Contractor DId Not Follow Through

[Arron Paulino]

I have a fix and flip project in which my previous contractor (who previously had been a rockstar) did partial work and has not followed through with his work. I regrettably paid him off (I know I shouldn't have!) and he keeps reassuring me that he will complete the work.

Trying to go through my options here:

- Sell the property as-is and offload to another investor looking to take on this project. My agent has told me that I essentially will be listing the property for what I had bought it for so I am at a loss due to the money I paid the contractor. I was really looking forward to this project as it would be my first fix and flip with good numbers. I usually BRRRR but wanted to generate income on the side.

- Find another contractor (that I will for sure vet better) to take on this project but I will need to find additional funding to get this going

- Sue my previous contractor. Not really sure how to go about this as I haven't sued anyone before but really am looking at this route to somehow recoup my rehab funds. I still contact him and he responds surprisingly.

Looking forward to the guidance of the BP community as I am sure I'm not the only one this has happened to.

[Ryan Normand]

How far behind is he versus the timeline that originally agreed upon? A few days, weeks, months? Has he been communicative about delays or totally blown you off? He's clearly responding to your messages, so the obvious first step is to get him on the phone and have a serious chat about when he needs to get the job done and what will happen of he doesn't. 

Nobody hates fraudster contractors more than other contractors. They undermine our businesses and give us all a bad name. But this guy doesn't quite fit the bill. I mean... he was a Rockstar before and it sounds like he hasn't ghosted you - he's just delaying. More than likely he has other jobs going simultaneously that are higher on the priority list than yours, which is why you've been put on the back burner temporarily. I'm sure that's frustrating when you're an investor with holding costs, but also understand that contractors need to have multiple jobs going at once in order to avoid downtime for their equipment and crew. Start by having a serious talk with him... if he's an honest contractor this will be enough to get your job moved up on his priority list and you'll start to see things get done.