Contractor performed work without a signed contract. Pay?

[Matt Nico]

Hey everyone,

I'll be brief. I recently had a General contractor come see a project of mine for work. Scope included building a couple walls, some light plumbing work, and a high voltage electrical wire for a dryer. We discussed the initial process of getting the permits, which I was told verbally it would be a fee of "$600-$700" for permitting + the county fee. I already had all the paperwork and plans drawn up.... The GC just had to submit them.

A couple days go by and I ask for the contract to sign so we can start the work. I was told that the permits were already submitted to the county, and the CG had already paid the plumbing contractor. I finally get the contract, which says $1,900 for permits. $700 for the GC permit, and $600 each for plumbing and electrical. I'm then told that the work the electric and plumbing contractors will do will be "Between $1,100 - $1,500".

I tell the GC this work should not have happened without signing the contract and to stop everything immediately. The CG is now requesting I pay the $700 for their fee for submitting permits and to pay back the Plumber who also filed a permit.

There is no signed contract between us, but the contractors did submit the permits.

Do I pay this or not?

Thanks in advance for input.

-Matt

[Matt Nico]

Originally posted by @Josue Vargas:

@Matt Nico

I would hold and not pay a cent. So the contractor actually performed some work other than the permitting stuff? And if so, I'm assuming under no contract, other than the verbal agreement. So is he now charging more for the work? If so,, why? Did he provide an explanation to you?

Assuming he performed work, I would talk to him to get to an agreement. If he agrees, pay for what he has done. I would ask for a detailed breakdown, materials, labor, taxes, etc (do this before he knows you are trying to negotiate with him). Then I would add a 10% to 15% for his profit and be done with him. Not sure how he got access to the property to perform work, but with no contract, he is on the down side.

 Josue,

No actual work was done on the property. I was told verbally that permitting fees would be $600-$700. As in plumbing, framing, and electric are all under 1 main permit, which I pay the contractor to pull for me. But before we signed anything (which we never have), the GC took the plans and description of work and submitted the permit. Then they subbed out the work and paid the plumber the $600 fee they charge to pull permits. So what I thought would be $700 for permitting turned into $1,900. So I told them to stop immediately.