I'm a 2nd tier subcontractor doing work for a subcontractor, but I haven't been paid because the subcontractor has not been paid. The subcontractor tells me he is waiting on a change order from the General Contractor so he can invoice for the work....Read More
I was hired by a Colorado GC to install as specified in the plans provided by the architect (this included which specific products to install). There is an issue with the manufacture of the products themselves, but they were installed properly. I am being told that I have punch list items to complete because the products are not working correctly. The products are defective, but install was correct. The GC should have already received 3 draws on this project, but is saying they have not received any payment. There is a pay when paid clause in the contract. The project is in CO.
Due to the corona virus, the site (it is a visual arts center owned by a university) is shut down so I couldn't do the punch list even if I wanted to.
What steps do I need to take to preserve my lien rights? How can I send an NOI when they aren't even open?...Read More
My construction company was hired to convert a garage into a two-bedroom, one bath living area with a living room and a little space for laundry. We met with the homeowner to get the info for an estimate. She informed us that the tenants living upstairs had reported her to code enforcement because she had someone doing work in the garage and did not pull a permit, resulting in a Stop Work letter from Pikes Peak Regional Building Dept. She said that when the inspector came out, he could only see a small portion of the garage, so that is all she would get a permit for...seemed a little shady but whatever. After two hours of her telling us what she wanted and us telling her what was feasible, we felt we had the info we needed to give a proper estimate.
Submitted the estimate which she agreed to and then emailed her a contract. She was adamant about getting the job done ASAP so she could sell the property, so we started before she signed the contract. That was on 02/05/2023 and as of today (06/05/2023) I still don't have a signed contract. She signed the estimate.
In the contract we put down a completion date of 04/30/2023 which we did not meet that deadline because of personal tragedies and the homeowner requesting additional work and changes. No change orders were signed. When we were 90% done with the project, we needed money for materials and labor to finish. We presented her with a $26,000 invoice for the 'extras', which included a full kitchen, three additional subterranean egress windows and several other items. She said that was too much, and she would not pay for it. What we charged her for all the extra work was well below the national average and more than fair. She still owed $2500 on the original contract, which she paid 05/30/2023. She agreed to pay $17000 for the extras. We told her we needed $8000 to finish the job, and she cut a check on 06/02/2023 for $3000 and said she would pay the $5000 on Monday. We went to the job Saturday morning to find she had changed all the locks. We have called her and left messages but no response.
Do you think filing a lien would be successful? How should we handle the homeowner reneging on the agreement we had and changing the locks with no notice? Is her paying $3000 toward the extras invoice significant?...Read More
I’m a contractor hired to do a remodel. I needed someone to do some hourly yard work and he ended up owning a painting company so I went ahead and hired him to help with finish work. He asked me if he could bring his crew and I told him no because I don’t hire subs to manage people on my jobs without knowing their work quality. He assured me that each person he had worked with before and he held them to high quality standards. I told him he could have them do general labor and only labor I assigned such as hard work and prep. The first few days were great. I went wrong by allowing them to continue the work through the weekend without supervision. The job was to be completed May 7th. May 8th I returned to the job site and they weren’t done. He had people with no painting experience painting and caulking. They botched some of the work and I asked him to fix it. He told me he did but he didn’t. I gave him specific tasks for those individuals to do but he had them do other tasks. I specifically told him that their work quality was poor and I didn’t want them working on any finish work at all without my approval. When I got there he had two women there unsupervised and they were walking around doing busy work. They were not doing the task I assigned. They were there all morning without his direction and since I do not speak Spanish I couldn’t communicate with them. I text him and told him how upset I was. He promised he would take care of everything by the end of the 8th. I came in on the 9th and the work was not done. He had not prepped any of the areas. There was paint all over the brand new floors. He caused me to have to spend my own time, unpaid, correcting his work and I completed the job 5 days late fixing it. I have pictures of his finished work. I have text messages where I disputed his work. He was paying them hourly and I expressed that I saw he had them there paying them when they weren’t working. He tried to charge me for almost 100 hours he could not account for. After a discussion with him I paid him what I thought was fair for the amount of work completed, which was about 80% of what he asked for. He had someone work on the exterior paint of the house without my authorization and the man used the wrong paint leaving areas I had to repaint. Now he is telling me he is going to put a lien on the property. It’s an investment property and just went live on the market today. I don’t want the investor or new owners to be stuck with a lien but I feel he was totally in the wrong. I feel like I have clearly stated what I needed through text. He had people riding the clock and he botched the project and left me about 75 hours of work to fix. There’s no actual contract but I know the texts can act as so. He misrepresented himself and the people he hired to me. I feel this is fraudulent. He also explicitly went against my wishes, that I stated in my text. I think the amount he wants is around $1500. I’ve asked him for time sheets and a list of what each person worked on with an accountability of hours and their qualifications and he proceeds to threaten me. I advised him if he decided to pursue legal action I intended to file a counter claim for the work I had to repair. I’m hourly and I did not charge my customer for the work I did to fix the disaster he left me. I’m sure I will need to talk to a local attorney but I’m hoping to get some answers here to help ease my mind through the weekend. Thanks in advance for the advice....Read More
We live in a state where the intent to foreclose is not required but we want to send one anyway to the non-paying customer as well as their current lien holders in hopes them realizing that we are going to foreclose if payment is not made. We have filed a legitimate mechanics lien with the county clerk and it is in force currently.
1. Do we need to send the document to each owner listed on the property? Does it matter if the owner's listed are married or not?
2. If they have more than one mortgage should we send it to all mortgage companies?
...Read More
worked at a property that the owner is an llc company, I have an itemized estimate to calculate the cost for works done! they sent us a letter until may 23th to avoid enter to the property and dont allow to continue with the job, in the estimate we were clear that materials were on their side so the job is only for labor, on may 4th we got out materials to finish the work but to that time we did 97% of total of the project, we asked them to buy more tile to continue but they never bought it that activity only correspond to 3% of the total, we sent them the notice of lien right to the owner they received on may 31th, on june 5th we received a letter from them to try to get paid only for $8000 but the right amount is $16000...Read More
I lived with a woman who was the caregiver for an older man and remodeled the joke we shared for over two years at my own expense. After adding 400 Sq. Ft of new living space that added 40,000$ to the value of the property the woman got a quit claim deed and refinanced. When she did this she had the man evict me with a three day notice. When they evicted me I wasn't home and within two hours all of my belongings were stolen leaving me without not only My life's possessions but over 30,000$ in construction tools were gone. They won't pay for the 12,000$ in receipts I have and I haven't been able to take them to court for wrongful eviction because I'm staying with friends and totally broke. Can I file a mechanics lien and would it even do me any good?...Read More
I want to contest a spurious lien. My remodel contractor sent me a Notice of Intent to Lien for $24,652. We moved into our remodeled home 6 months ago when the contractor said the project was finished except for punch list items. The contractor's accounting has been impossible for either us or the bank to follow, but we do not owe anywhere near $24,652. We have a number of problems with the house such as a faulty HVAC; a porch not built to plan specs; and faulty wiring that his electricians can't figure out--our refrigerator circuit is constantly tripping. We want to pay what is due and we want our house working properly. But we are very angry about the lien threat. We are confident his accounting is off and we also think it's way too late for him to file a lien anyway. If he proceeds to file the lien, how do we contest it as spurious?...Read More
We were notified by a factoring company that a subcontractor had factored an invoice we owed the subcontractor. The payment terms were with in our payment policy period. The subcontractor took the funds from the factoring company and did not pay his suppliers or his subcontractors. We are now getting demand letters for the factoring company to pay the invoice however we are not paying them but using the mobey to pay the outstanding invoices the subcontractor owes. Do I have to pay the factoring company or offest the payments from what the subs owes?...Read More
I performed some services on a guys vehicle and he refused to pay me for the services. I am a new-ish small business with no capitol right now as COVID has hindered the startup of my business. That being said I made that clear to him when I told him that I was going to spend some of my personal money to complete the service labor, and he promised to reimburse that money to me when as soon as he was paid. When I was done, I requested that money back and an additional amount to purchase fluids to refill his cooling system so that the job can be 100% complete and ready for pickup. He refused to provide both the money spent on my part as well as the money needed to replace the fluids in his car unless the vehicle was running when he showed up, which I could not do due to the lack of fluids; it would defeat the entire service and jeapordize the integrity of the entire engine if I did so. I do not have the money to buy those fluids, especially after using my money on other items to complete the service. ...Read More
The claim is in CO. The mechanics lien deadline is 4 months as we provided materials and labor. The 120 day is today and we missed this customer to get the NOI sent already. Can I postmark the NOI today and then file to request the lien extension? ...Read More
I filed an NOI for $3000.00 a few week ago. I have a clause in my contract that states that additional (out-of-scope) work can be billed at $150.00/hr. That drove my fee from $1950.00 to $3000.00 because this contractor insisted on having multiple zoom meetings to argue for a design I could not approve as a PE. What he was argusing for was a design that would have put me at substantial liability risk. He has now retained an attorney who sent a threatening letter. Rather than fight about the difference, I would rather just reduce the NOI amount to the $1950.00 from the original contract and be done with it. They have no argument against that amount whatsoever. How do I reduce the NOI amount?...Read More
Hey there,
So I hired an excavation contractor to preform work on my personal home. I paid him 1/2 upfront which was 10k. The excavation contractor was doing a rent to own program with a company called Pro Source Machinery for the excavator he was using at my house. A few days into the job, Pro Source Machinery showed up at my property and repossessed the excavator because the contractor I hired hadn't made a payment on it in 6 months.
The rental company has now notified me that they are filing a 27k lien against my home because the excavation contractor owes them - it makes very little sense to me. I'm not liable for the business dealings of the people that I hire.
Please advise ...Read More