MatrixMan

Hello. It is now 12pm est on Dec 16, 2009. According to the rules I should be able to enter your built-ins contest. When I attempt to do so I get a page saying you are no longer accepting entries. Why?

This truly is illegal, and I doubt that it is an actual contractor doing that. If it is, he is not very smart. Some have already mentioned how many more problems this creates for him. The contractor's only recourse is to file a lean on the property and sue the owner.

I am not a contractor. On the other hand, we recently built a large home which we contracted out ourselves. Everything went well except the electrical. The contractor we hired to do the work put in the service while we were negotiating the rest of the contract (my BIG mistake). He would never agree to reasonable terms, so I decided to find someone else. He sent me a bill which was about 5 times usual and customary charge for the work he did. I had three other contractors bid the job, and also give me estimates for the work the first contractor did. I took the average of their estimates for his work and sent him a check stating "paid in full." He called me. He said I have to send him the full amount or he was coming over and ripping out everything he put in. I said "no you aren't." I called the police, who called him about his threat to break the law. He clearly had the option of ripping up the check and suing me for the full amount. He chose to cash the check and I have never spoken with him since. He turned out to not be so dumb after all.