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How long can a contractor wait to invoice me?

WisconsinMechanics Lien
Anonymous Contractor

Last summer, my wife and I hired a contractor to convert a spare bedroom into a walk-in closet and master bath. He told us the whole project would take 4 weeks, and we paid $15,500 as a down payment and another $5500 to get a new electrical panel installed and inspected before the rest of the project began. The total estimate was $41,000. At the halfway point of the project, the contractor refused to do more work until we paid another $10,500, despite the fact that the estimate we signed off on said we would put half down at the beginning of the project and pay the remainder once work was completed. In February, the contractor was almost finished with the project. We had cancelled several items on the list to save on cost, but he refused to order our shower door until we paid an additional $2500 for it, saying that we were "over budget" on multiple items but refusing to give us a breakdown of those costs. We paid the $2500, he ordered and installed the door, and the project was complete. Since then, we have not received an invoice for whatever is left for us to pay. We have no way of knowing what the breakdown of cost is, since he refused to provide that to us on multiple occasions. It's been nearly 6 months... if he doesn't send us an invoice or request payment in any way, does that mean we are paid in full? If he sends us a bill a year (or multiple years) after completing the project, will he be able to force us to pay?

1 reply

Attorney at Michael Johnson Legal LLC
| 5 reviews
Sep 1, 2021
It appears this is the exceedingly rare example of a contractor that is not trying to immediately be paid in full... The statute of limitations to enforce a contract in Wisconsin is six years, but it is an odd scenario that the final payment has not been requested. Based on your explanation above, you may be best served by doing nothing and seeing if you receive a demand later. I would document the status of the project with photos and save correspondences. Did you communicate by email? text? other? Make sure to save it. I'm happy to talk further if you would like. my website is michaeljohnsonlegal.com
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