came to find some advice - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

Blind Willy · 11-15-2008, 06:02 AM

I just joined this morning because I have been losing sleep over a job that I completed, and the customer is dodging my phone calls, and any attempt to contact them for final payment. It's been 3 weeks. Any ideas?

**genecarp** · 11-15-2008, 06:47 AM

Willy, search around, there are MANY threads regarding non payment, use the search function. Welcome and good luck, G

We Fix Houses · 11-15-2008, 08:42 AM

What is a reason or two you think this is happening ?

Blind Willy · 11-15-2008, 06:58 PM

Personally or industry wide?
As for this particular client, we finished the job ahead of its estimated completion date,(only by 3 days). The job was not time and materials but based on the whole. They agreed to the price, but now feel that I should pro-rate the final payment because they"feel that they are paying too much". The contract was agreed upon, and signed. Am I crazy?

**genecarp** · 11-15-2008, 07:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blind Willy

Personally or industry wide?
As for this particular client, we finished the job ahead of its estimated completion date,(only by 3 days). The job was not time and materials but based on the whole. They agreed to the price, but now feel that I should pro-rate the final payment because they"feel that they are paying too much". The contract was agreed upon, and signed. Am I crazy?

NO you are not crazy, i am sure if the job went 3 days longer, they would have happily paid more

. you got a couple of a=hole deadbeats.

cleveman · 11-15-2008, 08:30 PM

Contact your senior or junior senator. And be sure to use your disability for all it is worth.

Julio · 11-15-2008, 08:50 PM

Yes you might be a little crazy. If you took much longer and had to use more material to do this job would you be able to charge them more? No! Contractor business is a gamble sometimes and this time you won. The same thing just happenned to me on a small job but I charged them the quoted price.

Kaiser · 11-15-2008, 10:48 PM

Have you tried knocking on their door.
Be persistant. Strike the iron while it's hot. The longer it gets dragged out the less likely you'll get paid.

buildpinnacle · 11-15-2008, 11:52 PM

I agree with Kaiser. We refer to this as a sit-in. I don't leave until I'm paid or given a REALLY good reason why. Eventually, they give up and write the check. Unfortunately, it sounds like you become this hounding contractor trying to get your money and you're a pain in thier arse and hard to deal with. Don't sweat that. Good, repeat customers pay on time! Ones that don't are not good customers, so you don't want their repeat business anyway.

**Double-A** · 11-16-2008, 12:05 AM

Well, I'm not sure of the scope of work you're basing this on, but a letter explaining that you have legal options you can pursue to collect unless they start talking/paying.

Remind them of the terms of the contract and that there is no stipulation for a reduced payment if completed ahead of schedule, just as there was no penalty for getting behind schedule.

And to be honest and just right in your face with this... If you don't have a clause in your contract that describes just this type of situation, then you need to add it now.

A contract should address all reasonable outcomes of the job, not just the ones we wish and hope for. If it doesn't, its just a waste of paper.

MALCO.New.York · 11-16-2008, 12:29 AM

Have a forceful and assured friend call and say......

"Good Afternoon. This is Investigator O'Leary and I am calling regarding a case that has come across my desk. The case I refer to has been filed by _______ pertaining to a Non-Payment of funds owed for a completed ___________ that is contractually bound in the State of___________. The purpose for this call is to relieve the Courts from the burden of trying this case. As you may or may not know, the Court System is backlogged with such cases. As it stands, I am the final stop before this case arrives on the Judges Bench and I am calling today in an attempt to relieve The Courts of some of this burden by allowing you to rectify this matter today.

__________ has filed claim that ___________ rightfully and contractually owe________for work completed__(DATE)_______. The State of ___________has provisions that allows a party to satisfy delinquent payments prior to Adjudication without or penalty or Legal Recourse within 10 days of a matter being heard by a Judge."

You do not state that you are an Officer of the Court, You do not state that you are a Federal, State or Local employee. You do not state that you can enforce any Federal, State or Local laws.

It is Bullet Proof!

Repoed many-a-car utilizing this ploy!

wyoming 1 · 11-16-2008, 12:39 AM

Registered letter/ notice of intent to file lien if payment is not made with in x number of days

AtlRemodeling · 11-16-2008, 06:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wyoming 1

Registered letter/ notice of intent to file lien if payment is not made with in x number of days

This is how we handle it when (and thankfully it very rarely does) this situation comes up. Whatever you do, DO NOT let your lien rights expire. Here in GA you have 90 days from the last date work was performed on the job or materials was delivered to the job to file a lien.

dirt diggler · 11-16-2008, 07:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MALCO.New.York

Have a forceful and assured friend call and say......

"Good Afternoon. This is Investigator O'Leary and I am calling regarding a case that has come across my desk. The case I refer to has been filed by _______ pertaining to a Non-Payment of funds owed for a completed ___________ that is contractually bound in the State of___________. The purpose for this call is to relieve the Courts from the burden of trying this case. As you may or may not know, the Court System is backlogged with such cases. As it stands, I am the final stop before this case arrives on the Judges Bench and I am calling today in an attempt to relieve The Courts of some of this burden by allowing you to rectify this matter today.

__________ has filed claim that ___________ rightfully and contractually owe________for work completed__(DATE)_______. The State of ___________has provisions that allows a party to satisfy delinquent payments prior to Adjudication without or penalty or Legal Recourse within 10 days of a matter being heard by a Judge."

You do not state that you are an Officer of the Court, You do not state that you are a Federal, State or Local employee. You do not state that you can enforce any Federal, State or Local laws.

It is Bullet Proof!

Repoed many-a-car utilizing this ploy!

actually it's not. Your "friend" becomes a 3rd party collector.

not only is he misleading in identifying himself falsely ... but he's also harassing the debtor by making them think they're gonna be in court (even if they are & even if they should --- it's still harassment)

And while he didn't state he was a state employee - he did insinuate that he was connected with the court system. This is still "bad."

your friend (and you as well perhaps) can then be sued by the debtor over this

MALCO.New.York · 11-16-2008, 09:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dirt diggler

actually it's not. Your "friend" becomes a 3rd party collector.

not only is he misleading in identifying himself falsely ... but he's also harassing the debtor by making them think they're gonna be in court (even if they are & even if they should --- it's still harassment)

And while he didn't state he was a state employee - he did insinuate that he was connected with the court system. This is still "bad."

your friend (and you as well perhaps) can then be sued by the debtor over this

Nope.

Used this Ruse for 7 years in GA. Was dragged to Bankruptcy Court once concerning this tactic. Needless to say, I kept the car that they surrendered.

It is a very thin line between Impersonation and Tactical Lying!!!! Most Judges are on the side of the Lender when the Debtor is a Schmuck!!!!!

Just for the record..........If a "contractee" defaults on the FIRST payment, in most States, it is a Felony. "Entering In To A Contract With Intent To Defraud". Easily leveraged. Foreclosure process.

buildpinnacle · 11-16-2008, 12:07 PM

You have all of these choices (liens, letters, intents, lawsuits, etc). I have used each in the past and all have worked well in different situations. I still think after three weeks your best bet is to drive over, knock on the door, and say "I have this final paperwork I need to go over with you and I need to get this invoice cleared up". If they don't answer the door, go three times a day. After a few days and they won't talk to you...then send the letter with the intent to lien. In Texas, the general does not have to send an intent, and I don't. I send them a copy of the lien with the demand letter and give them 48 hours within receipt to pay me or it goes to the courthouse. I just did this a month ago on about $6k last pmt from a roofing job that went great until the invoice was submitted (we all have had those). The owners actually told my super his last day of cleanup that they would get with me at some point in time down the road and talk about settling up. They refused the 3" certified letter I sent them and ironically, that day I got an email asking me when I was going to pick up my final monies. When I got there, the home owner asked me if that was an attempt to put a lien on thier house. I just told her it was an attempt to be paid for the work I did. Most people get really concerned with the thought of a lien, but others don't care...it's a crapshoot but it has to be done.

Blind Willy · 11-16-2008, 04:59 PM

I went...
they threw me off the job-site...
they are refusing to pay...
let the good times roll.

orange Garrison · 11-16-2008, 05:15 PM

there is no confidentiality when it comes to non payment be sure to regester a lien as soon as possible so that at least another contractor could be warned of them! I have 11 liens open rite now. mostly because of people not wanting to pay contracted and documented extra's,and they wonder why we want something up front!! there are bad contractors ,there are also bad customers!Sorry about your luck register that lien so as you can get a tax credit ,whatever it might be.