Would you accept a P.O. Box as the contact and billing address?

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SBuck

Member
I ask because if you do not get paid and have no other contact info who do you go after?:?:?:?

Thank you in advance to your replies.
 

SBuck

Member
I figure if they accept the bid I will get an actual address and person responsible. So far I have only dealt with the property manager and he said he makes out the checks. I left it at that because I doubt they will accept the bid.

Thank you for your help.
 

satcom

Senior Member
I figure if they accept the bid I will get an actual address and person responsible. So far I have only dealt with the property manager and he said he makes out the checks. I left it at that because I doubt they will accept the bid.

Thank you for your help.

Our area may be a rare case but just about all the property management companies hire a property manager to distance themselves from any contact when it comes to paying any bills, and the really tough ones pull the it's the condo assn holding up the payment not us they play one against the other, and you get caught in the middle waiting for a payment that may never come, but you could wait and hang around the PO Box until their bag man picks up the mail, and follow him back the their hide out.
 

GUNNING

Senior Member
Notice to owner

Notice to owner

I would accept it. There is always an address associated with the notice to owner of the property. That would be found by looking at the property records and or the documents like the notice of commencement or the license information. If you are distrustful of the agreement, fix that with a contract noticing the property owner.
 

stevenje

Senior Member
Location
Yachats Oregon
I ask because if you do not get paid and have no other contact info who do you go after?:?:?:?

Thank you in advance to your replies.

It's not about where the bill gets sent to, it should be about knowing who your doing business with. If you are worried about not getting paid, then get paid before leaving the job or don't work for them.
 

tshea

Senior Member
Location
Wisconsin
We send bills to PO Box all the time. The real question is WHO are you working for?

You can file a lien on the property. The owner info is usually online on the county website. You can also go to the County Courthouse and look up the property/owner information with the Register of Deeds.

You also know WHERE the job is, so it's easy to find the owner.

Most of our customers who are "hidden behind PO Boxes" have their property managers pay the bill. With Condo Associations we send them a lien notice immediately. We also get the names & phone numbers of the officers. We get paid quickly.
 

SBuck

Member
I looked up the property records before I posted and that is why I asked the community. The property is owned by one person and the tax records for all the properties this person owns in the county show a different P.O. Box than the one that was given to me for billing.?:?

Because I am new to the stick it to everyone game this threw up a huge RED flag. I plan on speaking to my attorney to see what we could do if something went wrong because in this small city there are a few universities and because of it there are many property managers that probably play the same game.
 

renosteinke

Senior Member
Location
NE Arkansas
I would hope so! All my mail goes to a PO Box, and my phone is a cell phone.

The PO Box is in Arkansas, the jobsite in Tennessee, my phone originates in St. Louis, my bank is in Nevada, and I just ordered tools from New York.

Just why do you think there are mechanics' liens? Mechanics' liens were developed for the express purpose of giving you some protection in situations like this one.

Otherwise, it's no secret that many slumlords like to hide from their tenants- incorporating many buffers between them and the property. Illinois even allows property to be held in a 'blind trust,' concealing ownership.
 
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Sparky555

Senior Member
I would hope so! All my mail goes to a PO Box, and my phone is a cell phone.

The PO Box is in Arkansas, the jobsite in Tennessee, my phone originates in St. Louis, my bank is in Nevada, and I just ordered tools from New York.

Just why do you think there are mechanics' liens? Mechanics' liens were developed for the express purpose of giving you some protection in situations like this one.

Otherwise, it's no secret that many slumlords like to hide from their tenants- incorporating many buffers between them and the property. Illinois even allows property to be held in a 'blind trust,' concealing ownership.

Liens in Illinois are almost worthless. It's good money for lawyers though.
 

Fulthrotl

~Autocorrect is My Worst Enema.~
I ask because if you do not get paid and have no other contact info who do you go after?:?:?:?

Thank you in advance to your replies.

depends on who or what it is... you can always file a mechanics lien on
the property, which means you can stand in line with everyone else who
files the same thing if and when it is sold and clears escrow.

if you are a contractor in calif. however, that remedy is not available.
you have to sue them in small claims court. or large claims court. or whatever.
then you have to try to collect it. unless it's a lot of money, it's not worth the time....

as a bad debt, you can take it off your taxes... all of my written contracts
have a 25% per month penalty if not paid.... honest folk never raise an eye,
and by the time i charge it off as noncollectable, it leaves me with a very
large write off... i had someone ask me about it once, and i explained why,
and that was that...

don't do any jobs you can't afford to not get paid for... if the jobs too
big for you, and you can't get enough money at signing to make the
risk acceptable, you can't afford to take the risk.
 

Sierrasparky

Senior Member
Location
USA
Occupation
Electrician ,contractor
Liens in Illinois are almost worthless. It's good money for lawyers though.

Yea I would agree. Those leins are worthless. The only way they are good is if you have a lot of money owed and your customer cannot come up with contstruction defects or other complaints otherwise you have nothing. I say this because The first thing I would do as a scupulous customer if you filed a lein would be to file a complaint to the contractors board regardless of the merits. I would make any type of inflamatory remarks as I could come up with. This lein would end right there ...
 
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