What can you do if you hired a contractor last March ...
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We have a signed contract to be completed by October to build a little house of 650 square feet. He has 200,000 of our moneyfor permits & materials. No work has been started since March of last year. Patrick
If you have tried contacting him (calls/texts/emails etc) and have got nowhere I would definitely take it to a lawyer. Unfortunately there isn't really much else you can do at this point. He is in breach of the contract if he isn't doing the job he agreed to do.
Take any emails/texts/phone records you have as proof along with the contract to the lawyer
Hire a lawyer NOW! This is more than small claims court. God bless you. ☺️
Why have you waited so long??? Why did you give the contractor $200,000? You never ever do that. Is the contractor even around? What excuses have you been given? Hire an attorney asap! Sue for breach of contract, plus cost of suit, plus pain and suffering and emotional distress. Your local state Bar association can help you out to find an attorney. Here is how to hire a contractor.
https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0242-hiring-contractor
Keep us posted, I feel so bad for you. Now you know better.
Request a refund. If he has gotten the permits and materials, request they be given to you with the receipts, and the balance refunded to you. If he refuses file a complaint with your State Contractor's Licensing Board. For future notice, that sounds like an exorbinant amount for permits and materials for 650 sq. ft. building, and no one buys all the materials at once unless you live on a mountain top and delivery is really expensive.
Ophs here is a discussion on the topic.... http://answers.angieslist.com/How-pay-general-contractor-prior-starting-job-q43336.aspx
Hire an Attorney, Contact the State Board of Contractors, Contact your City and State Attorney General and file a complaint.
Good Luck
If you live in the USA, put a lien against his business, his house, his car and anything else he owns. Contact the better business bureau and file a complaint. Contact the city permits department and have his license flagged. Contact all local HOA's and neighborhood watch programs and let them know the situation with this contractor and that he should not be hired. Contact the local news station and see if they'll run a story on this guy. Warning others so that his business dries up may be your only recourse.
call your local news station and get them to come out and do the story
In addition to ALL the above.
Contact your bank or go online and get copies of the fronts
and backs of any checks you may have given him. If you Cashier Checked him, ask the bank if they can help, or find your copy. If you paid him with cash, at least print out those withdrawal records. You need proof you paid him.
If any friends, family or neighbors met him, get affidavit from them stating they’d met him and whatever conversation pertinent to the contract/project they had.
Try to find him on Facebook or any other social sites. Needs be, use one of
the “I Spy” sites (that’s what I call them) online that find people. In our case it found his ex and kids.
Did he ever talk about getting his truck fixed or a supplier he works with?
His favorite diner, etc? His place in the mountains.?
Who gave you his name/reference?
We’ve been “done” too. Not to your extent, but raging angry at ourselves and him.
Go to the Permit office and find out if he ever applied.
Most local news stations are more than happy to help you. Unfortunately if this person has filed bankruptcy, you may not get your money back, it sounds like maybe he has pulled this before. One good thing, if you have the records you can take a loss each year on your taxes for this bad debt. So sorry this has happened. My aunt got ripped off by a female firefighter in our county. What a con she was. Trust is a very hard thing to come by these days.
talk to a lawyer. Do you have a copy of the contract to build, and did you specify a date it was to be complete? Not just in March of x? You need to have proof that the contract is legit. If you did not specify a date or time period for completion the contractor can do your project any time it suits them. If you have a contract in place and open ended for a completion date..it could be years befor it gets done.
never give up the cash up front. arrange to pay by installments as work is being completed. Some so called contractors will use your money to complete another build. Did you check the better business burough before hiring them? did you get references before hiring this company? October is still a few months away.
In the contract that you signed, does it say that you agreed to pay that much money on the date of the contract was signed?
Is there any other wording pertaining to you signing you are in agreement with any other particular amounts of money?