Paying our general contractor is costing me more than I thought it would.

[Michael Walley]

Any suggestions? I hired a GC in Louisville to do basic remodeling for our new home in Lafayette. I can look back and question my decision to go with him based on a number of warning signs, but we know some of the same people and our trusted friend referred him to us. He wouldn’t give us an estimate, scope of work, timeline (he told me 3-4 weeks, but denied he said that), and wanted to talk on the phone instead of text or email. My wife send him our estimate based on our conversations, that was $84,000, but he signed anything or agreed with that estimate. He said we were friends, wanted referrals, told us that we are very particular, and asked to take photos of our home when he was done.

The four weeks has turned into three months and a long delay in getting us the final bill. His sub-contractors usually did very poor work, like he and his son did, and we would have to either fix it ourselves or ask them again and again to come back and correct it. Many things are still not done correctly, but he is done. We got his friend discount of a final bill of $131,000 and he wants to get paid immediately. I would like to sit down with him and ask him why it is so much higher than what we thought the final bill would be. I was going to ask him to see all of the receipts, and get copies of them for our records, and to ask for a lien waiver so his subs don’t come back to me asking to be paid if he still owes them money.

Does anyone have any recommendations, besides hiring an attorney, to make this situation a little better? I did pay him $30,000 after a week of work and understand that I owe him more, regardless of how poor the quality of his work was. What should I ask for and how can I protect myself?