Contractor with health Issue

[Pete Harper]

I have a dilemma with my contractor on a duplex flip. The current situation is he is off the job because on a health issue. He called earlier this week asking for more money in order to meet payroll. My fear is he will not be able to finish the job. Not to sound too unsympathetic but he was been a problem since the beginning of the project back in September. First issue was during demo, he and his crew all came down with Covid in October. We lost three weeks right there. Then in November after they recovered I noticed little progress on the duplex. They were in the framing stage and I didn’t see anyone on the job site. I live locally and stopped by on a regular basis. I started hounding him and finally he finished the framing. Next he underbid the electric, he didn’t notice it was a two wire system and needed to be upgraded to three wire. I cut him an add on check and finally got an electrician on the job. The electrician was the slowest guy ever taking six weeks to wire 2400 sqrft. Meanwhile I start nagging him on plumber. He tells me Plumber can’t work at the same time as electrician? Then plumber comes out and wants a $11k add on because the inspector wanted something. I follow up with inspector to clarify code and he said the add on was not required. Contractor didn’t bother to tell inspector this was slab construction. I paid $7500 for plumbing fixtures but don’t see them on the job site. WTF? I asked for invoices for plumbing and HVAC, no answer. That brings us up to date. I’m about 2/3 through spend. We are two months late on the project. The house is still bare studs, slab is jackhammered up for plumbing, plumbing roughed-in still needs to be inspected. He is off the job recovering from heart stints, his crew have been taking advantage of him drawing wages and not working. He doesn’t have a good foreman to fill in.

I was already frustrated with the guy before the latest health issues. What options do I have?

[Michael Garofalo]

@Pete Harper the last thing you should do right now is give this guy more money. His personal health problems are separate from his obligations to you as he is running a business. Dealing with any contractor is never headache-free however I can tell you from personal experience you do not have the right person for the job. 

If you had a contract or signed scope of work then you could talk to an attorney and potentially threaten legal recourse. If this was done under a handshake agreement and you have no paper trail, then your best bet is to refuse to send him another dollar until he progresses to the point at which you would be considered 2/3 complete (if I am understanding correctly, you have paid him 2/3 already for the entire bid). You should hold the remaining 20-25% over his head until every single thing is done to your liking. That is just my standard rule of thumb with all jobs. 

You say he has heart problems, so who is his next in line? God forbid something catastrophic happens and he can't come back to work, who would you call to ensure the project gets closed out? For that reason alone, I would not risk paying a cent more to him.

For future jobs, I also would not use this guy. You live and you learn but the best GCs I have dealt with are thorough and do not need to be babysat to this extent. It's one thing if he is messing up vanitys/paint colors, but not following through on the bones of the rehab is a red flag.