Hi All,

I was hoping someone might have some insight on the best way to resolve an issue with a general contractor who has damaged items in the house during work and is now refusing to come back and fix.

Job was a large interior painting job. They promised to cover all the furniture, put everything over wood floors, carpets, etc just like you would expect. The job was quoted at 4-7 days and I am still dealing with final touch ups and now the damage 3 months later.

The contractor promised to use his own crews but had to sub contract it out due to the massive amounts of work in houston right now due to Harvey repair. The sub contractors did not follow any of the agreed rules regards to care for my house or items and I have oil based paint dumped on my carpet, which they tried to hide under furniture, multiple pieces of furniture with oil based paint on them, they painted my door stops, door hinges, and door handles, and then tried to scrape the paint off and now if the item isn't still the painted color, the metal has scratches and marks and is tore up due to trying to scrape the paint off. My biggest concern is that my hardwood floors have the same oil based paint in spots and globs pretty consistently through the house where they did not cover the floors - any attempt to bring up the paint with a solvent will strip the stain off the wood as well.

They have promised to come back for a month now to finish touch ups and clean up and each week they give a new excuse and promise next week and then i never hear from them. I'm ready to move forward with the next step to repair the damage to my items and floors. They have been paid, I paid them in good faith when they finished the walls after agreement that they would be back to finish touch up and clean up the following day and then never showed up.

Appreciate any legal advice or ideas / options for me to attempt to recover damages / cost it will take to replace / repair items.

Thanks in advance.

Hope the painter is licensed bonded and insured. If you paid him off they won't come back and hope you just suck it up and give up.

I'd get estimates of what the repairs/replacements will be. Then hire a lawyer to threaten him.

They insured?

They are insured for 2 mil.

I paid in good faith because they had worked hard to meet a deadline after all of the delays and the guys doing the work after all the sub contractors got let go we're good people, the owner is just very shady. I was trying to build a relationship for future work. Mistake, yes, but it is what it is at this point.

I do not think they shouldn't be liable for damages caused by their work and wanted to see if anyone else agreed or had been through it before.

File a claim against their insurance company - your best bet is to get your home insurance company involved as it will carry more weight than you.

Sucks to say, but you are likely going to have to get a lawyer involved as well based on the lack of response from them to get the defective work fixed properly.

ALWAYS read the contracts, and as a contractor, there is a reason the guy paying my bills holds retention against me and I hold retention against my subcontractors and on major purchase orders. Because once you send the money out, it's not coming back easily and there is little incentive for the other party to work with you.

If you can still file a mechanic's lien against the contractor (doubtful you can since the payment is complete), I'd look at that route as well.

This is likely going to take a demand letter from a lawyer to get anyone's attention.

"They have been paid, I paid them in good faith when they finished the walls after agreement that they would be back to finish touch up and clean up the following day and then never showed up."

Biggest mistake.

Why the **** are they using oil based paints? Your decision or theirs? Was the original finish oil based?

We finished a job last night...but don't ask for money up front...I think you may be fooked. See if you can get it cleaned up a little. You will probably have to refinish your floors to correct it. We just use our 5 in 1 tool and wet rag to clean up drips that escape our tarps. Sorry to hear that. Painting is hard work and hacks will do a sloppy job. Such is the trade industry. *******s.

Super sorry to hear. We finished a large renovation last year where I GCed the entire project and in my opinion, this is very typical for painters. That's because even though doing it right requires a good deal of skill and experience, just slapping paint on walls is something that anyone can do. For my project, one of the painters tried to bring his cousins over to"help out" and after seeing them work, I told them to GTFO.

For your situation, aside from taking the guy to court, can you leverage social media? If his business is on Angie's List or has a Facebook account, you can try to pressure him by leaving bad reviews. Let us know if you need recs for a reputable guy.

Thanks for the responses. Floor guy I brought out says it will need to be buffed and the poly reapplied but stain should be ok.

Looks like I'll be filing in SCC in hopes to recouperate lost $.