Our crew was working on a residential remodel in mid-June. House value $ 650K. Our remodel contract was for some $ 420K. Large house in bad shape. Crew returned from a half-hour lunch break to see flames coming out of window of the room where they had been working. They responded admirably and used the extinguishers on site to control the fire, and called the local fire dept, who responded quickly and was able to put the fire out within an hour or so. Damage was contained to one room, as a result. Our insurance carrier and the homeowners' insurance company are still determining liability and damages, etc. Meanwhile, the homeowners have fired us. Not surprising and it's fine with us -- they were a pain. But they owed us about $ 50K at the time of the fire, and now that we've been fired, we feel we should be able to claim our overhead and profit, which makes brings homeowners' total owed to us to some $ 102K. Our contract calls for mediation as the way to resolve any conflicts that arise between us and the homeowner, with the mediator to be an objective third-party construction expert. Homeowners have since hired a sarcastic lawyer who wants us to return every dime the homeowners ever paid us. Impossible as we paid all labor and materials costs to date. Not sure what to do, but don't want them getting out in front of us. Do I file a lien, and if so, for which amount, the $ 50K they owed at the time of the fire or for the full amount of $ 100K ? Or, do I cajole them into mediation, file a suit claiming breach of contract, or.....??? Thank you.
Thank you so much!
Thank you so much! Very helpful.