Thank you. Spectatorsz, I will put my problem on the board and see if anyone can or will try to help me. In 2001, I contacted a friend who had done contractor work for me before and asked him to convert two decks to a screened porch. He no longer had his license and was working for a licensed contractor who agreed to do the job. As we got into the job, I decided we might as well just make it a weather proof sunporch with windows instead of a screened porch. The work was done, and I was pleased with how it turned out. (My friend did much of the work.) When it came time for the roofing, I asked the contractor to have roofiing contractor who reroofed our home about four years earlier to do the job and my husband even called the roofer to come and give the contractor a bid (with the contractor's approval). Much later (this year) we found out he did not use the roofing contractor we requested, and that he, the contractor, "dried in" the roof, asking the roofer he chose, to just shingle. This winter we had a particularly bad storm lasting several days and creating much ice on roofs and lots of damage in general here in Northern Utah. We spent Christmas in Virginia and missed the storm. I was scheduled for breast cancer surgery the morning after we arrived home late at night, and neither my husband or I went into the sunroom until after I returned from the hospital, following surgery. Ice dams along the sunroom edge had caused leaks and the beaded board room sustained quite a bit of damage, as well as the floor joists are now visible under the floor covering. We contacted our insurance company, they sent a disaster team with fans to dry out the insulation (tearing out part of the ceiling and some of the wall, which had cracked.) The insurance company discovered that the roof had not received something called "weather guard" or "ice guard" - a sheet of plastic of some type which should have gone under the tar paper. Our insurance company declined to accept any responsibility for the problem, citing a clause in the policy stating they did not cover contractor negligence or error. Being very inexperienced, we called the roofing subcontractor, when we found out it was not the one we requested. He came, accepted responsibility for the problems and said he would take care of everything. Nice man. Then a couple of weeks later he called, saying he had a witness that our general contractor had "dried in" the roof, and he was not responsible, and that we should call our general contractor. We did. He came, said he, as general contractor, was responsible and he would take care of everything. We told him we would work with him, and in every way tried to be good guys. He told us he had let his license lapse in 2003. I checked online and found he had been licensed and insured until July 2003, and was in 2001 when he did the work. He never came back. I tried calling him a couple of times on his cell phone and left a message at his home. On one occasion he told me he was working "with that insurance lady, Kelli and would get back to me next week." Well, the insurance lady was the disaster service lady, who had called him about paying for the disaster service they had provided us - he never called her back, either. One time he told me he would have our friend do the work, and I asked him if he was authorizing our friend to do so for payment purposes and he said "He will work at his own risk!" Obviously we didn't do anything. Finally, I called the contractor on my cell phone because I think he knew my land line number and wasn't answering. I told him it thought it was pretty bad of him to treat us this way, especially when we told him we would work with him. He told me "Thanks for the lecture" and hung up on me. We have never heard from him again. I called the state office that deals with licenses for the building profession, and they basically told me there is nothing they can do, since he is no longer licensed. Our friend who had worked for him had his reputation hurt by other dealings this man did while he worked for him, and his own son, who worked on our job, as well, told us his dad is working jobs without a license. He has moved out of his dad's home because I guess his dad, the contractor, treated him badly, too. We have also been told the IRS is investigating the contractor, and his wife, a physician, told hime "get a job - I hear Home Depot is hiring!"
Today we had another contractor arrange to give us a bid to fix the damage. He says we will need a new roof, and the floor is going to be the biggest problem. I am so against suing people - I had a medical misdiagnosis once with a previous cancer surgery, and told the involved doctor I just wanted her to get me the best oncologist in the state and that I wasn't going to sue because I do know people make mistakes. But this has gone way beyond that - this contractor has been such a bad guy to us that I think we may have to sue. Do you know any other recourse? I have talked with an attorney, and he said he will also have to sue the roofer-sub. I'm feeling especially bad about that because he was willing to step up when he thought it was his fault only. Also, I'm worried about the IRS. If they are investigating the contractor, will he declare bankruptcy and we will just have big attorney fees and nothing else? His wife is a medical doctor, he does own property, and I've been told he recently bought a fixer-upper as an investment, which he is working on. I try always to be positive and to have only positive experiences, but I don't know how to put a positive anything about this anymore, and physically I know this is not good. I am hopefully recovering from breast cancer, but I believe one's emotions are incredibly important in one's health, and frankly, I am so freaked out about this I just worry most of the time. Any advice?
Ole' redhead.
