BREACH OF CONTRACT? HOW TO GET TEMP POLE DISCONNECTED AND RETURNED

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donnat

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colorado springs, co 80903
TEMP POLE INSTALLED AND ENERGIZED. TEMP POLE AND WIRE NEW STRUCTURE ON SAME PERMIT.
RELEASED FROM PROJECT WITH 90% OF ROUGH IN COMPLETED. RELEASED FOR NO FAULT OF OUR OWN.
BUILDING DEPARTMENT ADVISED NO LONGER ON PROJECT. ALL ELECTRICAL PERMITS REMOVED FROM JOB.
PER BUILDING DEPARTMENT- TEMP POLE PERMIT REMOVED - POWER WILL BE TAKEN DOWN TOMORROW UNTIL NEW POLE
INSTALLED, PERMITTED AND INSPECTED. THAT WAS 2 MONTHS AGO.
GC IS ON THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS AT BUILDING DEPARTMENT.

IF POWER IS TAKEN LOOSE WITHOUT NEW POLE INSTALLED, IT WILL DESTROY THE GREENHOUSE AS THE PLASTIC IS INFLATED
CONTINUOUSLY WITH FANS. SO WE OFFERED THE GC 2 WEEKS TO FIND EC TO INSTALL NEW POLE. NO ACTION TAKEN BY GC.
OFFERED TO SELL POLE TO GC, RENT TO GC, NO ACTION.

IT IS VERY INSULTIVE TO BE RELEASED FROM A PROJECT BECAUSE YOU EXPECT TO GET PAID FOR WORK INSTALLED. THEN TO ALLOW YOUR
EQUIPMENT TO BE USED WITHOUT CONSENT, ADDS TO THE INSULT.

QUESTION:
POWER SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED ON PROPERTY WITHOUT PERMIT AS JOB IS IN PROGRESS - SITE COULD BE DEEMED UNSAFE.
DO I HAVE THE RIGHT TO DEMAND POWER BE PULLED?
CIVIL OR CRIMINAL THEFT?
DO I GO AFTER THE BUILDING DEPARTMENT OR THE GC OR THE UTILITY COMPANY?
OR ALL THREE?
HOW WOULD YOU TACKLE THIS WITHOUT HAVING TO SPEND THOUSANDS?

THANKS
 
We are not lawyers but you have to wonder whether a temp pole is worth it all. I, personally would go to the job and take everything I could out of the pole. Take the breakers etc. Of course, I am not sure of why you were released so that can open another can of worms.

Talk to lawyer, especially if they owe you money
 
Dennis Alwon said:
We are not lawyers but you have to wonder whether a temp pole is worth it all. I, personally would go to the job and take everything I could out of the pole. Take the breakers etc. Of course, I am not sure of why you were released so that can open another can of worms.

Talk to lawyer, especially if they owe you money
Click to expand...

He said temp pole and wire new structure on same permit and 90% complete on rough. If I understand correctly it's a lot more than just temp pole although it's very hard to concentrate over all the shouting.

To OP: Regardless of being released from the job you are owed for the work completed.
 
If you remove your equipment or have the power turned off, the building owner and/or the GC will be able to sue you for any damages caused. Whether or not they could actually collect depends on a lot more details of your state law, but it is guaranteed to be a mess.

Clearly the building department and POCO are not doing what their own regulations and rules require them to do, but that unfortunately does not give you a free hand either.
 
Welcome to the forum. For future reference, please turn off your CAPS LOCK key; it makes your posts unnecessarily difficult to read and comes across as shouting.

I do not know what the laws in your state allow, or what your contract with the GC reads.

"IF POWER IS TAKEN LOOSE WITHOUT NEW POLE INSTALLED, IT WILL DESTROY THE GREENHOUSE AS THE PLASTIC IS INFLATED
CONTINUOUSLY WITH FANS."

So would a power or equipment failure or a breaker tripping. I dont see how that is in any way your problem. Sounds like a BS reason to me so that you wont remove the pole, or the crappiest designed greenhouse in the universe.

I am not a lawyer, however, given the info presented:

1) You have not been paid for your temporary power pole
2) Your permit for temporary power has been cancelled
3) They are using your pole, which would have been removed when the job completed anyway, without either your permission nor compensation.

I would go to the utility, inform them the permit has been cancelled, get them to remove their temporary drop, and remove my equipment. Or tell the job superintendent that is your next move unless you are compensated for work and material provided.

Is there a new EC on the job?

Contractors who do shady things like what the OP describes often are not doing everything legally themselves and, in my experience, will not sue you nor do anything other than run off at the mouth.

Short story, I remember the first day I started a new-con hotel in South Carolina. As I was pulling up, there was an 18 wheeler flatbed there with a few men disassembling and loading up scaffolding, scaffolding the GC had erected around the front of the building for the stucco guys and masons to do their job. They were no where near finished with their work. Turns out the GC was late (again) paying the rental cost, so the rental co came and got it all.

That the job wasnt finished, that it delayed the mason and stucco guys, that it cost extra money to re-deliver the scaffolding once the bill was paid, none of that was the scaffolding rental company's fault or problem.

There is a saying that "Poor planning on your behalf does not necessitate an emergency on mine".

All that written, even if legal to remove your temp power pole, it may not get you paid for the rest of the rough-in work you've done if you are kinda a-holish about taking the pole.

eta: good luck and in the future, make sure your contracts are written in such a way that, at the worst, you eat (lose) just part of your labor should things go south. Working for free is bad enough but you should never wind up out of pocket on materials. Like Dennis wrote, contact a lawyer.
 
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Seems to me that you have a legal problem. You really need to talk to your lawyer and get sound legal advice. Presumably your goal is to be paid for the work you've already completed. I'm pretty sure that if you remove the pole and somehow this causes the greenhouse to collapse the contractor is not going to pay you since he will probably go bankrupt. Again you really need good legal advice. Do nothing until your lawyer tells you what you should do. In any case do you want it to be remembered as the guy who took out his pole and caused 10 million dollars worth of damage to somebody else's property? You really think that's going to help your business?
 
IS THE POLE WORTH IT?

IS THE POLE WORTH IT?

THANKS FOR THE COMMENTS....THE BOTTOM LINE IS: IS THE POLE WORTH IT? .....OF COURSE IT IS NOT.
IT IS A MATTER OF RESPECT. I GOT PAID FOR OUR WORK THAT WAS INSTALLED. BUT I HAD TO FIGHT FOR IT. THEY PAID AND THEN HOURS LATER, I GOT THE CALL.
WHEN YOUR A SMALL COMPANY YOU WORK THE JOBS AROUND YOUR FUNDS...I DO NOT TAKE JOBS THAT PAY EVERY 30D ETC...I TAKE JOBS THAT WORK WITH MY FUNDING NEEDS. 3/4 WAY THROUGH THE PROJECT THE RULES CHANGE,.NO...IT DOES NOT WORK THAT WAY. THE JOB IS ROUGHED IN, WIRE PULLED, SERVICE SET...THE SMART STUFF...THE POWER IS HOT, NO ELECTRICAL PERMITS, HANG LIGHTS AND TRIM IT OUT...NO NEED FOR THE MASTER WITH THE HIGHER RATES..EASY TO SLIP THROUGH THE CRACKS..ESPECIALLY WHEN THE BUILD IS HOT AND THE GC SITS ON THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS AT THE BUILDING DEPARTMENT. BUT THE BEST COMMENT WAS ...IS THE POLE WORTH IT? PROBABLY NOT, IT IS JUST THE POINT THAT OUR SKILLS ARE NOT VALUED NOR RESPECTED.



donnat said:
TEMP POLE INSTALLED AND ENERGIZED. TEMP POLE AND WIRE NEW STRUCTURE ON SAME PERMIT.
RELEASED FROM PROJECT WITH 90% OF ROUGH IN COMPLETED. RELEASED FOR NO FAULT OF OUR OWN.
BUILDING DEPARTMENT ADVISED NO LONGER ON PROJECT. ALL ELECTRICAL PERMITS REMOVED FROM JOB.
PER BUILDING DEPARTMENT- TEMP POLE PERMIT REMOVED - POWER WILL BE TAKEN DOWN TOMORROW UNTIL NEW POLE
INSTALLED, PERMITTED AND INSPECTED. THAT WAS 2 MONTHS AGO.
GC IS ON THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS AT BUILDING DEPARTMENT.

IF POWER IS TAKEN LOOSE WITHOUT NEW POLE INSTALLED, IT WILL DESTROY THE GREENHOUSE AS THE PLASTIC IS INFLATED
CONTINUOUSLY WITH FANS. SO WE OFFERED THE GC 2 WEEKS TO FIND EC TO INSTALL NEW POLE. NO ACTION TAKEN BY GC.
OFFERED TO SELL POLE TO GC, RENT TO GC, NO ACTION.

IT IS VERY INSULTIVE TO BE RELEASED FROM A PROJECT BECAUSE YOU EXPECT TO GET PAID FOR WORK INSTALLED. THEN TO ALLOW YOUR
EQUIPMENT TO BE USED WITHOUT CONSENT, ADDS TO THE INSULT.

QUESTION:
POWER SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED ON PROPERTY WITHOUT PERMIT AS JOB IS IN PROGRESS - SITE COULD BE DEEMED UNSAFE.
DO I HAVE THE RIGHT TO DEMAND POWER BE PULLED?
CIVIL OR CRIMINAL THEFT?
DO I GO AFTER THE BUILDING DEPARTMENT OR THE GC OR THE UTILITY COMPANY?
OR ALL THREE?
HOW WOULD YOU TACKLE THIS WITHOUT HAVING TO SPEND THOUSANDS?

THANKS
Click to expand...
 
Your complaint is with the property owner, or if the greenhouse rents from the property owner, both the property owner and the greenhouse business. The GC is out of the picture, you have indicated.

They are using your work and equipment without paying, that is unjust enrichment. Send them the bill and if you are unable to contact them, lien it.

If you know disconnecting power will cause damage, I would hesitate before doing that and especially before contacting the property owner and billing them directly. You could possible be liable for damages caused under the law, but more precisely, the cost of the lawyer to tell you that would exceed the cost of the temp pole.

Bill the property owner directly and lien it. Let them tell you to continue or to take it away.
 
Good one.

I place a pole mounted temp once for a farm, for the sole purpose of an electric fence.

They had plans for a 'big facility', which of course i swallowed hook line, sinker....

For 3 years both the state and the poco screamed blue bloody murder , temps being a 90 day event, yadda yadda yadda...

They couldn't shut it down, lest they become liable for cattle in the road.

I couldn't shut it down via any legal means

Perhaps what we really need is an ROP for 'temp' defining it as sparky limbo , caught between heavenly jobs and the h*ll of those chronologically challenged sorts out there :)

~RJ~
 
I guess it takes a while , but after the litigation dust settles, the reality of a contract being a worthless piece of paper sinks in. I've the best example can think of too, plenty of judgments awarded me that are great for not much more than wrapping fish.

~RJ~
 
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