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steve_p

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Hi,

4 months ago I received a call from a contractor in California, I live in AZ.

I was asked to bid a job at a Travel Traders store inside a Hilton resort hotel.

I sent a number and we have a signed contract.

I sent an invoice to them over 90 days ago and have yet to be paid.

I can't get the company to return emails or phone calls. I have contacted the owner directly but still no replies.

I spoke with the Regional manager of the Travel Traders and he informed me that they were paid up and that he understands that the contractor I am contracted with is in financial trouble.

The amount owed to me is $1600.

I have not dealt with an out of state contractor before, nor have I been stiffed.

I am not sure what options I have if any.

Can I take an out of state contractor to small claims court?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Steve
 
If your business is incorporated you may not be able to go to small claims court. Around here that means you need to go to superior court which also means that you're $1600 would be better to be written off as a loss.
 
We were burned for $38,000 about 4 years ago. We have leins, judgements, rights to forclosure. Everything but the money. The bank took over the shopping center and they contractor/developer owed 10 contractors right at 400k and nothing has been paid. And looks like it never will be.
 
steve_p said:
I was asked to bid a job at a Travel Traders store inside a Hilton resort hotel.
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dduffee260 said:
We were burned for $38,000 about 4 years ago. We have leins, judgements, rights to forclosure. Everything but the money. The bank took over the shopping center and they contractor/developer owed 10 contractors right at 400k and nothing has been paid. And looks like it never will be.
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If a company or corporation that owns the property goes bankrupt there is not much you can do ( get drunk and cry in your beer).

But I haven't herd that the Hilton Hotel is going bankrupt and if this Travel Traders is located in the Hilton I would guess they won't be any to happy about the way this is being handled.

Most of the big outfits have a policy that there is to be no final payment without lien waivers from the GC and all subs.

I would check with Hilton and see where they stand on the issue.
 
steve_p said:
Hi,

4 months ago I received a call from a contractor in California, I live in AZ.

Can I take an out of state contractor to small claims court?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Steve
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hm. was the work done in calif?
are you licensed in calif?

if you worked as an employee and weren't paid, you could lien
the building you worked on for the full amount, for $1.
but as a contractor, your dispute is not with the building owner,
but his contractor.

you may not have any recourse that won't cost more than the
amount you are owed to execute. the contractor knows this,
and probably figures he can stiff you for it and just walk, or
he's about to fold, and that's that.
 
dduffee260 said:
We were burned for $38,000 about 4 years ago. We have leins, judgements, rights to forclosure. Everything but the money. The bank took over the shopping center and they contractor/developer owed 10 contractors right at 400k and nothing has been paid. And looks like it never will be.
Click to expand...

The main reason we have the owner finance the project thru the bank and we draw payments from the bank as the job meets milestones, we would never consider trying to be a bank, if the customer can not get the bank finance, we are not going to be their bank.

I once had a GC tell me if you need money from me you must not have credit with your suppliers, the idiot expected me to bank his job, he said he had plenty of guys willing to bank the job, and he did, a year later every one of them were out every penny they ran up at their supply house, and they never got paid
 
infinity said:
If your business is incorporated you may not be able to go to small claims court. Around here that means you need to go to superior court which also means that you're $1600 would be better to be written off as a loss.
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And you forgot if he is a corp, he will need an attorney to represent him in court and that will cost a few bucks
 
satcom said:
And you forgot if he is a corp, he will need an attorney to represent him in court and that will cost a few bucks
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Exactly. That's why I said that you would just kiss the $1600 goodbye and write it off as a loss. It wouldn't be cost effective to pursue it in court if you were a corporation.
 
satcom said:
The main reason we have the owner finance the project thru the bank and we draw payments from the bank as the job meets milestones, we would never consider trying to be a bank, if the customer can not get the bank finance, we are not going to be their bank.

I once had a GC tell me if you need money from me you must not have credit with your suppliers, the idiot expected me to bank his job, he said he had plenty of guys willing to bank the job, and he did, a year later every one of them were out every penny they ran up at their supply house, and they never got paid
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I know we were stung on this. Most of our projects are bonded and this would most likely not happen. This contractor just seemed flaky from the start. We will just have to maintain our liens and hope the thing sells down the road. On the plus side our $38,000 is drawing 10% interest
 
dduffee260 said:
I know we were stung on this. Most of our projects are bonded and this would most likely not happen. This contractor just seemed flaky from the start. We will just have to maintain our liens and hope the thing sells down the road. On the plus side our $38,000 is drawing 10% interest
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I had leins on a couple different properties in the past and the owners eventually went bankruptcy. Guess who gets whatever funds are available to distribute first? The attorneys. Next in line is usually banks. By the time they get to subcontractors there is nothing left to distribute and any leins are cancelled and you are just out of luck.

You need to either pursue your payment now or forget it. It will likely never come if the party that owes you is in financial trouble.

Talking to Hilton may be a good place to start.
 
Your out of luck. Under California law unless you are a licensed California contractor you have no standing in court. In the future don't act as a bank, your a contractor.
 
steve_p said:
The amount owed to me is $1600.

I have not dealt with an out of state contractor before, nor have I been stiffed.
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petersonra said:
IMO you have learned a fairly cheap lesson.
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I agree. If all you stand to lose is $1600 then you will survive and should be more carefull the next time.

Out of State contractor should send up a red flag to start with. It's not that you can't work for out of state contractors but you had better know how you are going to collect before you start the job.

I had an out of state contractor that thought he was going to stiff me on a job a few years back. He was really upset when he learned I had done my home work and knew the rules better than he did. He couldn't get paid until he had a lien release from both the subs and the supply houses.

If this space is leased out by Hilton it wouldn't surprise me if their lease agreement had a clause about any sort of remodeling or upgrade type of work done by tenants. If they don't have you furish insurance and other documentation then it's time to worry. If the property owner are keeping proper records then you have a much better chance of collecting.

I have went to the property owner and had them put a hold on final payment until I got my money. I don't know what others did but I got mine.

It would surprise me if these people are not holding at least 10% of final payment to the GC. If the job is any size there should be $1600 some place.
 
Lien and exorcize foreclosure when you can.

I have heard of contractors foreclosing on property (with functioning businesses) and making out quite well.

Foreclose!!!
 
Bill the property owner.

Bill the property owner.

Send Traders or Hilton an invoice with an explanation and a demand letter. If you think your legal bill will be high what do you think theirs would be? You will get paid just be polite and work toward getting the invoice to the right people. You are only as good as your last sale, they know that and will act accordingly.:slaphead:
 
My old boss found a guy who did collections, I believe that it was a young attorney and his fee was 10%. Had a pretty good success rate too.

My brother was owed $200 one time by a company and they told him to bad, so sad. So my brother then sat in front of the guys business every day for about a week with a sign and several customers didn't go inside. The guy finally asked my brother what it would take to make him go away. $200.
 
I'm in AZ.

If it has been 21 days or less since the start of the job, you can still file a lien.

I (almost) always lien commercial jobs over $1000 (parts and labor.) I had a restaurant I did work on 3 years ago and the only reason I got paid was because I had a lien. The property owner, not the GC or business owner, wound up having to pay me because they couldn't (I don't know why) open the business up without my release. Best $65 I ever spent.
 
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