re: Anybody ever lawyered up against a contractor?

Always, always, always structure your payouts to leave 10% (minimum) of the total unpaid and a 10-15 day period of time after the contractor tells you he's complete. This time is for you to come up with a punch list of unfinished, incorrect or cosmetic defects. Hand the list to the contractor and when he's done, pay him. If he balks, use the funds to have someone else finish it.

I just had a new stamped and stained/sealed patio put in. I held back 15% and they had to come back to seal the concrete after a few weeks of curing. I discovered the workers had damaged sprinkler lines under the concrete patio. I texted the contractor about it. He responded, "my guy's didn't damage anything". I called my sprinkler guy. He came out and had to reroute main lines and add a new sprinkler controller, bypassing the original controller. $400.

When the concrete contractor came out and finished the sealant, I gave him a copy of the bill from my sprinkler guy and short paid him the $400, but before paying I had him sign a release of lien form to protect myself. He wasn't happy about but I told him that I gave him an opportunity to come out and he went into denial. He was pissed, but he also wanted the rest of his money, so he signed it and I paid him.

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what are the chances that I actually get any attorney costs back from the builder (assuming they don’t file a BK which I doubt).

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**This is not legal advice**

Not sure what the law is in your jurisdiction or what your contract says, but usually, attorney's fees are only recoverable if provided by statute or by contract (or both). In the typical breach of contract context, a statute or contract will provide that reasonable attorney's fees can be recovered by the prevailing party. The prevailing party is the party who wins at trial, which means to see any recovery for attorney's fees, you have to: (a) go to trial; and (b) win. Litigation isn't cheap, but your pool fix may not be either.

Hard to know what to do without more information, especially what you are looking at by way of cost of repair, but you shouldn't let the prospect of recovering attorney's fees be a factor, as most cases like this result in settlement.

**This is not legal advice**

You say they are MIA. Not answering the phone? Not answering emails? All of the above? A certified letter would probably get their attention. I wouldn’t pay for a lawyer just yet, but if you have a lawyer relative or close friend, said certified letter on lawyer letterhead would get their attention quickly. Something as simple as a google review stating the issue you have, and putting in your review that you will revise review when the issue is fixed might bet things moving as well.

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Why not file a GL claim?

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A GL policy will not cover the cost to repair defective work, but it will cover damages that result from defective work.

For example, if your pool contractor does a shitty job and the pool cracks, causing a your backyard to flood and ruin your new outdoor kitchen, the GL policy will NOT pay to fix the crack in the pool, but it WILL pay (in theory) for a new outdoor kitchen.

Crystal blue aquatics. I’m in northern Virginia.