Getting Final money on a public project.

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tyha

Senior Member
Location
central nc
I have this GC that is seriously dicking us around. the jobs been co'd since beginning of May. I final Pay apped on April 25th and have received nothing but a need for sub waivers which Ive provided. This is about 30K altogether so its important. what is my next step outside the GC. The city just claims the money has been released to the GC and to check with them.
 

jusme123

Senior Member
Location
NY
Occupation
JW
.....hire a lawyer who will know what the next legal step is, and read the job specs (with reference to payments).
 
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cdslotz

Senior Member
Did you file your liens within the required time frame?

Also, you haven't signed a FINAL waiver have you?
 

Fulthrotl

~Autocorrect is My Worst Enema.~
I have this GC that is seriously dicking us around. the jobs been co'd since beginning of May. I final Pay apped on April 25th and have received nothing but a need for sub waivers which Ive provided. This is about 30K altogether so its important. what is my next step outside the GC. The city just claims the money has been released to the GC and to check with them.

dunno how it is there, but here you need to have filed preliminary
notices of intent to lein with the building owner....
if those were sent in a timely manner, you can lien...

my experience with this has been that the general is robbing peter
to pay paul... i'd say you need a lawyer sending a
nastygram. you may have to sue them to get it.... the last one of
these i had to deal with was about 30k as well, which
was the entire contract amount.... they hadn't paid anything.

the recourse i used isn't one you have available to you, so i'd say an
attorney is your best shot.... and waiting patiently i don't think is in
your best interest... the GC who was in hock to me is now out of business,
and i don't know anyone else who got paid off from that job but me.

good luck.....
 

tyha

Senior Member
Location
central nc
Your right I cant lien public property but last month I filed "Lien on funds" from the city to the general contractor and thats what led me to the fact that the gc has the money.
 

MJW

Senior Member
You could also try to figure out if the GC was bonded and who the bonding company was/is. Many public projects require performance and payment bonds. I bet a call to the bonding company would light a fire under his bottom side.
 

petersonra

Senior Member
Location
Northern illinois
Occupation
engineer
You could also try to figure out if the GC was bonded and who the bonding company was/is. Many public projects require performance and payment bonds. I bet a call to the bonding company would light a fire under his bottom side.

thats probably your best bet. some people I know that do a fair amount of municipal work tell me that just threatening the GC with a call to the bonding company usually results in a check PDQ.

this does not always work though as some large companies have captive insurance companies they own that provided the bond. it is one way that large companies can say a bunch of money on a large project.
 

tyha

Senior Member
Location
central nc
You could also try to figure out if the GC was bonded and who the bonding company was/is. Many public projects require performance and payment bonds. I bet a call to the bonding company would light a fire under his bottom side.

I just received the iNfo today. The project is bonded and no its not the GC's company. so your saying to just call them. theres no form or intent to lien?IDK. I have the Company (Travelers Insurance) and the Bond number. I got it from my vendor who I mistakenly paid $12,000 to last month to clear the project or they would have done this already for me. what do you know.
 

Fulthrotl

~Autocorrect is My Worst Enema.~
I just received the iNfo today. The project is bonded and no its not the GC's company. so your saying to just call them. theres no form or intent to lien?IDK. I have the Company (Travelers Insurance) and the Bond number. I got it from my vendor who I mistakenly paid $12,000 to last month to clear the project or they would have done this already for me. what do you know.

if you would, post how this turns out for you, and what the dance looks like
to get the eagle to poop.

good information to know....

out here, preliminary notice of intent to lien needs to be filed within 10 days of
contract signing, or you cannot file a lein on the job if not paid.

and having your material delivered to the jobsite gives your wholesale house recourse
in the event of a non payment issue... they will do prelim's as well, and it lets them
go around you to get to their money, which is in your best interest.
 

tx2step

Senior Member
A phone call isn't enough, though it can't hurt. Get a copy of the payment bond from the municipality ASAP. They're usually required to give it to you. Notify the bonding company by certified mail & include copies of all unpaid billings. Include a copy of the payment bond if you can. Request (demand) that they pay you. Reserve all of your rights. Do this ASAP. You have a limited time frame to notify them, depending on the wording of the bond & applicable state laws. Certified mail is all that counts. If you miss your "window" of time, they'll just turn you down & do nothing. They're an insurance company...they don't pay unless they're legally obligated. if you provide timely notice, you have a pretty good stick to use. If you don't, you're pretty much left with suing the GC. If you're not sure how to do the notice to the bonding company, get an attorney that specializes in construction law to do it for you! But don't wait!
 

Fulthrotl

~Autocorrect is My Worst Enema.~
Good advice IMO.

I suspect just a call to the GC suggesting that getting the bonding company involved might wellr euslt in a check being forthcoming pretty quick.

this was a long while ago, but when i was single, i was dating a title insurance officer of a pretty
large firm.... i had a foreman who burned up a dimmer board, blamed me for it, and said he was
going to withhold the damage from my pay.... as he laid me off, and said there was no check, and
that was why. i got a termination slip, but no last two paychecks.

this was a signatory contractor, so those of you with experience in this, know how silly this was. :dunce:

so, i called up my girlfriend, and described what had happened... she asked for the jobsite address,
and said to be back at the generals trailer in an hour, for the show.

an hour later, i was waiting, and the process server showed up, with a lien that had already been
recorded at the county recorder, and he was serving a copy of that for informational purposes to the
GC.

no certificate of occupancy was going to be issued on that project till the mechanics lien was removed.

i got a call that evening from the foreman saying i could pick up my checks the following morning at
the jobsite... i declined, and said i'd pick them up at the shop, thank you.

when i got to the shop, i mentioned to the owner that his father, who'd started the shop and retired,
had been my journeyman fifteen years before..... he got on the phone, we chatted, i gave my old
journeyman the down low, he spoke to his son, and the lien, and the foreman were removed from the
job at the same time...

he signed the book right after me.... :angel:

simple legal instruments can have an amazing effect, if used immediately, as others have said....
 

gadfly56

Senior Member
Location
New Jersey
Occupation
Professional Engineer, Fire & Life Safety
this was a long while ago, but when i was single, i was dating a title insurance officer of a pretty
large firm.... i had a foreman who burned up a dimmer board, blamed me for it, and said he was
going to withhold the damage from my pay.... as he laid me off, and said there was no check, and
that was why. i got a termination slip, but no last two paychecks.

this was a signatory contractor, so those of you with experience in this, know how silly this was. :dunce:

so, i called up my girlfriend, and described what had happened... she asked for the jobsite address,
and said to be back at the generals trailer in an hour, for the show.

an hour later, i was waiting, and the process server showed up, with a lien that had already been
recorded at the county recorder, and he was serving a copy of that for informational purposes to the
GC.

no certificate of occupancy was going to be issued on that project till the mechanics lien was removed.

i got a call that evening from the foreman saying i could pick up my checks the following morning at
the jobsite... i declined, and said i'd pick them up at the shop, thank you.

when i got to the shop, i mentioned to the owner that his father, who'd started the shop and retired,
had been my journeyman fifteen years before..... he got on the phone, we chatted, i gave my old
journeyman the down low, he spoke to his son, and the lien, and the foreman were removed from the
job at the same time...

he signed the book right after me.... :angel:

simple legal instruments can have an amazing effect, if used immediately, as others have said....

Remind me not to tick you off. You've no doubt gotten craftier and more ornery with age! :lol::lol:
 
Location
Texas
Also, it is in your best interest to not pay all final invoices on a project. I had one of my suppliers assist in getting final payment. Sunbelt Rentals was a company we used frequently, and I communicated openly with them the concerns we had about getting paid. We enlisted their assistance in filing a lien to encourage the GC to pay us. It worked wonders. Suddenly the GC, who had been quite a piece of work to deal with, find it in his best interest to get us paid so as to not ruin the relationship he had with his customer. His sister was an attorney, and I'm sure could have locked us in a court battle that may not have been worth it, but in the end he chose to do the right thing. Too bad it sometimes takes "encouragement" for that to happen.
 

tyha

Senior Member
Location
central nc
Also, it is in your best interest to not pay all final invoices on a project. I had one of my suppliers assist in getting final payment. Sunbelt Rentals was a company we used frequently, and I communicated openly with them the concerns we had about getting paid. We enlisted their assistance in filing a lien to encourage the GC to pay us. It worked wonders. Suddenly the GC, who had been quite a piece of work to deal with, find it in his best interest to get us paid so as to not ruin the relationship he had with his customer. His sister was an attorney, and I'm sure could have locked us in a court battle that may not have been worth it, but in the end he chose to do the right thing. Too bad it sometimes takes "encouragement" for that to happen.

Thats good advice and thats what we normally do but for some reason I was almost positive we were receiving a check last month so i paid the final supply house bill ($12,000) just so our account with them would not go 60-90. Another reason I did this is because we included the payout of our FA sub on a pay app awhile ago and it went almost 60 days out when the GC contacted the FA sub to see if they were paid and released our money to them. I went balistic. I had all the documentation to show what we owed them was included with their late payment and it still took another month to get our portion of the pay app.
 
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