Getting shafted by a contractor.

Here is the short version, I hired a contractor to build me a 40x50 shop. He gives me an estimate for $xx,--- and we agree on that price. Now that we are down to the end of the process, he tells me that I will owe $20,000 more than we agreed upon. The contract that I signed was his generic contract that he uses for every job, whether it is a new constuction or an addition to a home, and it had no final price decsribed. He also informed me that the job would take six to eight weeks, and we are now on the end of week fourteen, and he still is not done. I have an appointment with my lawyer in the morning, but I still feel like I am going to get screwed. Whats worse is I think he is going to stop working to finish the building untill we get this straight. I borrowed more than I forseen needing, but have had to spend most of that just living because he is running so far behind on the job. Every time I call he he never answers the phone, and rarely calls back. I bet the farm on this venture and I am afraid that it is going to fail before it ever begins. Any suggestions that I may have overlooked? I need a drink...

Man-i feel for ya! Contractors are snakes-you have GOT to get it in writing! Going to court is just gonna cost you out the azz and you wont get anything more than a judgement-which really doesnt mean jack. I'm like you-I thought that an agreement on a price was in stone-but thru my experiences-and there have been many-You've got to get it in writing! Good Luck ! And have a beer for me!

All I can say is... Good luck dude.
Hopefully you attorney can help you out.

It's buyer beware when it comes to building something..

It's taken us 3yrs. to get ours up.

Cost way more money than originally projected.......

If I had to do it again, I would've hired the attny. first.
He said I could've avoided all the headaches and time wasted, had I came to him first.

can't realy give any good advice in this just wanna wish ya the best of luck

I got twice tryin to start a shop. first time by the architect ..second time bad luck the guy who was gonna rent us the place died a few days before signing the contract.
we had already putt in some mony and a lot af time .
the children sold the whole place and we couln't buy it so once again BIG

now its sold there seems te be big problems with the showroom , no buildingpermit and groundpolution...

we finaly found our third place and are in it . its better in any way .........so just wanna say if it backfires on ya this time ( hope not ) its maybe for a reason ...and adventualy everything will just turn out fine . once again good luck dude

Thats one -E contractor to come in 20k over on a 40x50 shop building. I'm so very sorry for your situation. Karma will bit him in the azz someday, you can count on it!

The only reason I went with this guy was because he was 15 thousand cheaper than the next guy. If I had went with the next guy the building would have been done a month and a half ago. If it sounds too good to be true...

Yep, ya get what you pay for, that's fer sher......

Sorry dude about the mess, but Im having a hard time understanding.

You must have added alot to the building as far as perks and other stuff for it to run so far over.

And 15K difference in price on that size of building must not be comparing apples to apples...

4g63 huh... i got an 05 4g63t complete clip sittin in my shop that im tryin to get rid of. bought it to swap into my galant, but recently bought another car. only has 4k on it. hard to sell one so brand new and complete.

someone get their forums a lil mixed up last night

it'll run for a long time, mitsubishi is a good engine

2.0 dual overhead cam mitsubishi motor. popular in almost all eclipses. the 4g63t is the turbo motor in the 8th gen evos, the 9th gen came MIVEC.

oh to get back on topic, hope it works out for you. try to get a lawyer that specializes in contractors cases, that could be my only suggestion.

When it rains it pours. Last night my brother in law wanted to take a look at the building to see the progress. He is a sales man at a large plumbing supply house, and has been for seventeen years. He looked over the plumbing that had been roughed in, and stated that none of it would pass code. It seems that my contractor decided to skip on the certified plumber, and rough the pipe himself. Well I called mister inspector man, and he came out today to look at what had been done. Well to make a long story short, he cited the contractor and shut down the job site untill a certified plumber pulls a permit from the local heath department. He also informed the contractor that if this goes to court, he could face a first time offense fine of a grand a day for every day that it has set there since he roughed it illegally. Did I mention that was about seventy days ago? My lawyer had a field day with that one. I may just end up alright any how.

Good things to happen to good people..I hope it works out for you in the best...Nothing worse than having a dream stepped on by other people who just want to take advantage of a situation...Good luck mang

Mine is a bone stock bottom end 1gb talon. Ported intake mani, ported & clipped b16g, 2.5 in. icp, apex throttle body elbow, all the free mods, fuel pump rewire, ACT 2600, SAFC, Joe P. MBC, 3" drop springs with KYB AGX at all four corners, front & rear strut tower brace, ran a 12.97 on the 1320 with 190,--- miled on the clock, some other stuff...

You are the only person on this forum that has ever noticed the name.

If the law of karma is true,............I must have been Attila the Hun in a past life! Seems to me that the guys who screw people indiscriminately get ahead, while those of us who try and do right by others take it in the shorts real regular!

I resemble that remark too....

id file a lawsuite!

Trying to cut corners and screw you at the same time. Seems as if he screwed himself now that the City is involved !

Let that be a lesson to you the cheapest are always the most expensive in the long run

I just KNOW I've heard that SOMEWHERE before.

what ever came of this anyways? just curious how it panned out......

I opened the doors on the 1st of October, had a pretty good run so far. I spray bedliners, tint, detail, audio/video, and install performance parts so all the bases are covered. I had to fire the contractor and finish a lot of the work myself. A law suit is in the works, but lawyers bill by the hour so I think it will take some time to make it to court. I have had several of the guys that the contractor subbed out to come to me in the last week looking for money. I paid the contractor 60% of what we had agreed on, and he ended up charging all the material to the job site. This dude did not pay a single dime for material that was used, he just took my money and paid off his crew. I swear there is a good reason I keep a lock on my Ruger, if I have to take the time to get the key out, I usually have time to cool down. Thanks to all who put good vibes out there, I appreciate the positive attitude most everyone has had. Heres to filling up next weeks book. Justin.

that definately ranks high up up there and my bad day scale

Getting paid by a contractor is very hard, its no surprise none of them got paid.