If the contract mentions nothing about soil, a question that might arise is why a test was not performed prior to planning foundation. One option could be to reach out to an attorney to discuss in further detail. Be prepared for questions to support your position that there was an issue of... View More

A North Carolina attorney could advise best, but your question remains open for three weeks. From the brief post, it isn't clear if you are the client building owner or a subcontractor. In either event, more information will be needed - reviewing the contract, specs, work performed to date,... View More

Unfortunately it sounds like the warranty has expired. You need to find a lawyer experienced with consumer cases and construction cases to review the contract you signed and get the specific facts from you. Unless you have proof of defects appearing in the first year and that you brought these... View More

Send the homeowner a demand letter for the amount owed for work done so far and the value of the tools that he has in his possession. State that he may return the tools to you within 5 days and if he returns them in the same condition they were in with no damage, he will still owe you $x for the... View More

No. North Carolina has a 6 year statute of repose for faulty construction. That typically runs from when the certificate of occupancy was issued for the home. You would have to be both within the 3 year statute of limitation and the 6 year statute of repose to seek recovery from the builder. You... View More

North Carolina courts have generally held that late fees must be reasonable and not excessive, and should generally relate to the actual damages suffered by the contractor for late payment. If you plan to add late fees to your invoices, you should make sure that the fees are clearly disclosed in... View More

What is considered "reasonable" may vary. For example, if you had to order specialty materials and delivery was affected by the recent supply chain issues, a year might not be extremely unreasonable. However, the fact that the completion date was only agreed on verbally means that you... View More

Is your mother willing to go to court personally and argue her case? Is the owner/representative of company number 2 willing to attend small claims court with her and testify against company no 1? Are your mother and the representative of company no. 2 willing to travel to the county where bad LLC... View More

If the local office is a franchise and separately incorporated, you sue them. If they are part of the main company, you sue the main company. To be cautious, you sue both. Please note that you cannot sue the out of state company in Small Claims court. You have to file in District Court if the... View More

You need an experienced civil litigation and construction attorney. Some debt collection defense attorneys have experience defending these kind of lawsuits. If the contractor placed a lien on your property and is seeking to enforce that lien and sell your property, you need someone familiar with... View More

Without research into your local ordinances and codes, I can't answer whether or not a fence is required. But I would be surprised if it was. However, failure to keep the dogs on their property would likely be considered a trespass and could be punished under criminal or civil sanctions.

Without seeing all of your paperwork, no lawyer is going to be able to give you an informed opinion. Take everything to a local lawyer and have them look it over.

There is no time limit on filing bankruptcy. He could wait years to do it, if he ever even files. There is, however, a time limit on you filing a civil suit against him for breach of contract and fraud. If you were to sue him in the county where the work was performed you would have to file the... View More

Without reading the contract, I cannot give you specific advice, but it does sound like you have a case, call a local lawyer and see if you can set up a consultation.

Talk to a local lawyer and start the process of filing a lawsuit, this will have to be in superior court and I would not attempt this without professional legal representation.

I would have to read your contract with the builder to be able to fully answer this question, but I suspect that it is silent on it. Generally, reasonableness is determined on a case-by-case basis and is a question for the jury.

It would probably be best to have an attorney review the contract before providing you advice on this question. Generally speaking, the terms of the written contract are enforceable. I think ultimately the contractor would have to show some prejudice that occured due to the failure to submit on a... View More

The statute of limitations for a contract is three years. However, there is also a statute of repose in North Carolina of six years for faulty construction. At the very least, you should given written notice to the builder of any issues that have arisen or that are warranty issues.

A North Carolina attorney could advise best, but your question remains open for four weeks. The decision to sue is yours to make. You mention wanting to take legal action, but your description mentions that the builder expressed a willingness to fix the damage. Depending on the dimensions of your... View More

There is no such law requiring a minimum 50% deposit. You will find the following information about hiring a contractor: https://www.nclicensing.org/consumerAwareness.asp (copy and paste the link into your browser).