Homeowner doesn't want to pay - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

Roofs R Us · 09-19-2009, 05:40 AM

I bid a job the day where there was 8 shingles that had to be fixed.I met the H.O. and quoted him a price of $250.00 to do the job. He agreed signed the contract and we scheduled the job.When my guy got there it took 30mins to finish and when he was done the H.O. complained that he wasn't going to pay 250.00 for 30 mins of work.What do you do in this situation?

ajay@nomoreleaks.net

davitk · 09-19-2009, 06:10 AM

Esplain to him that it took a half hour for the initial meeting, two hours to find the right color shingle, another two hours to mobilize for the job plus one half hour to do the work = 5 hours x 50.00 = 250.00.

Easy Petey.

Then ask for another 50.00 to pay for the shingles, as you forgot to charge for them on the initial bid.

AJAX · 09-19-2009, 07:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davitk

Then ask for another 50.00 to pay for the shingles, as you forgot to charge for them on the initial bid.

Kew, Kew, I love it, I love it!

kubie · 09-19-2009, 07:38 AM

he signed a contract. he has to pay

this happened to a contractor around here. he signed a contract for x amount for some trim work and like yours only took a little while. the HO asked him if he knew how much money he made/hr on this job and he said yes. it could have taken longer but it didnt. The HO paid in full.

just like yours, the time could have been hrs to replace the shingles. You dont know how the other roofer installed them. Who knows maybe they used tar to put them down. lol. Then you would have been there a long time. The HO was stupid enough to sign the contract,and was happy about it, he should pay.

JonM · 09-19-2009, 07:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davitk

Esplain to him that it took a half hour for the initial meeting, two hours to find the right color shingle, another two hours to mobilize for the job plus one half hour to do the work = 5 hours x 50.00 = 250.00.

Easy Petey.

Then ask for another 50.00 to pay for the shingles, as you forgot to charge for them on the initial bid.

Also explain to him about the liability insurance you carry, the workmans compensation you provide for your workers...also explain about the health care insurance you have to pay for, for your family, which I am sure his employer pays for....tell him about the unemployment insurance you do NOT get when work is slow...also tell him about the non existent retirement plan you have...and tell him about the truck and equipment you have to maintain. If that doesn't work...kick him in the nuts....

NNY · 09-19-2009, 07:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davitk

Esplain to him that it took a half hour for the initial meeting, two hours to find the right color shingle, another two hours to mobilize for the job plus one half hour to do the work = 5 hours x 50.00 = 250.00.

Easy Petey.

Then ask for another 50.00 to pay for the shingles, as you forgot to charge for them on the initial bid.

Perfect answer ! The only thing I can add is I have much better luck with difficult customers when you knock on their door and confront them in person . You do have a contract also . If you had to , as it is not a huge amount there is credit reporting and liens . Not sure , there is probably minimum on liens . Good luck !

J F · 09-19-2009, 09:36 AM

So, what exactly did your (op) contract say?

Roofs R Us · 09-19-2009, 09:41 AM

I think everything you guys have said is right on the money. What did we do before these forums.

SelfContract · 09-19-2009, 09:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by J F

So, what exactly did your (op) contract say?

Less than $500... therefore, handymen type.. ->> No contract at all.

(P.S, after the work done, probably the wife's neighbor said... "Geezee.. it took only 3 nails per shingle or 3x8=24 nails total.. I can do it in less than 30 min too!! ).. j/k

Celtic · 09-19-2009, 11:06 AM

Go get your shingles!

apehangeralfy · 09-20-2009, 03:17 PM

On my small "service call" contracts I have an additional $75 charge if not paid in full within 72 hours... and have them sign an authorization form stating that they will pay in full when the work is done...

So far I only have one that has not paid... it on there rental property and in needed an emergency repair and they were out of state.... they gave the old "you can trust me" speech... I should have seen it coming... not much you can do when it's that small of an amount, you have to look at it at actual value lost... some time and a few shingles.

You need to work on "the stare"..... the look like your about 2 seconds away from going completely Chuck Norris on his ass!!!!

Fredrinator · 09-20-2009, 03:45 PM

In England if you are a member of an electrical scheme operator you are entitled to legal cover upto £250,000 as long as you: Provide a detailed estimate include a breakdown of costs & a 1 page contract. Prior to having this in place I got done a few times - once we got taken for £4,500. We had revisit the dwelling at 5:30am on a Sunday morning and pulled the main fuse which was located on the outside of the house and we managed to cut back the main tails feeding his distribution. Priceless!! We did get a visit from the old bill on Sunday afternoon and just denied it. The copper new I was lying but he didn't seem that bothered.

Do you have or could you get some kind of legal cover in case this sort of thing happens again.

Fred

vand56 · 09-20-2009, 03:53 PM

Just tell Mr. H.O you did not tekll him how long it would take and you are not charing by the hour it was $250 ofr the job period but i still like the response davitk gave you hope all came out ok, Also as long as you have a written signed contract you can easily win with that one.

vand56 · 09-21-2009, 06:18 AM

I just finished a job for a guy two doors up from me, He wanted soffit and fascia work, I did the front gable took a day got done got paid.
A couple of weeks later he wantedc to do two other gables, I sid it woul be cheapre and easier to the whole house plus his wife said they wanted all the high stuff done so I did it I only charged him $5 /ft which was a bargin. He got stupid and was ignoring me and did not want to pay. I begged I put statements in mailbox still no response, well I put one last statement. It was pretty nasty, this is after two weeks of not getting paid, I said if I was not paid by the next day I was going to take him to courthe came to the door the next day with the check and said pretty nasty letter he said all I had to do was ask"which I did " I told him I should not have to ask I put a statement in his mailbox the day after the work was done. now I don't want to ruffle any feathers out there but he was retired from John Deere around here none like to do work for them because some of them are like this.

davitk · 09-21-2009, 06:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vand56

I just finished a job for a guy two doors up from me, He wanted soffit and fascia work, I did the front gable took a day got done got paid.
A couple of weeks later he wantedc to do two other gables, I sid it woul be cheapre and easier to the whole house plus his wife said they wanted all the high stuff done so I did it I only charged him $5 /ft which was a bargin. He got stupid and was ignoring me and did not want to pay. I begged I put statements in mailbox still no response, well I put one last statement. It was pretty nasty, this is after two weeks of not getting paid, I said if I was not paid by the next day I was going to take him to courthe came to the door the next day with the check and said pretty nasty letter he said all I had to do was ask"which I did " I told him I should not have to ask I put a statement in his mailbox the day after the work was done. now I don't want to ruffle any feathers out there but he was retired from John Deere around here none like to do work for them because some of them are like this.

You are kidding, right?

You placed a hit on your neighbor after waiting patiently for two whole weeks?

R.T.Fahey · 09-21-2009, 07:40 AM

Insert your boot into his ass.

vand56 · 09-22-2009, 01:08 PM

Thats right, I put a hit on anybody that will have work done and do not want to pay, I had one a few years ago that I did a siding job and Took thwe guy to court and He hired a Lawyer for small claims and the Judge found in his favor "go figure" the I had to not only lose the money from the Job about $4500.00 but I had to pay for his stupid lawyer yet!!

CookeCarpentry · 09-22-2009, 01:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vand56

Thats right, I put a hit on anybody that will have work done and do not want to pay

Ok, this must be something I am missing...but putting a "hit" on someone

....is this legal slang for something?

**ChrWright** · 09-22-2009, 03:03 PM

So John Deere people are bad to work for

, and two weeks is slow pay.

When you're hungry, I know you need every dime just as soon as you can get it... but I'm curious if any of the rest of you had a signed contract for the work you performed showing a detailed scope of work, payment schedule, and penalty clause.

There are far too many details left out of your stories for me to throw a whole lot of sympathy your way. That's not to say you weren't in the right, but the fact that you went to court and lost means something wasn't right.

Many guys get adversarial after getting beaten up on a project for a difficult or non-paying client. That's a mistake. A better attitude is to look at what you might have done differently to prevent the situation from going South. Sometimes that's a simple thing like a clearly written contract. Sometimes it's learning to spot the difficult ones and deciding not to work for them.

Celtic · 09-22-2009, 07:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vand56

..... the Judge found in his favor "go figure" the I had to not only lose the money from the Job about $4500.00 but I had to pay for his stupid lawyer yet!!

Yea....that lawyer was a real bozo ~ even convinced the judge.....but you wound up paying.

What a stoopid lawyer