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?
This is legal advice -- since i am not a lawyer they can't stop me, i think...?
I always hear them say not to talk about it in public until after the case is settled, but idk if that's just what Big Law wants us to do