So in the fall of last year I hired a contractor to work on the roof of my house and build out a patio. They are a real company and not some randos that just do construction work too. They asked for 60% of the total project as a deposit and the remainder to be paid on completion. I had my parent who lives with my pick out some colors and details as they really wanted a metal roof and such.
The metal roof has proven to really be a massive challenge here. The project has now crossed the 6mo mark and the contractor has not even begun on it. They did work on the patio and a few other ends. As far as why the roof has gone so slow? Between them and others getting sick and unable. At some point they told me that they hired a guy to work on my roof and they took some payment to show up to the job site, but they ghosted. Even the patio work was rather irregular, but it was moving forward.
In late may they asked me to buy the material to do the metal roof and that they would discount it from the final price. At this point I had felt that I had been too generous in giving them space to work and finish the project. So I decide to file a small claims suit since the deposit is still under the limit for them. Oddly enough some days after I submitted the paperwork to have them served to the court they showed up to remove some wood that was in rough shape from some rain. They can be difficult to get in contact with, so I had not bothered to tell them that I planned to sue them, but since they were there I told them as I felt letting them continue hurt my case.
At this point I have a report from another contractor on the state of the project (before they had randomly shown up), I have recordings of our calls that I am transcribing to make a timeline of our interactions (one party state here in Tx). I think I have set myself up to have a good case to ask for a refund here. Still I noticed that USPS had tried to deliver a letter that required a signature from the contractor, but it was addressed to my parent oddly enough. I am a bit unsure of what to do. My parent feels a bit intimidated for it. I told them to just ignore. Is there some general advise on what else I should do or what that letter could be about?
I can't give legal advice on this but I did find a few communities by searching "legal advice." Most seem to be inactive except for !legaladviceuk@feddit.uk
I'd say the wheels are already in motion here, and to follow through. Don't contact them since you're going through the court system now, and document everything you can.
I'm interested to know what they said when you told them about taking them to small claims.
I can show exactly what that call was like. It is a bit messy as the transcription does not split between speakers.
Well I tired, but lemmy gives an invalid body error. Maybe too much text?
Edit
TLDR he wanted more time.
Translated
(0:00:00) Yeah, okay. Right now, we’re over at your house working. Yeah, okay. I need you to stop that work. Frankly, Carlos, I’ve been very disappointed with your company’s ability to finish this project; I consider it abandoned. If one of your workers didn't show up for work, you’d fire him. (0:00:28) I consider you fired, and I want my money back. Right now, I’m looking into—I’m considering getting a lawyer to sue you. Yeah, look, I’ll tell you one thing. Regarding what you just said—you have every right; even though we talked and all that, you can do whatever you want. Like I’ve always told you, I speak with you. (0:00:51) And then I speak with your mom, and it’s like a game of telephone. I tell her one thing, then I tell you another... I say, "Ask her if she wants to," and then the other person says something else. I’d like both you and your mom to be there. That’s one thing I’m telling you. Look, it’s taken you way too long to get the roofing material, and you still don’t have it. And you asked me for more money because you squandered the budget I gave you. Look, I’ll tell you something. That idea of yours is better. Because it seems like... I mean, I speak with you... (0:01:20) I didn’t ask you for more money for the project. No, no, look, I don’t have confidence that you actually have the worker. Let’s say I buy the material—I buy it—and it just sits there because you haven’t hired the kid who’s supposed to cut it. Then I end up losing even more money on this project. No, no, no, no. As a contractor, you should have a line of credit with the people you buy materials from. Look, I’ll tell you this. (0:01:47) And I’m telling you again: I already have that covered. I was going to bring materials; I was going to let you know about the progress this week. Because, really, it was just like I told you—listen to this, man-to-man: I did a repair job for you two years ago, and you guys never paid me for it. And I’m the one who trusts you more than you trust me. Because right now, if you didn't want to put up the money, I’d still be here—even after that situation I told you about, on a human level... (0:02:16) You say I squandered it. I didn't squander the money; I can show you. I can review the work I’ve done. I even told your mom that, once this was finished, I’d help with other things. It’s not like I’m just slacking off. I understand you’re angry. Look, I’m without a roof. And hurricane season is starting. The roof is the main thing. And you haven't done it. (0:02:42) Look, between the holidays and the days you just don't show up—I don't know why; you say you're sick, or so-and-so is sick... I mean, a whole year to replace a roof? Well, it’s not about the year or the time—that’s what I’m telling you. To me, it is. The wood you’re supposedly replacing right now is rotten. Do you think it takes less than a year for wood to rot? It’s not rotten here. (0:03:11) Well, by definition, if it’s stained, it’s rotten. Oh, of course you’d say that. No, I can show you what rotten wood actually looks like. The hole behind your house—that is rotten. When it’s stained, it’s because of moisture. I’m just saying you should try to analyze it. Well, check it out. Look, I’m not here to argue. I’m going to change whatever needs changing. I have a two-week window; I’ll start right away and get it finished. Now, if you want to go the other route—well, ultimately, you’ll lose more money than you’d gain. (0:03:40) I can guarantee that, but I don’t want it to come to that. And what else? Look, if you tell me you want to sue and go through all that legal stuff, then I can’t change your mind. I’d rather not, because we can work this out—that’s why I’m telling you this. I think you could have fixed this already, but you haven’t because you don’t want to. Is it that you don’t want to, or you can’t? Either way. If I didn’t want to, I wouldn’t have shown up or answered you; I would have just told you straight out. Now, I ran into several issues—I told you about them, I explained the situation... (0:04:11) And I suppose that, in the end, what I say might not carry much weight with you, but right now I just want to wrap this up, because I know it’s a problem for you—and for me, too. If I were being a jerk about it, believe me, I’d just show up and let you do whatever you have to do—send in whatever legal team or lawyers you need to send. But I don’t want to do that because I don’t want to leave things on a bad note. You don’t want to end up on bad terms. Give me these two weeks; let me come by—maybe by next time, you’ll be starting on the metal roofing, putting up all the edge sheeting. (0:04:38) Anything that’s stained—tell your mom—I’m going to replace all the bottom sections. But I won’t install them until I’ve done the roof. So, do you have the material, then? I’ll bring it over, maybe by Friday. I’ll cut the sheets so they can go and place them, even if they don’t fully install them yet. I need four rolls, and I have two. Like I said, if it’s there... maybe...
It's hard to tell who's talking at what point. You should be allowed to include any legal fees/cost of litigation in your claim so they're wrong about you losing more money than you'd gain (so long as you include legal fees in your filing) .
DOCUMENT EVERYTHING! When have they shown up? How many people? How long did they work? All that shit. Photos of the state of construction. Any correspondence.
If they are willing to work something out, a court would prefer people do that rather than litigate. So as he's talking about making things right, you'll need a reason why that is no longer an option.
Mostly them not showing up to actually finish or even having bought the material (as they at some point asked me for more money for it)