Q: A contractor I hired has done very poor work, keeps demanding more money and blames me for everything. What do I do?
I hired a contractor to remodel a kitchen and bathroom. He did really poor work, and refuses to fix it. When he was doing th ekitchen he found some damage to the back wall of the house. I agreed to have him fix it and the top floor of my house has dipped. I can't close a window. I have cracking in the walls. He has made a mess of my house and keeps demanding more money telling me I agreed to everything and it's not his fault. The floor is falling apart, the beam he put in the bathroom is twisted, there are holes in my ceilings and walls that he refuses to fix. He tore down an entire ceiling in one room in order to repair a leak. He took drywall off walls and stucco off the back of the house. I don't know if I have any recourse. I know he didn't pull any permits for the job.
A: You should review the terms of your contract. It is illegal for a contractor to request or accept money for work not yet performed or materials not delivered. If the work is as bad as you say, then you should tell the contractor that he should send you a final invoice for all of the work performed and you no longer want him working on your house. You should consult an attorney about possibly filing a lawsuit against the contractor for negligence, and possibly other causes of action. Moreover, if no permits were pulled for any of the work, you could be in the position where the next contractor has to pull permits for all the previous work done since it is illegal to do the type of work you are describing, without pulling any permits. This entire situation sounds like a mess and you will need an attorney to help sort it out.
Yelena Gurevich agrees with this answer
A: Attorney stoddard is correct and gave you great advice. I would add that you need a new contractor to come out and give you a written estimate of everything that needs to be fixed. The estimate should be as detailed as possible. You will need this to prove your damages.
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