Q: Contractor replaced siding and gutters on my home as agreed. When I returned home, I found my screen porch gone
Contractor explained workers were at the wrong house. It was a mistake. I’ve given four months of opportunity for them to replace the porch as it was and they stayed there done but the porch is not as it was due. I have to pay them.
A:
You would likely need to at least pay them for whatever work they did accomplish minus whatever reasonable damages still remain from what they did when they accidentally removed the porch. You would need to speak with an attorney about the specifics of your case to see if that is your best course of action in your specific situation and to help figure out what, if any, those dollar amounts are. Maybe it also the matter of putting some of the funds into trust to show you are willing to pay but asking the Court to determine the amount and what should be reduced due to the damages to the porch.
It is often a cheaper and better course of action to get the contractor to fix the property than it is to bring a lawsuit to try to recover the money damages for damage to the property to pay another contractor to fix it. Thus, it does often make sense to continue to work with the contractor to make things right when possible.
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