New Here Please Help With Problem

billyshounns

I did a job on a apartment complex time and material. repairing and cleaning aprox. 120 a/c units. He now wont pay the remainder of his bill. I put a lein on the building, and he than filed a motion to either file my lawsuit or remove the lein within 60 days. My attorney is now fileing the lawsuit. I think this guy is expirienced at doing this, and I have never been screwed for this much money before.

What should I expect? Is there anything I should watch for? What should I do?

neolitic

Can't offer help, only sympathy.
Sounds like you're doing
what you can do.

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MALCO.New.York

Stop worrying. Lawyers are for the "Dance" and the "Piece of Mind".

As long as you hired the Correct Attorney! What this means is that you DO NOT hire a Personal Injury Lawyer to handle a Construction Lien!

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dan-o

Welcome to the Mexican Stand-Off that is our legal system. If your case is legit, stick to your guns and skewer the POS.

Brickie

What he said

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Tiger

Forget T&M, draw up a contract. Get an advance. Have more progress payments with very little at the end. That large final payment is way too tempting for the deadbeats. BTW, the lawyers are going to win this one.

Mr. Mike

This is what I do...

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mnjconstruction

1/3, 1/3 & 1/3!!!!!!
works everytime!

pcplumber

Find a very intelligent and bright person to contact your customer and have him (or her) act as a neutral party to find out what his beef is. This person must be able to listen without interruption. When your negotiator is 100% satisfied that you customer has aired out his beef, then your negotiator must say, "is there something I can do to resolve these problems. Can we meet to see if we can straighten this mess up to save the time and cost for litigation."

I would only press for litigation when I am 100% convinced I did absolutely nothing wrong, and only when I know I will recover my costs. Most likely, you will pay an attorney and you will lose even more money.

It doesn't matter what you think. The most important problem you have is what your customer thinks. You need to resolve this problem.

"You get more bees with honey than with vinegar."

billyshounns

I did try this and he ofered to settle for $987.00. This wouldnt cover 2 of the 6 compressors or any of the other materials let alone the labor. At this point I am almost ready to spend everything I can to sink this thief

Winchester

What if your project is $1.3 million, and last 8 months?

heck, what if the project is 200,000 and lasts 1 month?

That's a lot of money to wait for after you completed the job.

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Ryan

Winchester

That's why contract clauses that says legal fees or whatever go to the winner of any disputes are nice, not to mention interest if you can get it to apply...

Of course this would hurt a lot more if you lost...

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Ryan

Tom Struble

40-40-20 better

simplejack

I've gone 100% AFTER completion so many times with my customers, I'm lucky Ive never been screwed over. Don't get me wrong I have FULL contracts and a very detailed work scope and descriptions, complete with what is included AND what's excluded. But getting paid was never really a major concern, I've been blessed with good instincts and a knack for finding the right people.

- HOWEVER -

I've heard too many horror stories and Now that I'm starting over, Progress Payments is a must! with NO more that 10% retainer. Fortunately their isn't any upfront maximum imposed on commercial work. UNfortunately we often have to wait 30-45 days for payments, and I've heard as much as 90 days for some projects.

mnjconstruction

Everybodys a little bit different. Depends on your cash flow/credit etc. If I had a 8 month long job I would probley set payments up once a month.

as for the 200k 1 month long job, if you got a down payment then another 3rd in 2 weeks, and last payment 2 weeks after that, to me seems like most companies, even small ones could do it.

When I'm short on cash I sometimes will set up thursday payments. But what ever works!

Blast&Coat

Yes I agree the Lawyers are going to be the only ones who really win. SO make sure your lawsuitincludes all the interest you can possibly tack on so it iwll help pay the lawyers fees if you contract doesn't state that the winner pays legal fees.
This line in a contract almost always should be enough to keep another party from screwing you and taking the chance at having to pay legal fees and interest on top of the fees he already owes you and should have just paid you the first time.
Anytime someone has ever tried to take us to court I spoke with my attorney and work up all his fees and all the interest that would be accumulated over the course of a lawsuit then the amount he owes me and show it to the guy. 4 of 5 times this stoped the lawsuit and they paid up, the other time my attorney just got lots of money and I got paid what I was owed.
Good Luck though.

AboveAndBeyond

Crossing my fingers for ya', I hope you find a way to glass 'em. Stand back and look at your case a minute, have you done anything wrong? Have you done everything right? If no then yes, the shakin'll pass. As said above, make sure your lawyer is kick-ass.