Advice on how to deal with a general contractor?

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The contract stated 180 days to complete, but does not state penalties.

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Well that's a problem. Who drew up the contract?

What other provisions are in the contract regarding his termination?

ETA: And, if you arent already, document everything. Save everything. Record when you called/texted/emailed etc.

Did y'all sign a contract? If yes, is it cost plus or was it a hard bid? If it's a cost plus, the contractor is taking his time to rack up the bills. You will have little to no recourse (depending on state law), but you might want to speak with a lawyer. Have them review your contract.

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I'm in the same boat as you. Contractor told me 5 months tops, we are now in month 7. I've got about 2 weeks worth of work left and now all his subs are flooded out. I started at the end of January because I wanted to be in the house in enough time before i start working a 2 month shutdown next month. Looks like I'll be moving in during that now.

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Itemize all of the work he has yet to complete and the approximate hours of work left. Even better, have another contractor come and give you a quote of how much it will cost to complete the work.

Tell the current contractor he has two options:

1) Complete the entire job within the time of your choosing (make sure it's a reasonable amount of time given the amount of work left), or

2) Stop working and reimburse you for the work left to be completed.


If he goes with option 1, make him sign a new contract stating the job must be done by X date or else he will owe you the cost to complete the unfinished work times 3.

If he wants to continue the job and not sign the new contract on these terms, tell him that's not happening and he will soon be getting served with a lawsuit that will include a claim for fraud that will expose him to a potential judgment for attorney fees and punitive damages, and you'll be filing a complaint with any and all agencies that has any sort of jurisdiction over him.

So there's no termination by owner language? If you don't know a construction attorney you should find one and get some advice after having them review your contract. You'd typically want to have termination language, stipulations on how and where to handle claims and a schedule with liquidated damages or possibly consequential damages depending on how you're impacted by the delayed completion. You'll end up being out of pocket for additional rent, insurance, etc due to his delays above and beyond what you originally anticipated.

How far along is he? I feel like at this point I'd go rouge and just tell him to get the hell off my property and I'd take it from here. Either way it's going to cost you time/money. You said you're just too nice. No need to act like a wild man but it does sound like it's time to stand up and take control of the situation.

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Best course of action to take the contract to an attorney to look over.

I also agree with others though that you could get another contractor to give you an estimate. If he is over the 180 day limit, then he has in a sense breached the contract.

You probably have to give him some reasonable time to try and finish the job before canning him.

Again, a local lawyer can run the case law for you and review the actual contract.