Assh*le Contractors

[ND4SPD]

So ever since I met and married my wife, we've been trying to finish having a garage built. About 5 years ago my wife contracted Hichcock Building Services to come out and demo the old garage, and build a retaining wall. During the project my wife got divorced from her then husband and the project had to be put on hold. Rich Hitchcock the main dude there told my wife that as soon as she was ready to give him a call and he would come out and lay a final course of block and finish the job. Well, a little over two years ago we got married and I of course wanted a garage built. Six months later we started trying to get ahold of Rich... pretty much to no avail. He would return phone calls, emails, etc... Finally when I called I got ahold of him and got some sob story about him having health problems. So we got put off again. When we finally got ahold of him again he said that he could no longer find the block he had used in the original wall. We gave him the number of a supply company that we belived could supply the block and again never heard back from him.

So I finally called him and got ahold of him today and said that either we get this taken care of or it's going to end up in mediation/arbitration or court. Basically he said he thought it was dumb to sue over this, but then he's not the one that's been left in a situation where we cannot have a garage built because the landscaping work (he failed to finish) will not allow a slab to be poured. He said if we can find block (at our expense) (even though we've already paid him for this last course of block) he would put it on. So, is anyone familiar with contract expiration time periods or anything like that? Nothing was specified in the estimate or proposal.

[Firefighter Z]

Its still a contract until the work is finished.
If he wants to play games, get ahold of contact 6 or some other news source.

[CPonyGo]

6 ftw

[Crawlin]

I can understand the situation, but I can also say it's pretty stupid to bit the hand that feeds you. He was gracious enough to allow a delay in finish time. Two years is WAAAY past that. My dad's construction company would have a shit fit over that. In fact he already has because Johnny V was behind $$$ on Moe's Irish Pub as well as Monsoon in brookfield.

Now I don't understand the specifics of the scenario, but I do know that while being difficult to get ahold of, a person doesn't exactly want to help that much more if being threatened to sue. All he has to say is, "two years ago they held off on project which ****ed my build season. now with the rising cost of labor and supplies, to come back and finish it would take $ out of my build season as well as that original deal."

again, i don't know specifics, but i'd just be carefully treading. you'll be paying more in court fees than the job is worth

[HAMRHEAD]

Even if there is a signed contract the two year period may be long enough to void it. Or he may be entitled to further compensation due to the increased cost of business since the contract was written up. It will cost you more to fight it in court and you may still not get the result you are looking for. Even if he was forced to finish it, how nice of a job would it end up being?

[ND4SPD]

I didn't threaten to sue him until today... after a year and a half of ******* around with him. At any point during that time he could have decided to follow through and finish the job when we asked him to resume his work. And he never specified that my wife had X months to resume and it's not our concern that his costs may have gone up. He should have thought about that when he made the offer.

Well, basically we're going to have another contractor finish it and then we're going to attempt to sue him for damages. Actually according to state consumer protection I could sue him for 2x what the actual damages are as a punitive measure.

And it's not going to cost me more in court. Filing costs are $85 for small claims. If he wants to go blow several hours with a lawyer at $100 an hour, that's his business.

[team beater]

beat the sh1* out of him, it may not get your wall fixed, but i bet you feel good afterwards........lol jk

[ND4SPD]

beat the sh1* out of him, it may not get your wall fixed, but i bet you feel good afterwards........lol jk

Let's just say it was probably a good thing that he and I didn't have yesterday's discussion in person... because it may have come to that.:flipoff2:

[flyin_blue_egg]

I didn't threaten to sue him until today... after a year and a half of ******* around with him. At any point during that time he could have decided to follow through and finish the job when we asked him to resume his work. And he never specified that my wife had X months to resume and it's not our concern that his costs may have gone up. He should have thought about that when he made the offer.

Well, basically we're going to have another contractor finish it and then we're going to attempt to sue him for damages. Actually according to state consumer protection I could sue him for 2x what the actual damages are as a punitive measure.

And it's not going to cost me more in court. Filing costs are $85 for small claims. If he wants to go blow several hours with a lawyer at $100 an hour, that's his business.


realistically it is your concern that costs went up....if i understand the situation right, you had him start the job and then stop bc your wife was getting divorced??? well he had nothing to do with your wife getting divorced, so then you put the project off and he probably needed the money...i know a few ppl that own construction businesses and they can't afford to be sitting around not working.

so i understand why the guy is mad

[nismodave]

Union or Non Union?