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What can you do if a contractor takes payment but never finishes the job?
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I paid the contractor to do some work on my house. The work was supposed to be done in phases. The first phase was to do the first floor, and I paid him $15,000 for completion. All the belongings at my house were going to go in a pod, and he was going to pay for it until completion. Bottom line is that he took my money and never completed the work.
I'm sorry to hear about your experience with the contractor; that sounds very frustrating. Can you tell me when the work was supposed to be completed and how long it has been since you paid him?
I don't know.
Have you had any communication with the contractor regarding the incomplete work or requested a refund?
Yes, I have, and he is not returning the money. He's not doing anything, and I went to the courts, so we have a court date.
Hello, I'm Legal Eagle. I'm an attorney who works in your area of law, and I'll help you sort this out today. I've read what you shared, so let's go over what's happening and what your best next steps look like. What type of court case did you file against the contractor, and what result are you asking the judge for at the upcoming court date?
So I haven't heard back from you in a while on this, which is no big deal! Without the information I asked for in my request, I can only give you this general answer:
A breach of contract simply means that one party was obligated to perform, and they have either not performed or have said that they will not perform. You have some options you can explore: You may want to consider just writing a formal demand letter. You can hire a new contractor to finish out the job. Look at your paperwork to see if the contractor has a bond, which acts like insurance where you can file a claim and the bond company will pay you out money to get the job done. You can file a lawsuit in your local court. If you've already sent letters, then this is the only way to compel them to do anything.
In construction contracts where the contractor has breached the agreement because they failed to timely perform or performed shoddy work, the owner is generally entitled to recover the difference between the original contract price and the actual cost to complete the project (even with a different contractor) in conformance with the parties' agreement, consistent with the general common-law measure of expectation damages for breach of contract.
Does that help clarify things? I want to make sure I didn't leave anything out.
Hello! I want to make sure I fully answered all your questions and that you feel completely supported. If there's anything else I can clarify, I'm here for you!
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