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Minnesota
I am a subcontractor as I do not have a general contractor's license. I was hired by a home owner acting as his own General Contractor. He did not pull a permit for the project and a lermit Is not required by the county or city of Carver, Minnesota. He signed a proposal agreement with my DBA for installation of a concrete patio with broom finish at $10 per square foot and installation of 25 ft of landscape edging at $10 per foot, for a total of $3,750.00. $1,850 was paid upon signing the agreement. Months later, I started the project, excavating for the base and delivering the landscape edging. The project was then stalled for about a month while I completed a different project. Once resumed, I completed the base and poured the concrete. Although the patio meets all state statutes, rules and requirements but the customer did not like the broomed finish as it was slightly rough in some spots. The patio was perfect other than the surface finish, which was acceptable but not my best work. He did not agree that it was acceptable. I offered to apply a concrete topping mix to it and seal it for free just to make him happy. He refused this saying that he did not want me to do anymore work and that he was going to hire another company to remove my patio and install another one, even though the patio was not bad at all. I have pictures to prove this. All that was left of the project was to saw cut the control joints in the patio, install the plastic landscape edging and repair about 80 Square feet of sod that was slightly damaged with the skid loader, due to the drought occurring at the time resulting in the lawn being extremely dry. I was allowed to remove the forms, clean up the mess from the pour and remove all of my tools. After a couple days of civil communication back and forth, they agreed to let me finish the job, other than cutting the control joints in the patio. I had already begun work on a different project for a different customer so I couldn't do this until the following week. A couple days later they asked again when I would be able to do the work. When I stated again that it would be a couple more days before I could do it, they decided to have someone else do the work. 95% of the work involved with completing the project and fulfilling our agreement was done and I had paid all expenses. Which totalled $3,450.00 after I had purchased $600 in new tools to use on their job. At this point, they had only paid that initial $1,850. They still owed me $1,900 to satisfy the agreement. They said that they would send me a check for $700 of it only, because they thought that's all the patio was worth. I did not agree to this and they did not send me a check. Furthermore, they kept the patio I had installed and had a company cut the control joints and apply an epoxy coating to it. Considering the edging that was delivered but not installed (at the rate described in the agreement minus the cost of the edging) as well as what it would have cost me to fix the damaged sod(without including labor) I am willing to settle for $1,600 to satisfy the agreement, but have not communicated this to them yet. It has been 3 weeks since my last communication with them. I plan to send them an email, offering to settle for $1,600 and my reasons for this, along with a copy of the invoice, a copy if the agreement, a notice of intent to file a lien for the remaining amount of $1,900( which I will mail as well), and a link for them to pay the amount of $1,600 with their credit card. Is this the best next move in this situation?...Read More
Zachary Shafranski
Waiting for answerAdd commentOct 2, 2021
Minnesota
I had a sub contractor install flooring 2 years ago in the summer of 2019 For water damage in my home we had A dispute on the estamte he tryed to collect for and could never agree on What was owed...so never heard anything again till recently now he says he's going to file a judgment against me... is this something he can legally due What I have read is he had a 120 day window to file is this true or can he still pursue it..in the state is minnesota....Read More
Anonymous Contractor
1 answerAdd commentSep 27, 2021
Minnesota
I was hired by the owner to do some siding work on his property. He is the builder/General Contractor, as well as the owner. After many disagreements on site, the owner and I agreed to part ways. He was going to pay me for materials and work performed to date. Now he is not getting back to me. I thought with the owner being the general contractor, you could still file a lien without the pre-lien notice? If not, is my best bet to start a law suit?...Read More
Anonymous Subcontractor
1 answerAdd commentSep 23, 2021
Minnesota
Hi I am wondering if you can help me. We did a job at a ski resort pouring concrete ect. Do I need to send a preliminary notice before I can file a lien? If so, is the time frame to do so different then if it was a private residential job? ...Read More
Anonymous Contractor
Waiting for answerAdd commentSep 23, 2021
MinnesotaPreliminary Notice
We completed the job we were doing for our customer. Went to cash their check and they cancelled it. What are the steps to file this Lien in Minnesota?...Read More
Anonymous Contractor
Waiting for answerAdd commentAug 27, 2021
MinnesotaMechanics Lien
I filed intent to lein, contractor says all he wants to pay is 3300.00 when he owes 7600.00 to me he says he mailed check Now i want the 4300.00 too. Can i cash the check and still go after him for the rest ? And i dont wanna lein the customer cuz he paid already and hes on my side . So i plan to call dept of labor. And then conciliation court, any thoughts on anything ive said Thanks ...Read More
Anonymous Laborer
Waiting for answerAdd commentAug 23, 2021
MinnesotaPayment Disputes
So I filed a mechanic's lien against a customer who upon completion of the job refuse to give me the final payment roughly eight months ago. I know there's certain deadlines I have to follow but I'm not sure what exactly I am supposed to do to enforce the lien and get paid?...Read More
Anonymous Contractor
Waiting for answerAdd commentAug 20, 2021
Minnesota
I am a beneficiary of a house that was owned by a relative along with nine other beneficiaries. I also own a rental property/ management company and Im wondering if I can use a mechanics lien through my company to the recoop costs that were incurred getting the property fixed, cleaned up, repairs, utilities yard maintenance, managed ect while the house was getting ready to be sold through to the closing of the property. I don't trust some of the other beneficiaries to be kind enough to pay me on their own can see no other way recouping my cost. Without doing any of the stuff I mentioned above the house would have been hard to sell and you got the price would have been a lot less if none of that work would have been done so it did increase the value of the property are there other options with mechanics in is not viable? I do have a deadline to get this done by so I can recoup my money from the closing of r house sale....Read More
Anonymous Contractor
Waiting for answerAdd commentAug 13, 2021
MinnesotaCollectionsMechanics Lien
Our contractor will not repair a leak in the siding he installed. (siding did not pass inspection)He states he did not know about it until 3 months later (not true) so it's not his problem. But we told the inspector at time of inspection. Contractor also states we cannot hire anyone else to repair it. Can we call the subcontractor he used? I am sure they do not know about the siding problem. At one time they gave us their business card for future work....Read More
angela kotula
Waiting for answerAdd commentAug 8, 2021
Minnesota
For MN PreLien requirements, "If the property is wholly commercial (and not agricultural) and one of the following situations applies, the job is exempt from notice requirements: (a) the job is to provide or add more than 5,000 total usable square feet of floor space; or" Does this line refer to new construction? So do I need to provide a prelien to a GC where I am a subcontractor working on a NON AG multi-use commercial property or wholly residential commercial property (apartment)? ...Read More
Kurt Cutshall
Waiting for answerAdd commentAug 6, 2021
MinnesotaPreliminary Notice
We are a GC doing a private commercial job in MN. Currently, we require Conditional waivers from our subs with each payment application they submit. We are currently working with a lender who is adamant about us requiring Unconditionals from our subs after each payment and before subsequent payments. We have a bit more leverage with Conditionals as subs must turn it in with their payment application, and then we know when it becomes valid because we directly pay them. Additionally, our subs are safer and more willing to sign a Conditional vs an Unconditional. We have offered to provide the bank with the Conditionals and then confirm payment with a check register as proof that those subs have been paid, but the bank is determined to get the Unconditionals. We are concerned that if ONE sub does not turn in an unconditional waiver or is late, it will delay owner payment to us and thus delay payment to the rest of our subs. The bank is concerned about, and our question is: Is a lender who records a mortgage after construction starts at risk (of the sub being in first position for a lien) for the duration of the project? Managing the lien waivers - does the type matter or not if the lender is in 2nd position for a lien and if they do matter, does being in 2nd position get absolved as of a certain date? We usually don't encounter this issue, but post-covid, A LOT of banks are now asking us for extra waivers and paperwork and pushing back on our solutions to mitigate that paperwork, while still ensuring and proving that we are tracking waivers and paying our subs. Every bank has a different request, and usually, they are fine with getting the Conditionals and check register as proof, but this bank is really pushing back because they are concerned about being in this "2nd position" for a lien, and say the Unconditional will protect them from that. We are pretty confused and are not sure how to proceed here. Any guidance or proposed solutions would be greatly appreciated. ...Read More
Anonymous General Contractor
Waiting for answerAdd commentAug 3, 2021
MinnesotaLien DeadlinesLien PriorityLien WaiversRight to Lien
We are a custom home builder and have signed subcontractor agreements with our subs. (We use the same subs over and over again) My question is - How long are they good for and should we be having them signed with each new job/home? Or if we have a signed agreement are we good for the length that we use that sub.?...Read More
Anonymous Contractor
Waiting for answerAdd commentJul 28, 2021
Minnesota
Hello! Our team has a question to determine whether a lien would be valid and enforceable in a particular situation we have encountered with one of our customers. We are a granite and quartz countertops business in MN. One of the clients has signed a contract with us and was ready to proceed, so as a next step we did our part in making a trip to the client's house and we provided a labor of creating a laser template of the project. However, after that once the labor was already provided, a client decided to cancel the countertops for reasons not controlled by us and now customer is refusing to pay for the labor we have already provided. Could we enforce this payment and claim a mechanical lean ? As we understand, a lien attaches to a property interest on the day the first contribution of labor is made for an improvement, whether or not it is a visible improvement....Read More
Anonymous Contractor
Waiting for answerAdd commentJul 28, 2021
MinnesotaMechanics Lien