I'm a subcontractor, I completed all the flatwork for a new construction home. I have done multiple projects for the General over the last 3 years without any problems. This project they took my invoice and modified it, claiming they don't pay for incidentals, or materials used on their projects other than the labor to complete the project. I use the same template for every invoice and list the same line items on every invoice, which they have paid every time until now. They actually paid a portion of this invoice immediately upon receipt, but They are attempting to reduce the final invoice from over $6K to just over $1K. In correspondence they admitted that the bank and their customer both approved my invoice payment, yet they are refusing to pay. The job is also 3 hours from me, so I have a substantial amount of time, fuel, per diem, travel costs, labor, and out of pocket materials tied up into this project. What do I need to do?...Read More
I'm a sub contractor who did small amount of work for a GC. The GC refused to pay me because they were not being paid by the Homeowner. The GC told me to file a lein on the property as they had done. We filed a lein but the notices came back "undeliverable" so we assumed we wold have to take the loss and therefore did not pursue it. Now we are being named as a defendant along with the homeowner in a lawsuit wherein the GC is seeking payment for the work that had been done? How are we liable for payment to the GC when we have never been paid for the work that we did at the requestof the GC?...Read More
After 10 months, we parted ways with our contractor because of deceit and fraud. The contractor never gave us a Residential Disclosure Notice. We will be litigating.
The contractor then gave our phone number to one of its own subcontractors to get payment from us. We have paid our contracted rate for framing in full, and that is what we told the subcontractor. He told us he knows that his beef is not with us but with the general contractor. That subcontractor has now filed a mechanic’s lien, which is invalid for several reasons.
The contractor also filed an invalid lien, and the 90 days to complete an amendment is passed.
We have no intention of moving from our home, but we have never had a mechanic’s lien against any property we’ve ever owned. Nor do we owe any money to anyone. So how do we quiet the title against these two invalid mechanic’s liens?
Thank you for your help.
Dawn Richerson
...Read More
As a homeowner, is it possible to remove a mechanical lien via small claims if the amount is under $5k? Or, is there some other mechanism to dispute a lien put on your property? If so, what’s the deadline to dispute a lien? Thank you!...Read More
We have a new construction residential build. At the recommendation of friends, we chose a different stonemason than our GC usually uses and we have been managing him directly. We have no contract with him. We signed the original estimate of $17,500 and paid a materials deposit of $8,000. Issues with the workmanship occurred and he became very defensive and difficult to deal with. Everything from that point forward occurred through email, with his girlfriend we think writing them. They proposed a final price that included a discount of $2,000 and we agreed to that amount and they termed it the "the final price of the project is $13,752." This is in addition to the $8000 materials payment we had already made. He then finished the rest of the project.
We asked for receipts for all the materials and in gathering those he realized the materials cost was $2500 more than he had factored into that "final price of the project." He said he was unaware how much the difference was until then and demanded we pay for it. We negotiated some of that down, but he is still pushing back on more of it and we feel we have used good faith but are no longer interested in negotiating with him. We did not agree to any cost overruns in advance above the $13,752 + $8,000. It feels like the extra materials is a bait and switch. We want to push back and say that the only thing we agreed to was the $13,752 and that is now all we will pay.
However, we are concerned that he will put a lien on our build if he does not get the full amount he is now demanding. Negotiating it down, it sits at $1,000 more than the $13,752. So we are talking about not that much in the big picture. We also simply cannot afford to get into a legal fight with him or deal with a lien waiver. On principle, it feels wrong to cave to his demands (especially given his tone and previous conduct), but we also do not know if it is worth the fight. I have multiple debilitating health issues, am recovering from cancer and we are trying to finish building a home with my husband doing most of the remainder of the work himself. We have a lot of other things to be doing with our time, energy and money. So, we are trying to determine if there is any wisdom in pushing back and saying we are not obligated to pay for any costs above what we agreed to at the $13,752 balance due. So I suppose to make a better decision, we would like to know:
Without an explicit contract, are we legally obligated to pay for anything a tradesman brings to us after the fact that he did not disclose and get approval for in advance?
I have not been able to find a license number for him. Are stonemasons in Idaho licensed? If not and he does not have a license, can he file a mechanic's lien?
We are trusting souls who clearly made a bad decision. We just want to be treated fairly and find peace with all of this. Thank you for any help or guidance you can provide.
Gratefully,
Kathy...Read More
We recently completed work on a project and the GC has gone out of business at the end of the project. we have been in contact with the developer of the property and have now invoiced them directly for the remaining balance. Do we need to change anything in our lien filing to reflect this change?...Read More
General Contractor has paid the Subcontractor who rented equipment from us. He states if we continue with our Lien, he will have it thrown out & claims the Sub was hired to do a job, failed and when he declined to fix the problems he created, he left the GC with no choice other than to replace him. At that point the Sub had performed 35-40% of the work, for which he was paid $15k. The Sub's response was to bill the GC for 90% of our contract amount, and as the GC needed those funds to complete the work originally promised by the SUB, he cannot give the sub the 90% left on the contract. That is what the GC is saying the Sub's basis for claiming non payment.
My question is can we still file a lien on the project even thought the GC did provide me a copy of a check that was paid to the Sub showing the $15k payment & it was cashed. Thank you for your time....Read More
I'm a handyman in idaho. I was recently on a job in Fruitland idaho where the people did not pay me for my services. I bought a door for $700 and installed it in a day into his shop and put in some threshold pieces on some flooring I installed. They owed me $2800 for my labor and materials. I have two contracts saying they would pay me the last 10% owed on the entire project plus the cost of the door and for installing a vent for them. And multiple texts saying they woukd pay soon as I installed the door and the threshold pieces. They pushed the date out about 1 week for me to come out and wanted me to come out on a weekend I did as they wanted. After I completed the job he simply Said if I wanted to be paid then I'd have to take him to court and to get off his property having to leave the door. I just put in and installed. I told him the door was my property and that this was theft. He said I took to long to come out and I took to long to do the project. There was never any completion dates in are contract. They put completion dates on me as I was working that were unreasonable and setting me up for failure. I still met there deadline working sometimes tell 2:00AM. I later said to him I'm not going to be bullied and harrased through out this project expecting more things for free from me. ... Can I file a lien I have two signed contracts and text messages promising payment. I feel I was tricked to install the door and do the work that they had this planned out for me to purchase a $700 commercial door . Not once did they mention my quality of work but just stated I took to long. I feel I was taken advantage of here and bullied put of my work. What can I do? Can I ask for more money then what is owed because of financial problems this us causing for me do to breach of contract and Losses of opportunity. I work through Thumbtack its kinda like Uber but I pay for leads. I'm a Top Pro handyman on there site. I gave 48 good reviews and a 4.8 star rating and was rewarded top pro 2 years in a row. Because of lack of money I don't have money for more leads from Thumbtack until I get paid more money. It's costing me money not being able to work....Read More
I made the final payment to the contractor in August. During the walk through there were many things wrong, He wrote me a check for $2000 until it was completed. It has never been completed after 6 months, so I paid to have the work done. I let him know the expenses and he threatened to put a lien on my house for the $2000.00. Does he have a leg to stand on? The entire construction process was a nightmare, and what is appraised for 80,000 he charged $225,000. all paid in full...Read More
I have a contractor that's initial bid was $1750 for a project, they increased it to over $4,000 and are now threatening to file a lien.
In addition, the initial contract was from company a, the nephews uncle's business, but the final invoice was from company b, the nephews company. What are my rights? This seems completely invalid. They're basically of the mindset that the initial quote doesn't matter and we should pay them for whatever work was completed, which apparently they can come up with whatever they want after they start work, and just put a lien on our property if we don't pay it. Company has been formed for less than a month. Basically an 8-hour job turned it into a 15 hour job with tons of extras. We're prepared to pay for some of the extras but not everything. ...Read More
We have a lien against our business. The oral contract was between the contractor and the bartender of our bar. There has been no contract provided or evidence of materials. Receipts etc..is this legit? ...Read More
I just received a claim of lien on my property. There are many things wrong with this. The lawn company was supposed to perform the work in March 2021 and never showed. A couple weeks into April we came home and the work was done, being generous lets say it was April 15 (most likely a few days before). I thought their communication sucked but the work was done. I called them numerous times between April and now asking for a bill or how to pay. I always got a voicemail never got response. I have never seen a bill or a phone call from them, totally willing to pay for the service but don't know how without a bill or address to mail a check etc. Their website just has phone number and email. Today I received the claim of lien. The claim of lien still doesn't tell me where to pay. I called and left a message again today. I then looked up rules and if I'm correct he would have had to complete the work on June 25th or later to be able to file this lien. Is it best to try and dispute this now or should I wait to see if he sues me? I'm beyond mad. I would have used him all summer but he was horrible. I'm literally paying a different law company weekly - only say that to reference the small couple hundred amount is not worth this darn headache....Read More
Contractor is threatening me that I will be sued for Slander of Title. If lien is not released by Friday. The contractor doesn’t want to pay me the remaining balance. Any thoughts ...Read More