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Posted by Tony on June 27, 2007, 7:18 pm
you CRACKER
I bet you can't screw in a light bulb
Im sorry. I have terretts! don't pay me no mind.
OOooooo usenet is in trouble now.10gb worth
i intend to get my monies worth
> Dear Happy Human,
>
> I have not read all the responses here as there are so many, so my
> comments may be redundant.
>
> I'm also suprised there is no written contract!!!
>
> He can probably put a lien on your house:
http://www.traditionsoftware.com/constlienbystate.php
> Be sure to verify on your own state website that the laws they cite
> here are up to date.
>
> Yes he can sue you. With an oral contract his proof of what was
> agreed upon is no better or worse than YOURS.
>
> A fair judge who saw thru this common BS ploy to get more money at the
> end after deliberately or stupidly underbidding a job would tell the
> builder he was out of luck. But you may not get a fair judge, and you
> may get a judge that thinks anyone who doesn't get a written contract
> on a HOUSE deserves to be taught a lesson. The judge might think it's
> you who needs the lesson. Or the judge might split the difference.
> Who knows. I think you'll have a hard time finding a lawyer for such
> a relatively small amount of money (in lawyers' eyes). But builders
> know these games and play them well. Good luck and next time do not
> hire any contractors without a good contract and a lawyer on your
> side.
>
>
> On Jun 23, 3:14 pm, HappyHuman...@yahoo.com wrote:
> > Our house (in Wisconsin) is finished. According to the bid we
> > accepted, we owe one final payment of $60,000 ($53,000 plus $7,000 to
> > account for change requests during the construction process) to our
> > general contractor. Now, right at the end, he suddenly says we owe
> > him $73,000. He says if we don't pay it, he's going to sue us. Can
> > he doe this to us? Here are his reasons:
> >
> > 1. His estimates were inaccurate, and some of his sources for
> > material and labor ended up charging him more than he expected.
> >
> > 2. We bothered him with a lot of changes and supervision.
> >
> > 3. Our house is worth a lot more than we're paying him.
> >
> > 4. The house too him longer to build than he expected, and so he had
> > to pay a lot more for labor than he expected.
> >
> > Here are my answers to him on each of the four issues:
> >
> > 1. Regarding his costs exceeding his estimates... We had an oral
> > agreement in the beginning that once we agreed on a project and
> > accepted his bid that the bid would not change--up or down. If we
> > made changes (we did make minor changes), we would be responsible for
> > our changes. If market prices on materials were to fall, we agreed
> > that he would enjoy the savings, but if prices went up, he would
> > suffer the extra charges. He called this "locking in," and that is
> > one of the main reasons we went with this contractor. On the detailed
> > written bid he provided us, and which we subsequently accepted, he
> > even wrote his "lock in" promise at the bottom--a few sentences.
> > Other than these written documents and or oral contract, we have no
> > official contract with him.
> >
> > 2. Regarding his claim that we bothered him with changes and
> > supervision... He never once discouraged this or said that there
> > would be extra charges, other than the cost of the actual changes,
> > which we are agreeing to pay--$7,000 for specific changes bringing the
> > total due up to $60,000. But he wants $73,000! As for his claim that
> > we bothered him with a lot of supervision and faxed notes... He never
> > discouraged this, and the only reason for the close supervision and
> > notes was because his crew made a *LOT* of mistakes that had to be
> > corrected. The work was very substandard. All of this is
> > documented. I think our supervision and notes actually helped them
> > get through the job and finish it the way we intended it to be
> > finished. They were very unprofessional.
> >
> > 3. Regarding his claim that our house is worth a lot so we should pay
> > a lot... Why should we be penalized because we came up with a great
> > design and made wise choices for materials and features? He offered
> > us a bid in the beginning, and we accepted. Now, because the house is
> > very attractive (mostly because of the land and neighborhood), why
> > should he be entitled to more money? His complaint is that he didn't
> > charge enough initially, and now he's going to lose at least $30,0000,
> > and that we should have to pay for his losses because our house only
> > cost us $290,000 and it's worth about $450,000. First of all, I think
> > it's worth $350,000 at the most, and even if it was worth $450,000,
> > that would be like a mechanic complaining because he sold us an engine
> > for $5,000 and we put it in a car we bought for $7,000, and now that
> > car is now worth $20,000--too bad, right?
> >
> > 4. Regarding his claim that the house took longer to build than
> > expected... Isn't that his fault? The reason it took longer is
> > because his crew are slow, lazy, and inept. They made a lot of
> > mistakes that they had to fix. Likewise, everything based on time
> > cost about double--the dumpster, the crane, etc. In fact, this
> > actually cost us money, because we paid four months longer than
> > expected on our construction loan without being able to live in the
> > house--shouldn't we be entitled for some compensation for that?
> >
> > This is all causing us a lot of stress, and it sounds like it's going
> > to cost us a lot of legal fees now, too. I feel violated. What can
> > we do? Please advise. Any helpful information would be greatly
> > appreciated.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Unhappy
>
>
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