Q: Can I sue my GC for damages?
I hired a GC in August (with a written contract) that had an estimated timeline of 6 weeks to completion. It went well in the beginning, but he began to demand advances, which we naively provided via credit card. He continued to demand advances, threatening to walk if we didn't pay, while showing up less and less. He walked off the job since we wouldn't give another advance, and we filed credit card disputes for services not rendered. We have been without our bathrooms, our kitchen, out basement, our guest room, and our study since September.
The work that he did was terrible. He did a lot of landscaping in our backyard to resolve water issues, and installed a sitting area. The entire area washed away, carrying sand all across our yard and mixing it with mulch. The sitting area caved in, as did the walkway that he installed.
We got quotes to fix and they're expensive, and most of the material is wasted or requires labor to reuse. Do we have a case to sue for damages?
A: Yes, your damages are any monies paid to the contractor for work not performed. Also, the difference between the costs you were paying this contractor and the costs to fix and/or replace.
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