How did you find this contractor? They really can be amazing or complete nightmares which is why finding a good one is so important.

Hopefully you didn’t pay him a lot up front? You may have to end up cutting ties with this one and finding another one.

quote:

Originally posted by 6guns:

quote:

Originally posted by Rightwire:
Rent a black panel van with tinted windows. I'll assemble a group of the guys......

We will not have to worry about diamond cutting tools. You know, just in case there is a window or two.

It's kind of hard to get anything out of a contractor who doesn't own a pot to piss in nor a window to throw it out... and is living in the County Jail. You might have to just call it a loss and hire a clean-up contractor.

This is unfortunately the new normal. I've spent the last year and a half chasing after a known "good" contractor to get started on a project. Failed with at least two others earlier who came out and took information for a quote only to ghost me when I tired to get an actual quote.
Cue the "good" contractor. A full year of checking in with him before he finally got started. His one main guy moves like molasses on a cold January day but he does good work and the job is bid by the job. Currently about half way done with completion in sight. Woo Hoo.

The BBB is useless in most cases . They have no power to do anything . Hell , the contractor may not even be a member so he won't care what they think anyway . Either the guy cares about his reputation , or he doesn't .

Unfortunately I discovered the hard way that those comments here saying that there isn't much in the form of recourse against contractors rings true.

I had to fire two different General Contractors that I hired to repair our home following Hurricane Ida. The first contractor was initially hired to fix the structural damage (broken rafters and decking sheets) to our roof and then install new underlayment, shingles, and gutters. This company was out of Texas but were licensed in Louisiana. They did a pretty good job for a fair price on the roof. While writing the check for the roof the guy said that they could also do mitigation (this was already contracted to a company) and interior buildout. As I was satisfied with the work on the roof I hired them to do the interior buildout. They drug their feet for a couple of months while we were living in an RV in the driveway, then once they did start the work they would come and work for a few hours and then they wouldn't come back for days and sometimes weeks. The work they did do was subpar and they got pissy whenever I called them out on it. It turns out that the contractor that had done such a good job on the roof partnered with another company to be able to do other work. Unfortunately, the guy who ran the other company didn't have an honest bone in his body. I finally fired them and demanded a refund of the funds paid as a deposit for which the work had not been done. Long story short; their number and my number of how much of the deposit was owed was nearly $15,000 different. I contacted lawyers and none of them would take the case citing the amount wasn't worth the cost of litigation. My only recourse was that I did get their Louisiana licensee pulled.

The next General Contractor I hired I had the same issue with, but this time I didn't write a check for a deposit but instead paid as things were done. When I inevitably had to fire them as well I at least didn't get shafted out of more money. I've been doing the work myself after work and on weekends and I'm still to this day working on wall/trim paint, baseboards/shoe molding, and door casing. To be fair with the second GC; the sub contractors were screwing him over. They were chasing the money. He' tell them to come out and do X and they would simply ignore him to go work on something that they thought they could earn more money on. I can understand (not condone, but understand) someone from out of the area doing this. But for locals to be doing this makes no sense to me. They've forever damaged their reputations.

Anyway, back to the original question. Depending upon the dollar amount of your complaint, it might be worth it to find a lawyer willing to take on the case. If not, chalk it up to a learning experience and move on.

quote:

Originally posted by Russ59:
Send him a link to the Chicago United flight where an unruly passenger was subdued with duct tape. You've got a fresh roll and you know how to use it.

Hah! Never try to out duct tape a contractor!

Show him the video Dave. You know the one I am talking about

Seriously though, did you prepay or can you just fire him and move on? Hopefully the latter because the last thing you want is to "force" someone to complete a job. I don't want anyone working for me that doesn't want to be there. My advice is fire him for cause and only sue if you paid for something you did not receive and it is documented.

About 25 years ago I had a contractor attempt to rip me off for about $10k.

In the end, I sued, pro se, and won a judgment.

Concurrently I pushed the Commonwealth's Attorney to press felony charges, and the schmuck was ultimately convicted of felony construction fraud (a specifically defined crime in Virginia).

He then tried to discharge the debt in bankruptcy. I counter sued, and won, since debts incurred through fraud are not discharged in bankruptcy.

It was ten years before I got all the money owed, and then only because he violated his probation on the fraud conviction, had the suspended sentence lifted and a new warrant issued. He was sitting in prison in Maryland on an unrelated series of crimes, but when I informed Maryland DOC of the open felony warrant in Virginia, he was looking at doing the entire sentence on his Maryland charges (no early release if there is a felony warrant in another jurisdiction).

So the long and short is you can take this on yourself, but you'll need to do the legal legwork.