Last year we have a bathroom remodel where the quality of work got to a point where I refused a requested payment. They terminated the contract, and then filed a mechanic's lien for the full amount of the project to which they never pursued and the 1-year statute of limitations ran out on that making the lien ineffective at this point.

I am of the opinion my evidence of their work that was not to code and poorly done that I brought to their attention kept them at bay from pursuing. In short - they know they did a crummy job and were hoping I would cave under some legal pressure to pay and I didn't.

I have spent money on an attorney that basically got me nowhere but letter writing and disagreement on some sort of settlement (contractor wanted full payment, I wanted payment to correct work already paid for - total stalemate).

I paid someone else to come in and fix electrical work, an improperly installed window, and some trim work and paint - not to mention some work I did my self for finishes and touch-ups.

I am tempted to go to small claims for these items, which would total approx $1100. What I don't want to do is open up a can of worms that gives the contractor an avenue to claim the remaining balance on the project in some way (which doesn't make logical sense to me), and then on top of that - legal fees.

My attorney said for the money involved here to just leave things alone and move on, but $1100 is $1100 and I want to make a point because these folks really screwed us over. There is a host of other issues out of code that get this number close to the $10k max for small claims too (example - they built a wall that leans more than code allows). My thoughts are if I push back and file something, the money involved is not worth it to them to pay attorney to fight and might settle. I am just playing the table here and betting they think I have just gone away...

general thoughts from the board...?

A lot depends on the answers to these 2 questions:

1) What does your contract say about payment disputes?

2) Does this contractor have in house counsel?

1) by contract we had to go to mediation. We did not reach a settlement. 2 days later - lien filed (which has now expired)

2) In-house counsel, no but they used two different attys (and I think I know why). My attorney talking with theirs - they would not listen to any settlement offer that didn't have money coming to them, where as my settlement offer was a dollar amount to a) complete their work they didn't finish, b) repair what they did poorly and c) repair damages done to my home as a result of their work.

The net result is - even if I paid them what they were requesting (approx 5K), the offset to repair everything was in my favor by a few thousand (at least according to me)...so I see this as a situation where I am owed money and they don't

more context...the first attorney they used is what my attorney called a "drive-thru lawyer", one who for a fee puts together a lien letter with a bunch of threats. Some of these threats mis-represented the law, and my attorney made them aware of it and threatened DTPA on them. They acknowledged it as an "inadvertant oversight".

they then filed the mechanic's lien, and all of it was valid, but did nothing for the 1-year time limitation for which to foreclose on it, so as I understand it - it is essentially ineffective and may or may not cloud title when selling, unless reasonable minds are present.

Does the contract not specify next steps if mediation is unsuccessful?

it's a poorly constructed contract to begin with, but no:




and




IMHO, this is a stupid thing to put into a contract and gives me a lot of leverage:

what was the total contract amount?

26K

Will this cloud the title when you eventually sell?

as was explained to me...

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Once expired, no way to remove the lien from the title, and its useless to remove because it has NO POWER. Its what is generally referred to as a Cloud on the Title, no legal significance, just causes concern.

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If you have an attorney friend who's willing to work for you for free, I'd say have at it, but if not, contact an attorney, and get a best/worst case scenario cost and decide from there. It will likely be more trouble and $$ than it's worth.

If you're stuck on the principal of the matter then take it to social media and spread the word on every outlet possible about your experience (using only fact based, verifiable information of course) to prevent others from falling victim to the same practices. Who knows, they may even reach out and try to settle things in response. Granted its a drastically lesser amount, but for me 1 facebook post and 1 five minute followup call was all it took for me to be reimbursed $500 that I was improperly charged by a company after spending 7+ hours on the phone over 3 days and being told "too bad so sad... nothing anyone can do" by 5 different customer service reps & supervisors. The sad reality is that sometimes that is the only way to get results these days.

Or they sue him for libel. Won't hold in court, but it also won't be free to go to court. But perhaps on social media you could ask if anyone else had any issues....and go from there.

Tough situation. Hope op gets made whole because that sucks balls.

BrazosDog02 said:

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Or they sue him for libel. Won't hold in court, but it also won't be free to go to court. But perhaps on social media you could ask if anyone else had any issues....and go from there.

Tough situation. Hope op gets made whole because that sucks balls.

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That's why I said

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(using only fact based, verifiable information of course)

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There is no libel if the statements made are true.

I would do it for the max amount allowed in small claims..$1100 prob isnt worth your time..
If you have enough details to show the larger job was botched he will have a tough time explaining this.

In hindsight, it should not have gotten this far where $1100 was left on a $26k job that seems ****ty all around.

Get your story down, document a timeline and fire away..

I have everything documented, to the tune of about 8K - emails, text messages, etc.. The $1100 is out of pocket costs - hard costs - I have incurred since they left and have had an electrician and a window/trim company come out and finish up and correct work. The window was part of a change order on the project, which I paid up front...and it never got done a) right or b) finished. I paid $1800 for a new window above a bathtub/shower. The first ordered the wrong glass finish, and installed it anyway, telling me they would replace the glass later. They did - with non-tempered glass. So I was left with non-tempered glass window and the outside trim/paint was not finished. I paid for the right glass, installation and then trim addition and paint. That to me is a clear win - I want that money back. Same thing on the electrical work - it was not completed, so I had to have someone come out to finish that up to ~$290.

when they asked for the second to last draw on the project is when I said I needed to see things finished first, since I had already paid for those things, and that is when things went south, and they walked

The remaining $6K is stuff I have had estimates provided for me to fix, but have not incurred those costs yet. Here is the rundown:

1) sheetrock patchwork from a hole their worker made at the bottom of my stairs. It was an accident, but that doesn't matter - it needed to be fixed. I patched it myself and textured it, but I don't like the job I did on it. This happened on the day they terminated the contract when the boss, the proj mgr and the owner came to look at my complaints. The look on the owner's face was priceless when I said - "pretty indicative of the whole project right there"

2) a wall is out of plumb (new wall that they built), that is over 1/4" out of minimum allowable code. Pictures and a level don't lie. I have both.

3) a door was moved a few feet down a wall, and the door jamb was put in out of plumb, and the door opens by gravity. This wall however was an existing wall that does in fact have a lean to it, but my point is that where the door was originally - it did not have this problem, AND if they had just laid a level up to framing OR the jamb when moved we could have addressed the problem then. That didn't happen. lack of proj mgmt oversight and QA.

4) tilework on floor is not straight and they cut 12x18 tiles to fit places and it just doesn't look good. Walls should be square and tile should be laid straight, period.

So, the wall, the door/trim/jamb and the tile work - ~$6-7K on top of what I have already paid out for window and electrical.

As far as social media/complaints and stuff - factual based evidence I am fully prepared to put out there. But it is scary as some people get sued for this stuff, so diligence with words is a premium here.

Here is a snippet from an email from them, when I raised an issue with them...the issue was - there needed to be a vent put into the bathroom, and they did not estimate that in their job, but they decided to bill me for it after the work was done. I said that this should be a change order that needs my approval, and I am fine approving it I just need to know what the cost is:

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...you are completely 100% correct that extras and change orders must be written up by the project manager and signed by the client/homeowner. It says so not only in our contract but it's also a Texas Property Code law. However, XXXXX just goes right into operations and gets the job done. Most of the client jobs he supervises settle up the small amounts with us at the end. XXXXX writes up debits-credits, often as just a text message to our clients, usually undisputed, the client will issue payment happy the remodel ordeal is over. It seems that's how old school business was done here in Texas years ago, with just a handshake. That's how XXXXX grew up as did XXXXXX but I know it doesn't make it legal.

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also keep in mind the contract states "contractor is responsible for satisfactory completion of the work".

BTW I dug into county records and found two other people who had liens placed by this contractor and through some interwebz research tracked them down and spoke with them on the phone. Per settlement, one was not allowed to discuss (but some hypotheticals were discussed and I can conclude the same proj mgr involved here and same results). The other had such minor work done that quality was not the issue, but business wise they had a rough time working with them.

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In hindsight, it should not have gotten this far where $1100 was left on a $26k job that seems ****ty all around.

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that's not the case at all...there were two more payment draws - approx $5600 an $2700 left. They asked for the $5600 payment and that is when I brought up issues. They terminated contract based on my "refusal to pay", which is in their right to do so under the contract. I get that. But THEN they filed a lien for the 5600 and 2700 remaining balance, plus some other project overages on allowances... ~$10k That is their claim.

They are not entitled to the final draw, because the final draw - per contract - is due "upon completion", which was never done. So that $10K gets reduced. When you back out the stuff I have already paid for in other draws that was done incorrectly, combine that with the costs to get it done correctly, combined with the costs to finish things that were not finished and to repair damages to my house, the net offset is monies owed to me. That's my claim.

Sorry to hear about your issues. This type of thing is what keeps me from ever starting a project. How can I verify the contractor is capable of meeting my requirements? They all say they're capable. The reality is maybe 5% are actually good at what they do. The rest just caulk or spray texture over their shoddy workmanship.