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Demolished cabinet replacement

We had a fire at our home, our insurance company convinced us to hire their recommended construction company, as using them would give us a 3 year warranty vs 1 year if we chose our own. This contractor used bad subs and I kept pointing out poor repairs that they fixed. Hence the bad blood between us. The insurance company does have a third part that is supposed to oversee the project but they seemed aligned with the construction company.The work started in mid August and was to be completed by 1st November. We had built in cabinets that accommodated the old big screen tube TV's and the center of the cabinets were 24 inches deep. The cabinets were demolished and we asked that the replacement be trimmed to 18 inches to accommodated a new flat screen TV. I had met their cabinet maker and agreed to a design, but he quoted more them $1,900. I told him it should be fine, but the next day the construction manager called to say I would need to pay the difference and I refused. The issues we having now: 1. The construction company refuses to build the cabinets and wants to cash us out $1,900 as the insurance company estimate gave them $1900.00. I paid to get drawings of both cabinets designs and received an estimate of $10,166 for what we had and $9,778 for the trimmed down version. I told the manager that we want the cabinets built, he says he does dose not have a cabinet maker as the person he uses will not take on the job. They also damaged our floors. Will not get someone out to repair the landscape lights as they don't have anyone that will repair landscape lights. Should I hire a lawyer and can I get the construction company to pay my lawyer fees?

1 reply

Jan 3, 2020

To determine how best to proceed, it might be helpful to first look to the contract. If the contract sets out a specific process for making claims, or if the contract demands legal claims be arbitrated rather than brought to court, then those contract terms should generally be followed. With that being said, hiring a lawyer would certainly help to provide clarity on how best to move forward in trying to get an issue resolved. Your attorney will be in the best position to determine what options make the most sense for you. They'll be able to review your contract, other project documents, the project site, and then they'll be able to provide some insight into which options make the most sense and the reasoning behind that. However, it may be hard to push a contractor to pay for attorney fees unless a judgment is won against that contractor. Before opting to make any claims, though - it may first be helpful to provide a contractor with explicit notice of what issues or damage are present at the property, along with documentation to provide it (like photographs). In Tennessee - it appears that owners must give contractors on residential jobs opportunity to cure alleged issues and defects, so giving them written notice of the issues and requesting that repairs be undertaken would likely be a good idea. Further, providing them notice of your stance on the payment dispute and reasoning may be helpful there, too. And, note that an attorney may be able to help determine what kind of communication would make the most sense at this juncture while keeping the most recovery options on the table.

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