📢 Seeking Advice from Fellow Investors 📢Contractor issue

[Gaby Liu]

Hello fellow investors,

I find myself in a complex situation and would greatly appreciate your expert advice and insights on how to proceed. Here's the issue:

I recently hired a licensed contractor to work on a project with an initial cost of $147,000 in indianapolis, indiana, but unfortunately, things took an unexpected turn. Not only did he fail to finish the work, but the contractor also billed me an additional payment of over $35,000 for work that was not approved or authorized by me as the property owner. Furthermore, the contractor proceeded with structural work without obtaining the necessary permits from the city, resulting in violations, correction costs, and potential penalties. To make matters worse, correcting the violations and finishing the unfinished work cost me an additional $30,000 to make up for his mistakes.

What troubles me even more is that the contractor never bothered to communicate with me during the entire process. There were no phone calls, emails, or text messages exchanged, leaving me completely unaware of the situation. I was informed by my agent that the contractor refused to communicate with the owner and only communicated with the agent. Instead, the contractor sporadically spoke with my agent, who visits the site once a week to take photos. I never authorized my agent to make any decisions on my behalf, nor did I receive any written proposals with pricing adjustments or changes to the original agreement.

Now, the contractor is threatening to place a lien on my property, claiming that he did the work and that my agent was informed about it. However, my agent has no right to deny or approve any work on my behalf, and I was never kept informed throughout the project either.

Given the complexity of this situation, I am reaching out to all of you for guidance. Have any of you faced a similar predicament with contractors or property-related issues? How did you handle it, and what steps should I take to address this matter properly?

Your experience and expertise would be immensely valuable to me, as I want to find the most suitable and fair resolution for all parties involved.

Please share your thoughts and advice in the comments below or feel free to reach out to me directly. Your support and insights are sincerely appreciated.

Thank you for your time and assistance.

Best regards, 

Gaby

[Greg Scott]

First of all, I would collect and save all the communication you've had with both your contractor and agent.  I would also check any contract you've had with your agent to see if there is any language giving them authority to provide direction on your behalf to a contractor.

If the contractor truly acted on their own and is still threatening a mechanics lien, I would talk to an attorney.  We had a fraudulent $10,000 mechanics lien quashed for about $500.  Our case was very simple because the debt was incurred by the prior owner, not us.  The contractors attorney placed the lien on our property knowing we did not owe the money. Your case is more complex, so it may be more expensive to fight.  The Indianpolis law firm we use is Landman Beatty.