AboutPeter M. Elliott Expertise First response to queries regarding extensions of time, variations orders, site instructions and payment using FIDIC and other forms of Conditions of Contract, based on English Law, and derivatives only.
Experience Value . . .
It's unwise to pay too much, but it's unwise to pay too little. When you pay too much you lose a little money, that is all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing you bought it to do.
The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot. It can't be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it's well to add something for the risk you run.
And if you do that, you will have enough to pay for something better.
. . . John Ruskin (1819 - 1900)
"We are too poor to buy something cheap"
.Romanian Proverb 2002
A lean compromise is better than a fat lawsuit.
George Herbert (English poet 1593-1633)
I said it in Hebrew, I said it in Dutch,
I said it in German and Greek:
But I wholly forgot (and it vexes me much)
That English is what you speak!" Hunting of the Snark - Lewis Caroll
Match your presentation to the reader!
The joy of food lasts but an hour, of sleep but a day, of a woman, but a month, but the joy of a building lasts a lifetime. Syrian proverb.
Comments and observations leading to improvements in the translation of FIDIC Red & Yellow books into Romanian prior to approval by FIDIC (reference 'Preface to the Romanian edition')
Question I will try to be brief, but to me this is quite complicatied. About a year ago, my husband and I hired a local contractor to do a mojor remodel/addition to our home. We signed a generic contract, and paid him the required half up front payment, almost $12,000. By late January we had not heard form him agian even though we had a start date on the contract of on or before Jan. 1st. He finally showed after many phone calls and us threatening him with breach of contract. His work was very sporatic and very sub-par, and by late March, all we had was concrete foundation( by the way, we subcontracted that out on our own) a huge mess, a gaping whole on our roof exposing us to the open air with a tarp nailed down to it and very frayed nerves. So we confronted the contractor, telling him all of our concerns and when he basically blew us off we asked for the money that had not been used back and the contract considered void. He refused of course and referred us to his attorney. He will not return any phone calls and his attorney has since dropped him. Our attorney has tied of the whole situation and we are at our wits end! We ended up hiring another local contractor to finish the job, and he ended up pulling out the majority of what the first guy had done because it was either done wrong, or had been ruined by being left out in the weather for as long as it was. This needless to say cost us quite alot of money over and beyond what we had bugeted for, and we ended up running out of money before the job was finished. We have made do with what we could do on our own, jsut so that we could move back into our house.
Basically, my question is, what is our next step? Do we have a leg to stand on, and how do we go about getting back at least part of our money?
We live in Cherokee Co. Kansas and I'm not sure what law would be applicable in this situation.
Answer Hi Tish,
If you have an attorney involved then you are spending money already. I cannot help you with specific advice without sight of the contract and all documents.
Firstly, decide whether or not you have any chance of recovering your expenses. Is the contractor still operating? Does he have sufficient reserves to return your deposit, pay your extra expenses and your attorney's fees? If the answer is no in either case, you are at the back of the queue and should walk away from the problem without spending more money. I know it hurts, but you gain nothing by prosecuting a man of straw.
If you decide to proceed then here are some general words, which may help to focus your thoughts. It would seem that the law has not solved your problem, so I suggest that you use alternative, but legal, methods. It is essential that you keep written records of all your actions, meetings and telephone calls. You must be polite and objective at all times. If you cannot be polite and unemotional, then get a third party to represent you. Emotion and rudeness are great for relieving stress, but no good for solving problems.
Contact the local press, especially TV, and get them to publicise your problem. Contact the better business bureau, any relevant trade organisation and the local planning department. Advise them of your problems, using the theme that you do not want others to suffer as you have suffered, with no thought of revenge.
Do not be disappointed if they refuse to do anything, as all you are doing is putting psychological pressure on the builder to pay up so that you leave him alone. You are now fighting a war of attrition and who will give in first?
If you want to be really sneaky, set the IRS, Labour Office, planning office and as many other statutory bodies as possible on him, but steer well clear of harassment or persecution. If he is as bad as you say, he will be breaking laws. Be polite. Be unemotional, or you will alienate your potential allies.
finally, you can have a look at www.improve.net for more information from others with similar problems. Also look at sites dealing with 'mechanic's lien'. I do not think that they will help you directly, but they may give you some ideas.
I hope that the above is of some use to you. Realistically, this type of case is very annoying for all concerned and the law is not helpful if the other party is unwilling.
Good luck and I hope that you get at least ome of your money.
