Difficult contractor

[Mark Mynhier]

Question: How do you deal with a contractor who balks at doing repairs that an inspector says are "safety issues" and is weeks behind in the rehab? It would be real easy to be hard nosed, but he is also working on another project with a much higher profit margin. He is holding my permits (which buyers are asking for copies of), too. I'm trying to be diplomatic but at a point my patience runs out...right about when sells are threatened. I like the guy and I'm trying to work it out, but 6 weeks behind on a 4 week rehab is killing my profits.

I'm never working with the guy again, but the $2M property that he is currently working on makes me gun shy about pulling out the contract and going Mr. Lawyer on him.

[Adam Johnson]

Originally posted by Mark Mynhier:

I have a contract in place with performance penalties, including timeliness. I could exercise it, but since he is working on a home with profits over $250K I don't want the smaller venture to negatively impact the larger venture. I guess I could have better phrased the question...it is more of an issue of learning the best way to make him a team player and want to deliver in a timely fashion instead of forcing him to deliver in a timely fashion.

You are trying to solve the wrong problem, in my opinion. You may like the guy, but he is dragging your business down. If he "wanted" to deliver in a timely fashion, he would. You will likely need to find a new contractor for future work, or you will have to enforce the current agreement to the letter and see how he reacts. If he shapes up and expresses interest in working with you again, he might be a keeper. Chances are, when you dig in your heels he will go out of his way to make it worse. That will confirm that he should never work for you again.

In the short-term, I would definitely seek counsel on what you can do. This is a significant amount of money and deserves proper professional handling as soon as possible.