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Payment Disputes Questions
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Payment Disputes
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I am a furniture installer, and we are never told when we work on a PW job, but every so often my employer will go in my payroll history and “adjust” payment for a job that I worked on or completed up to several months prior. Sometimes I will see an hour or more on my current paystub marked as PW, when I spent anywhere from one hour to a full week even on a specific job. Is this legal? And why am I not being told when I am working a Prevailing Wage job???
OhioAt the time we did the due diligence and research, we only could identify one HOA for the entire development. All research led to Highpoint Condo Assoc located at 204 Manatee Ln, Fort Pierce, Fl. Because the contract (Exhibit A-1238 & Exhibit A-828) between BDR & Highpoint referenced the same address, we believed we had the correct HOA. There was no indication that there was more than one HOA in that development. I will refer to the 3 projects as 1238, 830 & 828. Below is the timeframe on each job.
Job 828:
May 29 - BDR requested materials – Material order #1 - $7,038.57
June 18 – Material Delivery confirmed
July 18 – Prelien sent (Exhibit B-828) (30 days after materials delivered)
Sept 10 – lien recorded (Exhibit C-828) (84 days after materials delivered) suppliers have 90 days to record lien.
Oct 14 – Jesse spoke with Steve at Highpoint Condo Assoc (Section I) and was told that all 3 properties were located in HOA Section III.
Based on this information it was determined that Billd would attempt to AMEND the lien with new owner information to preserve the lien time frame of 90 days from delivery of materials on each of the 3 liens.
Oct 30 – Amendmended lien recorded – Exhibit E-828 to reference the correct owner
DATE____?_______ Partial payment was made by BDR on job 828 leaving balance at $2038.57.
Job 830:
6/5/19 – BDR requested materials – Material Order #1 - $2,990.15
6/19/19 - BDR requested materials – Material Order #2 - $7,027.39
7/3/19 – Material Delivery confirmed
8/20/19 – Prelien sent – EXHIBIT B-830 (48 days after material supplied – this was requested on Aug 13 in LEvelset- was sent late)
9/19/19 – Lien recorded – Exhibit D-830 (78 days after materials supplied)
10/3/19 – BDR paid off material order #1 $2,990.15
Oct 14 – Jesse spoke with Steve at Highpoint Condo Assoc (Section I) and was told that all 3 properties were located in HOA Section III.
Based on this information it was determined that Billd would attempt to AMEND the lien with new owner information to preserve the lien time frame of 90 days from delivery of materials on each of the 3 liens.
10/30/19 – Amended lien recorded – Exhibit E-828 to reference the correct owner – The dollar amount was not amended and still liened for the full contract. We failed to deduct the $2990.15 that was paid, however a Waiver and release on progress payment was issued for the payment received.
11/15/19 – Amended Notice to owner created at the request of client. Exhibit F-830
JOB 1238:
6/11/19 – BDR requested materials – Material order #1- $6,035.86
7/10/19 – confirmed delivery of materials
7/22/19 – prelien sent Exhibit B-1238 (12 days after materials delivered)
10/2/19 – Lien recorded Exhibit D-1238 (84 days after materials delivered)
Oct 14 – Jesse spoke with Steve at Highpoint Condo Assoc (Section I) and was told that all 3 properties were located in HOA Section III.
Based on this information it was determined that Billd would attempt to AMEND the lien with new owner information to preserve the lien time frame of 90 days from delivery of materials on each of the 3 liens.
10/30/19 – Amended lien recorded Exhibit E-1238 to reference the new owner
11/13/19 – Amended Notice to owner per client request.
FloridaI was hired by my neighbor to do a complete basement finish on her home. I drew up the plans, made a complete material list, I did shopping and material pickup,and performed the labor and installations up until she said I was no longer to work on her house. There are several reasons that I believe her decision was based on. Political difference,I would not accept sexual advances ,and also to keep the money for herself. I would be happy to go into detail on everything. Also , I am not a contractor, I'm just a guy that has been in construction for a number of years and she was well aware of this.
MinnesotaWe have built a single family home in Bellingham using a contractor. We have paid the full contract price plus extra to cover change orders. We have discovered that the contractor owes $65,000 to sub contractors who are now threatening liens. None of them sent notices. The contractor is asking for an additional $90,000 to pay the subs usong time and material charges that we never authorised.
What can we do?
WashingtonHello, I hired a Custom home builder to build our dream home. Short Version: We were quoted 6 months and $291,000 to build. It has been over a year (4 different superintendents) and the build is $30k over budget. We (the home owner and loan carrier) have had to shop for other sub-contractors and suppliers, because if we went with the ones that were provided we would be even more over budget. We feel that the budget was purposely underbid to win the contract. The GC didn't even send the floor plans out for bids but estimated. I have had to go into the house fix items myself because the sub-contractors would not. There have bee major issues with framing and plumbing. There has been some damage the insulated garage doors by one of the subs and the GC refuses to cover. He states he doesn't know which sub it was and that it could of been one of the subs I hired. At the time frame the damage occurred there was only one sub we hired (flooring) had nothing to be around the garage doors.
My questions:
Is he obligated to cover the damaged garage door panels.
We believe for the amount of work we have had to put in that he does not deserve the complete GC fee, are we obligated to pay it? The issue is we have already paid him 90% of the fee and believe that some should be paid back.
Thanks,
Josh H
OklahomaWhat can I do short of a long expensive litigation if the General Contractor is fraudulently billing
I experienced a small stove fire October 31, 2018. The GC breached the contract gave access to my insurance claim information to a restoration company and access to my home. And many other issues. We agreed to terminate the contract in May 2019, however, he continues to submit a fraudulent bill for work completed which in turn delays the termination and restoration of my home to include kitchen, walls, flooring etc.
North Carolina There are 3 active parties out of the 4 involved in this project. Merri Axt is the person planning on moving in to the property and the sister of Frederick Axt. Who I discovered yesterday owns the house and is also incarcerated in the Texas Department of Corrections. The property was put in his name in 2011 by there now deceased mother for one reason or another.
Janet Green is Merri's aunt and Melissa Hicks is a close friend of Janet & the deceased. It was there idea that Merri move into this property and out of the one she was living in with her mom for many years.
Melissa Hicks called me and asked me to help on this project and I met with her on the job for the walk thru for the initial bid. I met with her and Merri the second time to finalize things and we verbally agreed on terms and Merri gave me a deposit to start the job and later gave me funds for materials for extra items added to the bid.
TexasCustomer and GC signed contract November 2018, with work expected to start February 2019. Customer contacted GC via email multiple times to get project started and never received a date. July 2019 customer told GC contract was going to be terminated for default. GC asked for meeting and customer agreed. At the meeting customer issued Constructive change order by removing many line items from original contract because customer had to contract others to get essential work done when there was no response from GC. Subsequently to July 2019 meeting and promise to complete job by October 19, 2019, GC has missed 4 promised deadlines for completion, has provided sub-standard work that has been noted and recorded by locality inspectors. GC unilaterally increased price of contract and now demands that customer pay the increased contract price. Can the GC legally do this?
VirginiaWe signed a subcontractor agreement with an asphalt sealcoating company to perform asphalt paving work at an apartment complex. The total agreed upon amount was $20,200 with $6000 as a down payment. We signed a contract stating we agreed to do the job for these amounts, but we told the contractor from the beginning we would need more money for materials than just the $6000. We were verbally told they were waiting on payments from other jobs and they would supply more money towards materials after they received funds. We proceeded with the work without incident. We did a small side job for this same company on a Saturday and we were supposed to be paid $2400 within a few days. No contract for that job, but I do have messages stating the amount. We were only given $1500 of the $2400. As time went by we quickly spent the $6000 down and asked contractor for more money for asphalt. They agreed to pay the asphalt plant for $1600 in material put down and used and any other asphalt needed to complete the job. We showed up on what should have been the final work day. The contractor was supposed to pay the asphalt plant, but was conveniently missing from the job site. Then a dump truck showed up with cold asphalt in it. We called the asphalt plant, they agreed the asphalt was no good and asked to send the truck back, they were not charging us for that material. Meanwhile, the contractor still did not show up and pay the asphalt bill from the previous day so we stopped the whole job. The contractor showed up 3 hours later upset that we stopped the job and then refused to pay the $1600 asphalt bill. His wife then sent me a text message saying they never agreed to pay it in the first place (which they verbally did). This sudden 180° flip made me suspicious, so I started doing research into this contractor. On the exact date I signed a contract with him, another local asphalt company filed a lawsuit against them for failure to pay them $23,500! (They were a subcontractor also). Once I found this out I went directly to the property manager (who is not the owner). The property manager wants me to enter into a contract with him and bypass the contractor I currently have a signed contract with. The contractor refused to allow this, instead they are trying to force me to sign an amendment which says I owe them $1000 for things I never agreed to pay for, and that they get final approval of the job before I get my money. I feel they will just look for anything to get out of paying me. Now the contractor is saying I have 3 days to finish the work or they will have someone else come in and I then will not receive any more monies. What am I supposed to do in this situation to protect myself! Nowhere in our agreement does it state I have to have the job completed by a certain date. Please help!!!
IndianaHi - I have a very difficult client who is resorting to finger-pointing and lies to get out of paying our last 2 invoices. I was just informed of mechanical liens. In reading up, it seems as though I need to file a notice within 45 days of beginning work, which of course I have not done since I am just learning of liens now.
I was chatting with you online and was told to send this email to get a response from a lawyer with help and my rights.
I own a design company. I am a licensed LLC. But I do not hold a professional license such as a licensed contractor, plumber, architect etc.
The project is nearly complete. Mid-August we hit pause on our design work because they were out of money but they continued to ask us questions along the way, they just did their best to reduce the communication so as to save money. They took on getting the marble themselves but I informed them that I would still send them an invoice for the work we had done on the marble to-date and then one final/large invoice on the project for our hours. They are reducing our efforts with things like "it's easy to send an email to a vendor" and "we barely even ask you any questions now." Things that are not tangible, and are rude. We initially said we would pre-bill buckets of hours that they'd pull from. Well, they blew through all of those hours in only a couple of weeks so we started invoicing traditionally (invoice after hours incurred). Now they are using that as their tactic to saying they didn't agree to the hours, which I find humorous because they're the ones that keep calling/texting, etc. I do not wish to get into an arguing match and finger-pointing like they are doing. I simply wish to follow the law by sending them notices asking for payment, and stand our ground by invoicing fairly for the hours we spent on their project.
I have also already given them $5000 (I'll double-check that number) of free labor hours, all of which I've tracked in previous invoices I've sent them and that they've paid. They also keep adding on scope with the contractor, and asking him to keep giving them additional work so I know they have money, they just don't wish to pay us for our time as it isn't a physical element in their space.
I am in the state of MN.
MinnesotaI live in San Jose, CA. I hired a contractor to complete some repairs to a bathroom. The contract was for $20,000. To date, I have paid them $14,997. I owed them $5,003. I couldn't pay the balance because my soon to be ex-husband filed bankruptcy and I needed an attorney to file a Stay of Relief. I wasn't trying to not pay them but the demand letter the title received was for $13,000 which includes 10% compounded interest from the date of filing which was May 2019. Do I have any recourse.
Californiacontractor performs work per scope of work.
owner makes payments per agreed upon schedule.
after completion, owner refuses to make final payment and instead makes claim that work was defective and threaten to file claim with bond and general liability.
CaliforniaHow dose Miller Act works on government oversea project?
Building located in Taiwan.
WashingtonHello,
I have a standard arbitration clause in my construction contracts, and I am in a dispute with a general contractor who hired me decided to terminate the contract after the work was performed. The project was for one day of work, however, the site was in a different condition than he specified, and which I described in the contract, and was going to require another day of work. When I brought this up to him and stated that this was going to require more money, he insisted that I cease work, remove my materials and tools.
This was a small job of $6,325 and I want to sue the general contract in small claims court to get paid for the day of labor and the special order material I had to purchase for this job. Since arbitration requires anywhere between $750-$1,500 filing fee, can I take the general contractor to small claims court and waive the arbitration clause from my own contract?
Thank you,
Samantha Suter
CaliforniaI furnished labor and materials for the contract, the gentleman refused to apply for any permits from the city at all, when confronted about this by the city, was then shut down by the city for no permits, he then literally told me since he couldn't do anything, he wasn't then going to pay me for the work already done. My contract States he was to apply and have all permits by him, do I have a lien ability in this situation??
Florida