DansProfElec
Member
- Location
- Huntington beach, CA
What is the correct procedure to follow in order to protect myself from losing any of my legal rights to this in progress contract and what the customer owes?
The customer does not want me on the site and claims he is going to hire another contractor to finish the job. The customer said he does not intend to pay the remaining balance on the contract, because he wants to deduct the cost of the other electrical contractor’s work to finish the job. I have a signed contract and a signed change order with a balance of about $10,000.00 when finished. I am concerned about the Warranty ramifications and liability of another electrical contractor.
The customer has fabricated a phony story that I threatened his wife and forced me off the job site at ¾ of the way through setting finish. This problem is a result of the owner’s wife trying to manipulate me into installing chandeliers when we had contracted to install surface mount ceiling fixtures. I told her I could not assemble and install a chandelier for the same price as a surface mount fixture. After I refused to do more work for the same money and I refused to let her try to manipulate me emotions flared. He is claiming that I can no longer be at the job site because I threatened his wife and family (I did not threaten her and I have a witness). He wants me to send him an invoice for what is completed and a substitution of contractor document. The customer said, “When I get the invoice, if I think it is a fair price, I will pay it”. He followed that up with “If it is not fair, I will do everything in my power to put you out of business, including a Yelp review that will keep every customer away”.
I am a licensed electrical contractor in California (12 years), working in Orange County. This project is located in Newport Beach California. This is a small 2 story beach house approximately 2200 sq. feet that was gutted, and being remodeled. The owner is managing this project as owner builder. The owner does not live in the house and lives about 1 ½ hours away. The owner visits the job site infrequently and no one is on site to manage the project. This project was started in February of 2016 and is still not finished. Countless problems have caused delays because of the lack of building experience by the owner and an inexperienced architect. The project has been delayed so many times that a few of the subcontractors have been waiting do the final work since March of 2016. Most of the subcontractors I have talked to are complaining about all the changes and losing money on all the extra time it is taking to do the work.
On July 11th there was an earlier problem with the husband harassing me and trying to manipulate me because he had some compulsion to get the siding contractor to start before the rough electrical and plumbing was finished or inspected. He sent me numerous angry texts and an email claiming I abandoned the job site. He said that if I did not show up at the site that he was going to hire another contractor to finish. The truth of the matter is that I was in South Carolina at my daughters wedding and the owners had been notified in advance. I even sent the owner my schedule for July in advance. In October while the drywall contractor was installing the drywall a couple of rain storms came in and poured in through the still not completed roof. All the electrical j-boxes upstairs and bathroom exhaust fans had water pouring through. Most of the drywall had to be replaced. The siding was in of course but who needs a roof? None of the electrical that was rained on has been replaced.
If anyone has some experience with this kind of problem and would be able to give me some helpful advice, I would love to hear from you.
The customer does not want me on the site and claims he is going to hire another contractor to finish the job. The customer said he does not intend to pay the remaining balance on the contract, because he wants to deduct the cost of the other electrical contractor’s work to finish the job. I have a signed contract and a signed change order with a balance of about $10,000.00 when finished. I am concerned about the Warranty ramifications and liability of another electrical contractor.
The customer has fabricated a phony story that I threatened his wife and forced me off the job site at ¾ of the way through setting finish. This problem is a result of the owner’s wife trying to manipulate me into installing chandeliers when we had contracted to install surface mount ceiling fixtures. I told her I could not assemble and install a chandelier for the same price as a surface mount fixture. After I refused to do more work for the same money and I refused to let her try to manipulate me emotions flared. He is claiming that I can no longer be at the job site because I threatened his wife and family (I did not threaten her and I have a witness). He wants me to send him an invoice for what is completed and a substitution of contractor document. The customer said, “When I get the invoice, if I think it is a fair price, I will pay it”. He followed that up with “If it is not fair, I will do everything in my power to put you out of business, including a Yelp review that will keep every customer away”.
I am a licensed electrical contractor in California (12 years), working in Orange County. This project is located in Newport Beach California. This is a small 2 story beach house approximately 2200 sq. feet that was gutted, and being remodeled. The owner is managing this project as owner builder. The owner does not live in the house and lives about 1 ½ hours away. The owner visits the job site infrequently and no one is on site to manage the project. This project was started in February of 2016 and is still not finished. Countless problems have caused delays because of the lack of building experience by the owner and an inexperienced architect. The project has been delayed so many times that a few of the subcontractors have been waiting do the final work since March of 2016. Most of the subcontractors I have talked to are complaining about all the changes and losing money on all the extra time it is taking to do the work.
On July 11th there was an earlier problem with the husband harassing me and trying to manipulate me because he had some compulsion to get the siding contractor to start before the rough electrical and plumbing was finished or inspected. He sent me numerous angry texts and an email claiming I abandoned the job site. He said that if I did not show up at the site that he was going to hire another contractor to finish. The truth of the matter is that I was in South Carolina at my daughters wedding and the owners had been notified in advance. I even sent the owner my schedule for July in advance. In October while the drywall contractor was installing the drywall a couple of rain storms came in and poured in through the still not completed roof. All the electrical j-boxes upstairs and bathroom exhaust fans had water pouring through. Most of the drywall had to be replaced. The siding was in of course but who needs a roof? None of the electrical that was rained on has been replaced.
If anyone has some experience with this kind of problem and would be able to give me some helpful advice, I would love to hear from you.
