Homeowner Won't Pay

Winchester

So what if he doesn't want to pay right away, think of all the interest he's going to owe you when he actually does pay

You do have interest charges in your contract right?

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Ryan

JimHo

$5k may be too much for small claims court to look at.

Your best bet may be to start documenting conversations you have with the customer with time and date. The more detail you write down, the better. A witness helps. Also, you might want to mail the customer a separate contract for the stone, and include language like; "As per our conversation, the remaining balance from contract "A" will be due and payable upon delivery of the stone." Again this will just add documentation that the guy actually agrees that he owes you the money.

RPS

This has happened to us a number of times. A couple of quick tips we've learned that might help. #1, Do EVERYTHING in writing and take progress picture on every job. Without a paper trail of what has happened, it just turns into "he said - she said" situation. #2, Not knowing what state you're in, you normally have a small window of time to exercise your lien rights, so don't wait too long. #3, Inform the homeowner of your intent to lien in writing, you can find a number of template on-line. #4, If you place a lien on the property, which you can do by yourself, enforcing the lien will require a lawyer. That could get expensive. #5, Every state is different, but in most you can file a claim in small claims court if it's under $10K. You don't need a lawyer for small claims, but if you don't have good documentation to back up your story, you most likely won't get a judgement in your favor. However, just the act of being servered with papers by a process server or County Sheriff at home is usually enough to get their immediate attention and let them know you mean business! Good luck, I hope that helps.

wheeler

small claims court will take the action but its decision is final, there is no appeal. more generally lawyers don't pay for themselves on claims beneath $50k.

file the mechanics lien within state statue assuming you have a building permit and are a licensed home improvement contractor per state regs. filing is typically 30-days from "completion" of the work. fee is maybe $600 and another $600 / year to keep it open. you don't need a lawyer and all a lawyer will do is get another lawyer involved.

lesson's learned going forward, reference check you clients. don't cast your pearls to the swine. be extra cautious with the wealthy, most of them didn't get there playing fairly.

Anti-wingnut

?????!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I thought that in the United States, all legal decisions were open to appeal for cause, all the way to the Supreme Court.

thom

Generally, one accepts up front that a small claims court case cannot be appealed because it is not a court of record. That means, the proceedings are not recorded, just the result.

Some states will make it optional but the party wanting the record must pay the costs of the court reporter.