So I have had this issue with collecting a final payment. It is from a high end builder who is building 3/4 million dollar homes. He does not seem to be broke or anything that I can tell. We completed the final punch list at the end of April. He paid us but held a 20% retainer fee which totals just a bit less than 5,000.00. It is a large amount of money for us. It hurts just knowing this money is owed to us.
So I have emailed him the final invoice 3 times. My wife called him last friday and he advised her that he was in his office and would work on getting the final payment sent to us that day, which was 7 days ago. I don't have an attorney but have considered getting an attorney to send the builder a letter requesting payment. I have not dropped by his office yet, but have considered doing just that. I am not a very confrontational kind of guy though so before a face to face meeting happens, I will need to be confident in what my exact rights are so that I can speak intelligently.
As far as I know there are no issues on the job. I have several photographs documenting this job, in fact it is one of the best jobs we have ever completed. It turned out extremely beautiful so it is hard to fathom someone ripping us off on this job. Both the builder and his Project Manager advised me everything has checked out good.
I typically do not run into this issue. Most of the time customers will pay out when the job is finished. Most of our jobs are with owner builders or owners who are remodeling so I am typically dealing with an owner.
Not sure if there are any good words of wisdom here. I am going to consult an attorney.
What your rights are should be spelled out in the contract. You spell out the exact scope of work and you also spell out payment schedules. If he's beyond the contract for final payment, you are well within your rights to go pay him a visit and just tell him you were in the area and thought you'd stop by to see if any problems have come up that you weren't aware of.
When you are dealing with this sort of higher-end client
they may string you along for accounting and tax reasons…
assuming they aren't out to cheat you.
There are books with polite collection letters in them
and I suggest you consult one or two to see if you
can find something that has a friendly/firm tone
you can adapt to your cause.
it should also be in writing that after 30 days you have a right to charge interest. I know it doesn't help, but sometime additional fees forces payment. I worked for guys like that. It seemed the more money they had, the harder it was to get it.
Check out your state's mechanic lien laws and don't let them expire-some high rollers are notorious for cheating their subs out of small amounts of money-not enough to make it economically feasible to hire an attorney but enough to rob the sub of his profit. I know you hate to loose jobs in this economy, but my opinion is that its worse to do the job and loose your profit while just contributing to that high roller's bank account.
Hmmm, I'm not sure where you live but go into the building you installed the cabinets in and uninstall them.
I would bet that within 30 minutes you will have a contractor on site and a few minutes after that you'll have a check (Although I would demand cash).
That is why I will never work for a contractor again, except for one. He was/is a customer of mine in the boating world and needs me for his boat so we already have that relationship. Anybody else, no. If they really need my skills I will only work for the owner. Good luck.
Jim
Thanks guys. I do need to do something quick as I am starting to wonder. I think I am going to seek the advice of an attorney as I think a letter from an attorney would not cost too much but could be a little more forceful than I am. Probably stopping by to see if there may be any problems would also work fine.
My thinking though, if he had issues with anything in the cabinet job, he has had ample opportunity to bring it to my attention and there is really no issue in a cabinet project of this magnitude that could possibly be valued at nearly 5,000.00 or justify withholding nearly 5,000.00.
Dallas, I am in San Antonio. One other thing, which should not matter really. The builder sold his model home. Then the home we did the cabinet job on, the builder leased that home from the actual owner in order to use as his new model home. So now his actual model home has our cabinets inside. I heard he is currently building another model home to move into when his current lease expires. So removing the cabinets will cause a big scene and probably could get me arrested. I don't know. But I know I would love to go and get my cabinets. However there is some heavy granite on them. I could get the upper cabinets.
It could be for lots of reasons, but it's highly likely Loren is right. Pretty much all big companies do this to whatever smaller companies they can get away with doing it to. The longer they avoid paying out money the less interest, fees, etc they pay and the more money they have to earn money with. So find your leverage points and use them. Small claims/mechanics liens are powerful but keep them in your back pocket. You could talk to other contractors that have worked with them to see if they do it to everyone and if they eventually pay. If so, leverage harder.
Jerry, I haven't done it in Texas, although I live here, but call the county sheriff and have them send a deputy with you.
You own that product, not the contractor.
I agree with Tim. Ripping off small guys is a very common practice. These contractors are always trying to find ways
to come in close to their bids to keep customers happy.
And anyway they can save a buck is fair game. Even at your expense. This practice isn't limited to contractors. It goes on in almost every business.
Don't let this slide. Just know your rights and approach things the right (legal) way.
The problem is not how long before the mechanics lien expires, but rather you need to find out how long you have to file the lien after the last work was done or materials supplied-usually a matter of months.
Yeah, I think I mis read it. Reading further into it I find that 4 months is the expiration date. So I am still within that time period. I just need to go and file the lien, but first I want to speak with an attorney. I just hope we get paid.
We completed the final punch list the very end of April. However, the second week of May the project manager called advising me that our bid included appliance panels, which I don't think it did, but instead of arguing that our contract did not include any appliance panels, I felt it was easier to just build them and install them. So actually I was last on the job site installing appliance panels the 3rd week of May. And since this is just the first week of July I believe I am well within time limits for a mechanic's lien. I am going to consult an attorney first thing on Monday.
Jerry, I would go for a personal face to face before I spent money with an atty. You don't have to get ugly/confrontational just act like you are not leaving without the check.
gfadvm, I like that idea also. I should just pay him a visit on Monday. Then if no success, pay the attorney a visit on Tuesday. I think he knows my personality is more of a laid back type and I wonder if he just wants to see if he can take advantage of us. He might be miscalculating me as I will not just over look the debt. I do plan to be tactful and will act within the limitations of the law. But I will pursue him more aggressively than I have so far.
He is obviously a real business man. Business is about screwing everyone you can out of everything you can, or at least using their capital as long as possible. If you are going to play in the big guy's court, you are expected to take it on the chin like any good team player will.
I would file the lien ASAP! Make sure you did not have to file notices that have expired time limits. He would be the first guy on my do not work for list. He would not get an second chance to lie about paying today. My policy was always I could go bankrupt faster working for free than sitting in the shade drinking beer all day.
You can go to your nearest courthouse in the appropriate jurisdiction and file a mechanic and material mans lien on your own ,
You ,based on what I have just read come to the wrong place for your question.
I wouldn't advise going to the property and removing anything as that would immediately change the direction of your case.
I sweet letter of intent would be meaningless to this fellow.
The notion that it is based solely on his accounting practices is absurd. I can assure you that this is not his first time to do this.
Being in the upscale building business is no assurance at all that this guy practices sound business practices.
He very likely has less coin in his pocket than yourself, therein is the danger !
File a lien soon. Contact the prospective buyer of the property if your privy to that information and let them know what has happened.
Contact other subs involved to see what sort of dealings they have had. You may find that he owes quite a lot of money.
PM his DBA to me if you will. I know a few high dollars in your area .But I'm sure he s just a wannabe.
JB
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