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?

[Frank Barletta]

Does this person have a business license?

Did you get a written quote and any change orders that would suggest the price is higher than it is?

What DO you have in writing here?

[Jonathan Klemm]

Hey @Michael Walley - I'd start off by saying, you are generally in a pretty good position if you haven't already paid him.

FOR SURE YOU NEED TO GET LIEN WAVIERS if you have any indication that things could go sideways - don't make a payment til you get them.

I would also ask for some type of breakdown of the scope of work you are paying for as you mentioned.

Here in Chicago / Illinois a general contractor has 4 months to file a mechanics lien from the last time they were working on the job.

I wouldn't rush to get an attorney.

[Michael Walley]

Good questions. He said he had a business license but I didn't ask to see it because he was referred to me by a good friend. We did get things in writing, but he wouldn't put numbers on them, but just gave us verbal estimates. It took him weeks to get us the final invoice because he said that he had to organize his receipts.

My question is now what? I realize that I made mistakes, in hind-sight, in working with him. What can I do for damage control and lower the bill to what we emailed him as our estimate. The change-orders were not excessive. Any ideas, besides hiring an attorney, to lower the bill? We know a lot of the same people so we don't want to make a big stink out of this. Thanks.

[Frank Barletta]

Unpopular response: Didn't he verbally tell you it'll cost $30K?