicdeac said:
It's not materials that are holding us back. All of our sheetrock is up. It has been three weeks since they started installing my kitchen cabinets, touching up the drywall and priming the walls in my 1400 square foot home. Three weeks! I could have had it done myself by now. However, the mortgage company requires me to have a licensed contractor.
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Check the wording on the mortgage. For mine, as long as the project was "overseen" by a licensed contractor, I was able to build my house on my own. My cousin is a licensed GC, and was the GC on paper for my house but I did all of the legwork and much of the manual labor.

Shitty situation though. I hate to hear that about your daughter.
 
Agree with above. Sorry to hear it.

Are they slow or just not showing up?
 
Firing the contractor because of the delay is not likely to solve the delay problem and will increase the cost of the project. Best bet is to have a face to face discussion with the contractor about the project, explain the importance of getting it done ASAP to your family and daughter, and ask him what you can do to help get this wrapped up.
 
No advice here, but so sorry to hear about your situation. That flood was a bitch. Hope you get some good news soon!
 
BacktoBack said:
Agree with above. Sorry to hear it.

Are they slow or just not showing up?
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A little bit of both. The contractor is not following up on guys completing projects (bc in his words "I am not a micromanager"). The painter is just painfully slow and refused to do any drywall touch ups so he primed over them making them harder to correct now. Some of the guys are also working on other projects for the contractor that I am sure he believes are more lucrative than ours (roofs, decks, etc.)
 
Tell him that for each day he isn't done past March ___, the payment to him will be reduced by $X to help offset your expenses arising from his delays. At the end of the day you are the one writing the check, and it is a lot easier for you to adjust the amount of that check than it is for him to lien the house and/or sue you for nonpayment.

Or, if you simply want quicker results, tell him that you are going to report his immigration compliance unless he gets his ass in gear. SC is extremely onerous about that and I guaranty he is doing it wrong because virtually nobody does it correctly.
 
Notice to everyone except forensicdeac: Having a deadline on any type of constuction/remodel/rehab contract with delay penalties is the most important term you can have in the agreement. All of these people are lazy bums, if they weren't they'd have real jobs. They have to be treated accordingly.

2&2's first suggestion is decent. Have a face to face with the guy, if he doesn't agree to shape up, then tell him you are going to start deducting from his fee. Contact your friend that pointed you to this guy and tell them he is a bum.

Honestly, though, as dumb as it sounds, completion a month behind schedule isnt that far off for these type of things.
 
Just tell your GC and your family friend that the timeline is very important and explain the situation with your daughter. Offer to be the one to micromanage the subs if the GC is ok with that. If none of that works, I guess you can let him know there will be financial consequences. I'd probably threaten poor reviews or references before I did this though.

Good GCs are in high demand. My GC wouldn't use delay penalties and this was three years ago when demand wasn't too bad. He said most delays are due to the homeowner waffling on design decisions. I'm not sure if that's true, but I didn't push too hard because I wanted to use them. Recent renovation projects in my neighborhood seem to be running 25-50% long. I imagine it's like that in Columbia if a lot of people are doing similar renovations from the flood.
 
Sorry you are having these problems. Last forty years I have built or renovated 12 houses. Been through it all. GC going bankrupt, poor quality etc. One historic renovation I did in Mount Pleasant SC was tied up in litigation for 3 years before the case was settled. Several of my projects have been relatively easy. Your best bet is to keep excellent communication with your GC. As others mentioned earlier be honest and lay it all on the table. If the painting contractor sucks, guarantee he has several back ups. Keep any changes to the bare minimum. A builder hates to change a workable plan in mid stream more than anything. Litigation can/will get expensive and your legal representative will be taking up to 33% of any damages awarded, provided your GC carries insurance. You can also contact the licensing division for builder/contractors state of SC in Columbia. Once a formal complaint is made they will investigate. Good Luck!
 
The contractor finally returned my call after two days. He blamed the sub guys. Told me to expect big progress by Monday. Apparently the main subcontractor/installer has been in rehab all week. Let's just say that this does not give me full confidence.
 
forensicdeac said:
The contractor finally returned my call after two days. He blamed the sub guys. Told me to expect big progress by Monday. Apparently the main subcontractor/installer has been in rehab all week. Let's just say that this does not give me full confidence.
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