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Can a client hold our equipment hostage in their home?

I did a job for a customer that lived out of town and had purchased a home in greenville aswell. We agreed I would be completed by Mother’s Day weekend. The cam in to town 2 days earlier on Wednesday. We were not there and the job was not complete. I had us schedule to finish touch up paint on Thursday and clean on Friday. They were furious it wasn’t done, even though we were not obligated to be complete for a few more days. I had a dump trailer, multiple expensive ladders, walk boards, and several high dollar milwalkee brand battery tools.total value $6000+. They refuse to let us come back and complete the job, refused a partial refund only accepting a full refund in exchange for our equipment. I offered $2000 back of $6800 just to satisfy and move on. They want all $6800 back. What can I do to get my stuff back and do they legally have a right to withhold it from me? As a contractor don’t we have the right to cure?

1 reply

Jun 18, 2020

If a property owner has stolen your tools or is holding them hostage, filing a police report is a common response and could help you recover your tools and equipment. Sometimes, simply threatening to involve the authorities might help. Generally, yes - it appears that South Carolina is a right to cure state. But, the right to cure refers to the required process before filing construction defect claims. Regardless of whether there's a payment dispute on hand - an owner isn't entitled to steal your property. Put simply - more civil ways of resolving the dispute are probably in order. Finally, even if there was a slight delay (which, it doesn't sound like is the case here) - slight delays in construction are exceedingly common, and may not even rise to the level of a material breach of contract. If the owner is entitled to anything, it should be far less than the full contract price. Rather, any damages should be proportional to the damage they've incurred. And, if the delay hasn't harmed them at all, they might be entitled to virtually nothing. Obviously, though, the terms of the contract will control - so if there's anything in the agreement relating to delays or damages, those terms should be followed.

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