Hi guys,
I talked to my bank and asked them to lock up a loan for me, and they did one at 6.5%, and told me I had 30 days to get the C/O. House was finished with everything else except final electrical work. I called the electrician on 7/10/07 to let him know to come on the 7/17/07. He did not show up on 17th, but on 20th. He came on and off, and I reminded him many times to finish before 8/1/07. He finished his work last Tuesday, I called for inspection. City failed the inspection, so I called for another one, and passed it this Tuesday. I called my bank to lock in another again, since that expired, and found out that the lowest I can get is 8.5%. That’s $300 more than before. What should I do now? should I go ahead and pay the electrician the remaining 40%? or take him to court? or what? Will go with what you guys think is the best.
P.s. “I don’t know how long it will take to sell the house, so I will be paying extra 300 dollars because of him every month”
Thanks in advance
Replies
Hate to say this, 'cause your situation sucks, but did you have a written contract that explicitly states work had to be completed on a certain day?
I was not smart enough to get him to sign a paper; however, I did have a verbal agreement with him to finish. He had stated that it will take only 3 days for him to finish.
Yeah, but he never said three consecutive days.
lol Heck, are you an electrician as well?
No, but I've heard 'em all.
:)
Many years ago I had lawyer friend tell me that "verbal contracts are not worth the paper they are written on", sorry......................................
"If all else fails, read the directions"
I strongly disagree.Verbal contracts are exactly worth the paper that they are written on..
.
A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
I thought you wanted to be the A-Hole, looks like you want to be the smart-azz, LOL.
I aim to be an equal opertunity offender..
.
A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
I agree with Mike. Unless you had some agreement with the sub that he would pay any liquidated damages (try to get that one signed) you're stuck holding the bag.
Just be glad it's only $300. It could be a lot worse.
Jon Blakemore
RappahannockINC.com Fredericksburg, VA
If you had nothing in writing with a completion date I bet you're screwed.
I'd back charge the cost to repair his work to pass inspection and hope he doesn't bitch to much.
hi,I got him to fix his own mistakes..
Remember in business section of code book where it said contract can be oral or written. Can't I get him on that? If I can should I take him to court or not pay him and let him take me to court?Thanks
Edited 8/10/2007 9:51 pm ET by 1Dude
I don't have an electrical sub that would #### me like that.
I think you are out the cost, you as a general should have been able to get him there on time.
It's your responsibility.A great place for Information, Comraderie, and a sucker punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
http://www.quittintime.com/
" you as a general should have been able to get him there on time."
a General what?
contractor ...
or "professional flipper" ...
or diy'er who watched a TV show on flipping and thot "that looks easy" ...
Jeff Buck Construction
Artistry In Carpentry
Pittsburgh Pa
Calvin,You Hit the nail right on the head!!
-Lou
You had better bet on one of my jobs, that if I needed it done by a date it would be done - because I would finish it.
I won't hear of any liscences or any other crap.
I've done it before and I'll do it everytime.
When the sparKy showed up it would have been done. He would get paid for the portion that he did. Tell him " jobs wrapped up, should have been here when we were working."
I like this line of thinking!
and you're going to end up in court arguing about it spending more more money then it's worth.
It's going to be a lot of he said-she said BS.
Besides like it was pointed out. Did he say I have this completed in three days, or did he say I will have this finished in three days starting at x finishing on y? I'm not an expert of contract law however I've heard fighthing based on an oral contract is nearly impossible.
As the general it is your job to make sure that the job is completed on time and on budget. Sorry not what you want to here I'm sure.
...so I will be paying extra 300 dollars because of him every month
Sorry if this sounds harsh, but that's not the whole truth. The other part of the truth is that you'll be paying an extra 300 dollars per month because you didn't stipulate any penalties in the contract if certain dates were not met.
Yes, I've read that contracts can be verbal, but I think you would have a hard time convincing any court system that your verbal contract included an understanding that the electrician would share the additional mortgage expense if certain dates were not met.
Here's another (probably irrelevant) thought... suppose the rates had actually gone down and you got a better rate because of the electrician's delay. Would he be entitled to a portion of your monthly savings?
If you do not pay him what you owe him, you may never sell this house. You will pay him twice what you owe him just to get him off your back.
When we sign a contract that specifies a fixed completion date and damages, we build that into our price. We include enough to be able to sub out our entire contract to the most competent people we know. This raises our price considerably but gives us that assurance we need. Does the customer benefit? If they truly want to be assured of timely completion, they are. There is a cost associated with this.
Did you pay this cost or did you take his off hand comment as a firm committment?
Hi,
I knew that I should have written a contract, but thats in the past now. Hopefully I won't do that mistake again. I was looking what to do with him now, and what I got from you guys is that I should forget about it, and eat it up the cost.
P.s. "this was my first house as GC"
<P>$300 - $600. Not too bad for tuition. A lawyer's cheaper than $900.<p>Learn the difference between
<A Href="http://www.maxwideman.com/pmglossary/PMG_S04.htm#Slack%20Time">Slack </A>and
<A href="http://www.maxwideman.com/pmglossary/PMG_F02.htm#Float">Float</A>.
</P>
<P>Your next project will have different issues. Ain't this biz fun?SamT
Garggghhh! I hate Firefox. I wish my IE would connect to BT again.
Anyway, her's what my 93372.14 post to IDude should look like:
$300 - $600. Not too bad for tuition. A lawyer's cheaper than $900.
Learn the difference between
Slack and
Float.
Your next project will have different issues. Ain't this biz fun?SamT
Sam, that looks like a great web-site, thanks
I am with Calvin on this one - I'd be all over the GC.
Especially for electric trim out.
You had better bet on one of my jobs, that if I needed it done by a date it would be done - because I would finish it.
I won't hear of any liscences or any other crap.
I've done it before and I'll do it everytime.
When the sparKy showed up it would have been done. He would get paid for the portion that he did. Tell him " jobs wrapped up, should have been here when we were working."
Remodeling Contractor just on the other side of the Glass City
I feel for your situation, but... Why did the rate jump 2 points in 30 days? Feds haven't changed it that much lately. Find another bank.
Hi,
I called the bank this wednesday or thursday to lock in again, and they said its up 2 points because of all the market situation. I went on to do a little research of my own, here is what I found out. "go to bankrate.com if you want to find out as well" If the loan is above 417k, which is called jumbo loan, then the rates on those have gone up. Anything under that has gone down, and I don't get it why my bank Indymac is charging me more when I am asking for 252k. Does it sound like they are trying to milk me? Looks like I will have a good talk with them this week..
Thank you for all of your suggestions guys. I am reading every single one of them with a lots of thoughts..
Edited 8/12/2007 3:01 am ET by 1Dude
I find it helpful to cultivate relationships with other trades, especially those who
have to be licensed (for permit or other reasons). I expect them to help me make
important deadlines, which can mean I finish the job myself (on their permit).
Is your electrician a good guy who got jammed up? Maybe he will go the extra
distance on the next job because he owes you one. Alternatively, he failed an
inspection, maybe you should cut him loose. It all depends on how you feel
about him and how easy it is to find good electricians in your area.
You really need a better bank.
My bank would have done the paperwork before the rate guarantee expired and held the money until the CO was issued.
The comments that follow are general comments, relevant to the topic, but not directed at you personally.
With the recent boom in property values, I saw all manner of folks suddenly become 'real estate experts.' Inspired by such TV drivel as "Flip This House," they thought all they had to do was plan their Bermuda vacation. Wrong.
Developing property is a business. As such, there is a risk. Values might go up; they might go down. Estimates -for both time and money- may be wrong. There is no guarantee that you will profit - you might even go broke.
Construction work is famous for delays and scheduling problems. It's not as if the tradesmen sat in the shop, like the Fire Department, waiting for your call to come in. These problems are particularly bad when the General Contractor does not have his act together. Speculators who try to be their own 'general contractor' tend to have the worst scheduling trouble.
Sure, you want to make as few mortgage payments as possible. That's not the contractors' problem. Turn up the heat all you want - that cake ain't gonna bake any faster.
Restless customers often wonder why the electrician waits until the job is over to put in the receptacles. Very simple ... he does not want them to be covered in paint and texture. (Guess who pays if they go in too soon, and have to be replaced?) He needs the mud around the boxes to be hard. Nor does he want the hardware sitting around the jobsite, waiting to be broken, stolen, or thrown out. Or - even worse - the customer to try to put the things in himself.
Pay the guy for Christ's sake. Clients always think the contractor is out to screw 'em when he probably has other clients that are in just as big a hurry as you are and one job takes a little longer than expected and throws his schedule off. Construction schedules aren't written in stone, never have been and never will be unless you get that in a contract up front with the penalties.
It would be great to charge clients for money out of my pocket when they are slow paying and other opportunities are lost, but that not the way the world works.
He did the work, pay him. You're talking about taking food out of his kids' mouths because your interest rate changed. Shame on you.
Beer was created so carpenters wouldn't rule the world.