Let's Talk about Screw-ups! Part 2

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Hello everyone, not long ago I was reading a BP forum about screw ups and it was both entertaining and learning. I hate to say but one of the best ways to improve one's knowledge is by learning from other people's mistake. I'm located in the NYC market which has many screw up stories and I happen to make my share in the last 4 years. Here is my recent mistake and hope we could keep this trend going so we could learn not only the good but the bad experience as well. I was rehabbing my flip property with my crew. I sub-contract an electrician to wire the whole house and upgrade the electrical meter. We sign a contract with his LLC company name and everything seem to be in order. 2 months later and the job was never finish, he had hire a street worker that knows basic electrical which I had to help him wire the whole house but he himself never showed up. He didn't have a license to pull permits for the upgrade meter so he took the rest of the money $5000 and left. I file a civil suit which took 8 months just to have a court date and of course I won BUT now I find out that his company LLC had dissolve 3 years ago so since the checks were written to his company name, I can't sue him personally. LESSON: don't pay too much upfront and always check the company and license information.