legal advice needed

[Sparky 14]

I have a need for some legal advice.

A customer of ours needed his wooden roof, brick walkway, cement stairs, 2nd story deck and a large patio underneath pressure cleaned. The roof was going to be sealed after it was done.

We communicated over email, agreed on a price and our employee started the job. The total asking price was around $4,000.

1. Cleaned the brick walkway. Sealed it. The next step was to re-sand it.

2. Cleaned the deck (top and underneath) put brightener, but the top did not come out right. basically, no matter how strong the solution was, it did not strip it. The bottom came out fine because it was bare wood.

3. pressure cleaned the patio. Sealed it. After we were done sealing, a weird streak appeared out of nowhere from the surface cleaner's path.

4. The roof was difficult to clean and it took 7 times longer than expected. The difference was night and day on the areas cleaned. We purchased harness and slipped many times because the algae made the wooden roof like ice. Cleaned the roof of algae about 80% of 1 side only.

Because our guys had the harnesses on, their collar bones were hurting. We wanted him to give us a day break and assured him that we would meet the deadline.

Because of the streak (which i offered to redo) and the roof, he fired us. Mainly because he needed to find a company that could finish the job on time.

We estimated that he owes us about $1650 (he paid $200 allready).

he said he will detemine how much to pay us once he finds a company that will complete the "mess" we started.

He came back and offered us $500 or so.

So, here is the question.

1. We are trying to recoup only what we completed

- 80% of 1 side of roof

- sidewalk - cleaning and sealing

- big patio (because i offered him to re-do it)

- did some landscape edging for him

2. Should we take him to court? (have pictures of before and after and emails)

3. Should we deal with a collection agency. What are our chances?

please let me know what you think. I have labor costs and my employees will not be happy if they do not get paid.

Sorry for the long post.

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

Sparky - I moved your thread to the Business area, so only members can view it. I think it will get you better responses here.

Beth

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

After reading your post, I think you should post pics.

Beth

[James 624]

Sparky , looks like you got in over your head. You didn't do a test spot on the deck or had experience with a cedar shake roof. Your responsible for your employes pay . Maybe if you find someone who can handle the job . From this board or your area you can work out a deal. Otherwise you have problems. Why should he pay for a un-stripped deck , a streaked walk way and an incomplete roof job.

Try for your workers pay and call it a learning experience.

[Sparky 14]

james, thanks for replying.

a few notes.

I am not charging him for the stripped deck since i could not get it done.

here is the house and you can see that the roof was complete where we could get to. we could get to the last 2 sections, but wanted a day extension and he fired us.

I am not charging him for things we did not do. i'd never do that. I am just charging him for what we did, the portions of the roof that we stripped of the algae.

[PressurePros 248]

Sparky,

You learned some valuable lessons.

The biggest one.. on a $4000 job, meet the homeowner face to face and make sure you are both on the same page as far as outcome and timeline.

The next biggie is going to be the one that costs you. EVERYTHING in writing in DETAIL. Break down your pricing for each phase of the project so if something like this happens, you can go down your list and say we completed this, this and this and you owe us $X amount of dollars. This was perhaps a case of overpromising and under delivering. A homeowner cannot fire you from a contract unless he can prove gross negligence. As I mentioned, you had no rapport from jump street and encountered some problems. This shook the homeowners confidence and he is trying to cut his losses. Stay at the negotiating table and try to restore his faith in you.

If you have a contract outlining the project scope and completion time, you can lien the property and sue him, but that is a pain. You may be able to construct the emails in a way to be proof in lieu of a formal contract.

[Sparky 14]

ken,

I do have the emails where we outlined the different ares of the job.

for example, I have Roof cleaning, sealing, chimneys, rust around the chimney for $X.

then i have, brick sidewalk,re-sanding, sealing, cleaning the stairs - $X.

Third, 2nd story deck, underside of deck, painting the underside (not completed).

So, because we had worked with him on other prejects over the last 4 years, we completed the agreement over the phone and emails.

In addition, we spend over 2-3 hrs with him over the phone at night talking to him about the process.

I do not have individual pricing per se, but I have them grouped.

Do you think that that is fair?

[PressurePros 248]

If you have worked with the guy for four years then you obviously have a relationship. I think you can get this worked out. By the time he finds, interviews and hires someone else, there is no certainty that this project will be completed on time. Are your issues fixable?

[MMI Enterprises 289]

completion or deadline dates...what are those?

Is all about the lingo and not over-promising.

"Work set to commence *-*-07 and tentatively completed by end of work day *-*-07 as 'your company name' schedule or weather allows."

This guy think he yer only customer and things are done in one day?..Sounds like a classic weisel of a theif looking for an out!..I suspect you'de of gotten it right if left to do yer job without pressure.

[Sparky 14]

this happened a few months ago and he still has not paid.

he said "this is what i owe you" and just pulled numbers out of the air to come up around $450.

He took a long time to find a company that could do the job.

Apparently he did (although way, way after the deadline that he had set).

I have no idea how it looks now. or how well it was done by the other company.

All i know i offered to fix it and meet his deadline and he said "It's up to me to decide if i will allow you on my property. You are fired. Get out or I will call the police".

once side of the roof was 80% completed. Because he could not find anyone, it must have not looked good for his deadline.

About 4 weeks after he fired us he wrote us, "I suggest you come to complete the job since i can not find anyone who can do it".

we said "No, until we get paid". We never heard back.

[MMI Enterprises 289]

Water under the bridge now...maybe isn't worth yer time or stress in making a hoopla about it..

Personally only few time in my many year have I let people get away with non payment. Usually reasons of cutting losses or being young and dumb.

Few times though I had to make clear that I don't go through normal channels to collect what's owed. One time some dumb store clerk wasn't going to pay and he starts closing up shop and locking things down while I stood there all calm. He thought I would leave or something. When he mentioned the police I got in his face yelling something stupid like yea they'll be needed to pick his face up off the floor.. He promptly called his boss and after I yelled at them over phone I was paid and on my way to another satisfied customer..lol :)

[lipw 14]

Sparky e-mail my colection guy he I promise will get result. I refuse to let anyone get over on me. If nothing else your customer will have his credit totally screwed up. google him -John Monderine -www.rapidrecoverysystems.com