Filed Lien, Still Not Payed?

hbelectric

Finished job 4 months ago, owner keeps making excuses for final payment $20,000. I have been out there 3 times now, making changes beyond my scope of work, He will say if you do this one thing i will send you a check.

This last time i go out there, they have me checking the A/C power for Starbucks if there any loose connections and changing light bulbs. So another 3-4 hours of my time( i guess i'm their free maintenance guy). Now its been a week and he hasn't returned our calls or emails.

I feel like i'm being a sucker here, i have until nov. 2nd to file a lawsuit.
I personally don't even know if he knows i filed a lien on the property. Should i let him know a lawsuit is coming, can i charge him any % etc..
Does he have to pay lawyer fees. We really need this money, this is the 3rd non paying customer currently.

GregS

So what does your lawyer say to all this?

AskForTheSale

Go find a good lawyer that practices business law and let him take over.

Your customer is no longer a client. He is a Thief and needs to be dealt with accordingly.

Do not waste anymore time with him accept sending a copy of the lien and giving it all to an attorney to handle. This is exactly why you calculate a attorney fees budget into your yearly operating expenses, bad debt.

Go make some money.

Yes, your atty fees will be repaid when you are able to enforce the judgment.

hbelectric

My wife filed the lien and the attorney is helping us but not involved yet(as in having toi pay him). He told us we had 3 months to file the lien. I'm assum ewe we get to the deadline, we will go more into detail.

hbelectric

Thanks this is what i have been telling my wife, i will show her this. It has been hard, the guy will call and say do this little job and i will send the check tomorrow, YEAH RIGHT!

This is not the 1st time, our cheating customers have done this. So we should of known.

We Fix Houses

You'll now have to file a law suite in a specified period of time to perfect the lien. This is where you'll most likely need an atty. Most likely the judge will grant reasonably atty fees even though its not in your contract. The legal comm sticks together and the judge would prefer an atty rather than you at hearing / trial date.

Just want to mention that I photo copy all the checks I receive in for various reasons. One of which is it shows where the money is and can save a step. Upon entry of a judgment for you, you still need to serve the banks atty to get it out of the acct.

I'm working on one now for far less money. Now almost 60 days - dozens of promises. Had to do this before with them. I did get paid. They know they have until the day of trial to pay however if they intend too.

AtlRemodeling

Not sure about the law in CA but in GA you have 3 months to file the lien from the last day of work performed on-site. The lien is valid for 12 months and then expires so you must file a suit within that time frame. Waiting will not do you in good so go ahead and move forward. I have had to do this before, unfortunately.

In GA, if the amount is over $15,000 it goes to state superior court and a lawyer is required to represent you. Under $15,000 you can represent yourself. You are usually allowed 18% per annum interest starting 30 days after invoice date plus attorney fees. Again things may be slightly different in CA.

At this point, send him a copy of the lien by certified mail. In addition, if the job has a construction lender send them a copy of the lien. Also, if the job was bonded, alert the bonding company that you intend to attach the payment bond (your lawyer should be able to handle this easily). In the cover letter, state that he has 5 days from receipt of the letter to make full payment or you will be forced to turn the matter over to your attorney. Many times this will spur them to make good on the payment.

Hope you all the best.

hbelectric

Thanks we do photo copy all checks, my wife i sreally good at doing the paper work. We did not bond this job.

We will call the attorney in the morning and will ask about sending a certfied letter. Basically whatever the attorney says.

Thanks everyone for the help.

hbelectric

Thanks after all said and done. The owner " remailed the check" that never arrived. I did receive payment on the last day, before the lien expired.

TigerFan

Hope it clears.

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sutcac

Just so you know for the next time, in my experience in a similar situation roughly 7 years ago here in CA, if you don't have the recovery of legal fees in your contract, you won't get them. Make sure this is in your contract.

Glad it didn't get to that point with this one. And yeah, hope that check clears.

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HallisseyDesign

If you guys are ever weary of a check not clearing I have gone to there bank and paid my 5 dollars to take the money right then. Been screwed one to many times on people not paying my at the right time and tossing me into a hole. My guys always come first so they always get paid on time but sometimes well you hurt yourself. My guys treat me good so I want them around.

ultimatetouch

Why did the guy owe you 20,000 for the final balance. Were you not billing him on time? I would set up a draw through a title company if I was going to wait on that kind of money. I have a customer that I didnt realize owed me nearly 13,000 on a final bill and I was shocked I let them get that far ahead. For now on do progress payments and if they dont hand you a check at the specified time in your agreement, stop work.

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Mike Finley

What he said, plus why go do another small job with the promise of the checks in the mail? Why not tell him, fine I'll do the small job, meet meet at it before I start with my check.

CA Contractor

We submit a payment schedule w/every contract that specifically outlines all payments, when they are due & the AMOUNT DUE, @bottom a phrase that the h.o. understands the prices & agrees to the payments which they must sign. We, too would never allow the balance of a job to be $20,000. As many others have done, learn from this & make the necessary changes so it never happens again, definitely look into updating wording in your contracts.

hbelectric

Total job was over $100k, final payment was closer too $10k, another $10k was in extras, the owner tried to get out of paying.

SLSTech

Change orders should be paid up front or within X days of signing

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