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Contractor charging ~3x times estimate, ~2x max price
PantsB
Fake Thomas JeffersonRegistered User regular
Fake Thomas JeffersonRegistered User regular
Hello PAers, looking for advice on how to proceed with a problem my mother has found herself in.
The Setup
My mother decided this spring she wanted to redo our small enclosed porch so it had two windows (we had removed them when we moved in 25 years ago) and put a small ground level deck on instead of a stoop (around the corner of the porch, 6 wide and maybe 10 feet long). She also wanted new flooring put in and to replace the outside light fixture. She is 62, and my father passed away in February. She's in good health, active, college educated just went back to work part time after a short retirement, so she isn't a doddering old lady but her newly widowed status, living alone and her admitting to the contractor that she didn't know that much about this stuff is probably a factor.
The Predictable Second Act
The contractor came by a recommendation from one of her tennis buddies, who tend to be rich housewives (as in my mother is going to the US Open with them, and the group w/out my mother tends to go on a cruise or two a year). He gave her an estimate on the job of $6,000 which did not include the flooring. My mother does have this in writing, and she told the contractor the absolute most she could pay for the entire project was $10,000. He estimated three weeks of labor. However he started billing my mother weekly in dribs and drabs.
There was a small shed in our backyard and the contractor offered to take it away. When asked how much, he said it would be easy since they already had the dumpster there, so that's an addition on to the original job that ended up being $1000. He also made the deck 3 feet wide (which is just ridiculous, you can barely fit on that) for half of it when the estimate called for it to cover a cement path 6 feet out. He claims "well he just had to put something down on the plans for the permit" and suddenly the wood alone for the decking is supposedly costing nearly 4K, and the job that was just about supposed to be done isn't half done. My mother starts to complain but is brushed off.
My mother picks out the flooring and the subcontractor goes around the contractor and asks my mother for the money directly. At this point, the strange invoice system is making her suspicious so she pays the flooring guy the price the three of them had all agreed upon. The contractor then acts as if she would have paid less if she'd paid through him. This had not happened with the billing done on behalf of the other subcontractors. At the same time, when the contractor was supposed to be working on the porch, my mother and uncle came home to find him repairing a fence for someone across the street.
This is when my mother really started talking to me about the whole thing, along with my sister's boyfriend who is a contractor (and son of a contractor) himself. Obviously we both think this is shady and the contractor is unwilling to discuss anything with the boyfriend. At this point, my mother has paid ~12K to the contractor plus ~1400 to the flooring guy. And then the next bill comes. For $4700+, and the project isn't done.
Where we are now
12K+1.4K + 4.7 K = 18.1K is larger than 6K you might notice. My mother would even have been willing to pay up to 2K to finish the job, but I had pretty much convinced her she should wash her hands of the guy. After phone tag, she finally got in touch with him and said it was the final straw today. This followed several complaints and brushoffs that they were way way over budget. The contractor exploded and yelled at her over the phone but she is pretty used to that (she's a government bureaucrat/arbitrator essentially). He's said she's going to send a 90 day warning or something and that lawyers will get involved.
TL;DR, the Question: Contractor charges three times initial estimate and twice the hard max for an incomplete job with no substantial modifications from initial plans. Double the initial estimate has already been paid. Does he have any substantial chance of forcing additional payment from my mother? This is in Massachusetts for those people who might be specifically familiar with state laws but are totally and completely not giving actual legal advice.
The Setup
My mother decided this spring she wanted to redo our small enclosed porch so it had two windows (we had removed them when we moved in 25 years ago) and put a small ground level deck on instead of a stoop (around the corner of the porch, 6 wide and maybe 10 feet long). She also wanted new flooring put in and to replace the outside light fixture. She is 62, and my father passed away in February. She's in good health, active, college educated just went back to work part time after a short retirement, so she isn't a doddering old lady but her newly widowed status, living alone and her admitting to the contractor that she didn't know that much about this stuff is probably a factor.
The Predictable Second Act
The contractor came by a recommendation from one of her tennis buddies, who tend to be rich housewives (as in my mother is going to the US Open with them, and the group w/out my mother tends to go on a cruise or two a year). He gave her an estimate on the job of $6,000 which did not include the flooring. My mother does have this in writing, and she told the contractor the absolute most she could pay for the entire project was $10,000. He estimated three weeks of labor. However he started billing my mother weekly in dribs and drabs.
There was a small shed in our backyard and the contractor offered to take it away. When asked how much, he said it would be easy since they already had the dumpster there, so that's an addition on to the original job that ended up being $1000. He also made the deck 3 feet wide (which is just ridiculous, you can barely fit on that) for half of it when the estimate called for it to cover a cement path 6 feet out. He claims "well he just had to put something down on the plans for the permit" and suddenly the wood alone for the decking is supposedly costing nearly 4K, and the job that was just about supposed to be done isn't half done. My mother starts to complain but is brushed off.
My mother picks out the flooring and the subcontractor goes around the contractor and asks my mother for the money directly. At this point, the strange invoice system is making her suspicious so she pays the flooring guy the price the three of them had all agreed upon. The contractor then acts as if she would have paid less if she'd paid through him. This had not happened with the billing done on behalf of the other subcontractors. At the same time, when the contractor was supposed to be working on the porch, my mother and uncle came home to find him repairing a fence for someone across the street.
This is when my mother really started talking to me about the whole thing, along with my sister's boyfriend who is a contractor (and son of a contractor) himself. Obviously we both think this is shady and the contractor is unwilling to discuss anything with the boyfriend. At this point, my mother has paid ~12K to the contractor plus ~1400 to the flooring guy. And then the next bill comes. For $4700+, and the project isn't done.
Where we are now
12K+1.4K + 4.7 K = 18.1K is larger than 6K you might notice. My mother would even have been willing to pay up to 2K to finish the job, but I had pretty much convinced her she should wash her hands of the guy. After phone tag, she finally got in touch with him and said it was the final straw today. This followed several complaints and brushoffs that they were way way over budget. The contractor exploded and yelled at her over the phone but she is pretty used to that (she's a government bureaucrat/arbitrator essentially). He's said she's going to send a 90 day warning or something and that lawyers will get involved.
TL;DR, the Question: Contractor charges three times initial estimate and twice the hard max for an incomplete job with no substantial modifications from initial plans. Double the initial estimate has already been paid. Does he have any substantial chance of forcing additional payment from my mother? This is in Massachusetts for those people who might be specifically familiar with state laws but are totally and completely not giving actual legal advice.
PantsB on
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In the future to anyone dealing with contractors: pay half up front and half when the project is completed. Make sure the contractor quotes out the entire cost of the project, and make sure the contract is iron clad that he can't add on additional charges after the fact.
Don't aim to have the guy complete the job. Instead, try to get the judge to force him to hand over any materials he might have, or get his tools in the judgment. This is the surest way to both end the guy's shady dealings, or coerce him into a more favorable remedy. If worst comes to worst, she can recover some of the money by selling them, or offer them in trade to the next, more reputable contractor who comes to finish the work.
If you don't have anything like that, it does weigh against you, but not incredibly so if the guy is as shady as he sounds. Your mom doesn't need to be dealing with the contractor anymore. Her attorney should send him written notice to stop all work so he's not still billing her, and that should be drafted as soon as possible. All contact from here on out should be between her attorney and the contractor.
Just out of curiosity, why didn't your mother ask your sister's boyfriend to do the work, instead of getting a second-hand recommendation?
Pretty much this even in the UK. A nearly identical scam was tried on my sister except on about twice the scale. They threatened to sue her and she said "Fine, send me the court date and I'll see you there with my copy of the contract". They switched tactics to simply threatening her, she recorded the call, passed it to the police and since then: silence.
He should finish the job to be honest, great work and give him some money.
Again though, that's just my opinion.
Heh... I see what you did there.
Pretty much this. Mixing business and family is usually a bad idea.
Yeah lawyering up is the next step assuming he actually does try to push this.
QEDMF xbl: PantsB G+
The law generally likes who has the upper hand for some reason. Plus you have far more proof.