what recourse do i have?

16 years ago

okay, first sorry if this is long, but it has been a nightmare and dont know what to do next.

back in feb of '06 we got a grant from a local orginization (housing revitalization) who gets the money from our town. the grant covered new windows and doors, new roof, some remodeling (new insulation and sheetrock) and lots of electrical, including new meter, breaker panel, outlets, some lights and most of the wiring replaced. the specs called for all the wiring in the house to be replaced.

the bids were put out, and the contractor was hired. the guy who runs the grant program told us that once he was hired, he basiclly worked for us, and all they did was make sure the work was completed (note: not make sure it was done right... just completed)

at the time, we decided to do some work ourselves. our master bedroom had mold from a leaking window, so we decided to gut it at the same time the contractor was doing work to make it easier for him to do the rewiring. we also did this with our bathroom.

we had lots of problems with the contractor throughout the job. we have some things that were documented as concerns with the grant program that the contractor was supposed to fix and never did.

when the job was "done", we were required to sign off on it. we were told we were signing off on "completed work" and if something was wrong, it was our job to take up with the contractor. he had to guarentee all his work 100% for 1 year from the sign off.

job was "completed" in october '06. we continued to have the contractor out for problems (leaking roof, leaking tub he installed, outlets not working, etc).

in jan '07 i was talking to an electrician friend about some stuff (i am learning about doing electrical work) just kind of picking his brain. i asked him a question about junction boxes, and he explained that under no circumstances are you allowed to have one buried behind sheetrock, or anywhere else that was not accessable. instantly i remembered that i saw the contractor put at least 2 of them buried behind sheetrock.

i was very concerned to begin with, so i called in an independant electrical inspector. origionally we had problems with inspections and permits because the grant place never told us WE were responsible for pulling a permit. in our area, the code officer doesnt inspect electrical so an independant is required.

after the inspector we hired left, we had 6 pages of violations of the work this guy did. everything from non grounded 3 prong recepticles that werent gfci protected, to the breaker panel being too far inside the house, to the wiring in the basemtnt. lots of stuff.

so we called a meeting with the code officer, electrical inspector, grant director and contractor. the first thing we found out is that the ONLY inspection done was for the new servince entrance. NONE of the interior wiring was EVER inspected. when we went to sheetrock the bedroom we were responsible for, the contractor told us the inspection was done and okay to close up walls (that was a lie).

the grant director told us that we were on our own with the contractor, and they could not help us.

the contractor kicked and screamed, but agreed to fix the work. this was in feb 2007. here it is december, and he has not finished fixing the stuff he didnt do right in the first place.

now, he has never said he wouldnt fix it. he says he will, then we dont hear from him for a month. then, he will come for 1 day, work 3-4 hours and thats it.

as of right now, we have electrical repairs to be made, windows that werent caulked so they are really drafty, doors that leak, a tub that leaks (and has ruined the tile ceiling below) and a handful of other things that are wrong.

my last meeting with the grant director did not go well. i brouoght up the fact that an inspection was never done on the interior wiring (is stated in the contract that the inspection had to be done for the contractor to be paid for that portion of the job) so how could the job be signed off on? he said it was an oversight on their part, but it was already signed off on. he said our business with them was done, and i should not contact him anymore. i contacted our town supervisor and he said there was nothing he could do. i contacted the contractors insurance company, and they told me that he only has liability, and donesnt cover unfinished/bad jobs.

where do i go next? a laywer? small claims court?

we wish we never got this grant.

please help me!

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Comments (11)

sierraeast
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Sorry this has happened. I hope someone here can give you some expert legal advise. I think towns that offer these grants should take responsibility and screen licensed contractors to work on grant projects. Your contractor obviously lacks experience and has left you no recourse. It sounds by your explanation that the contractor was hired through the grant program so im not understanding why they are dodging the responsibility. I think i would go after the town itself but im no expert on these matters. I believe at least a consultation from a contracts lawyer.
davidandkasie
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
your only recourse is to hire a lawyer. and then you need to pray tha the does not have his company setup in such a way that IT is responsible, but not him. if he has no personal liability for his company, he can shut it down and file BK, then reopen the next day under a new name/tax number and get off scott free.
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sierraeast
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
That happened here where a plumbing contractor got his builders license and built a tract of homes. The copper failed in many of the homes, so when they went after the guy, he simply changed his business name, went back to plumbing, and is still doing business today. Sucks!
andy0225
Original Author
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
thanks for the advice so far.

here in upstate new york, our county doesnt require anyone doing any kind of residential construction to be licensed, not even electricians. i could go tomorrow and slap a sigh on my truck and call myself an electrician.

the copy of the insurance policy i have for this guy is his homeowners with a provision that he runs a small business and covers him for liability. i think thats pretty much a dead end.

if we were to go after him in court, it would be under his name, not a business. as far as i know, he does not have a business name.

with regards to the grant company, pretty much anyone can work for them as long as they carry 300k in liability insurance. i was shocked at the lack of screening.

this contractor has not worked for them since our job, mostly becuause of the headaches he caused the grant director...
sierraeast
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
At least that particular contractor wont do it to another grant project, but unfortunately will probably carry on. Hope it all works out for you as this has been a long, drawn out affair. Best of luck!
estimator
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I know this is hindsight, but did anyone check his references? Also, was he hired on being the lowest bidder?

Were there other bidders?
andy0225
Original Author
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
estimator,

I wish we had! We were very niave at that point in time, and never thought about that. Also, we had to go with the lowest bidder for the job, unless we wanted to pay the difference between him and whoever we wanted. All the other contractors were 3-4K more and we did not have the money to do that.

We spoke with a laywer on friday, and at this point we are going to move forward with a lawsuit. We have set up a few appointments to have some estimates done to know how much we are looking at, which will then determine weather we go to small claims court or "big boy" court.

We also found out that we aren't the only ones who have had a problem with this orginization. This place needs to be shut down.
andy0225
Original Author
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Well, we had our first estimate to fox what the guy screwed up. Looking to be in the 5-6k range, with some of the electrical being an hourly only job. The chances of small claims coourt just vanished!
kermieb
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
When I read that in your part of the state, no one is requred to be liscensed to do electrical work I just knew that had to be wrong, but a little research, and I came up with this.....

"Local government entities license electrical contractors. Separate or additional permits may be required to perform the electrical work.

Inspections for work performed must be made by an approved electrical inspection agency. The New York Board of Fire Underwriters, Bureau of Electricity provides electrical safety inspections throughout New York State. For more information, contact their Customer Service Center at 40 Fulton Street, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10038, phone: (212) 227-3700 or (800) 227-2761 or visit their website at www.nybfu.org." http://www.nys-permits.org/

I could hardly believe it, so I kept digging. Go to this site: http://opal.gorr.state.ny.us/gorr/pas/paslib.nsf/WebDocIDs/20C5FE59AA3A86218525677B006297B6?OpenDocument

This site outlines some of your resources for filing a complaint against this guy. If you guys were in SC, he would be in jail by now.... and you people think WE are still backwoods? lol I hope this info helps.
igloochic
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Do you know the source of the grant funding? I have cleaned up more than one mismanaged grant program in my life time, and I feel for the clients who suffered with the idiots who run many of these programs. They're all warm and fuzzy, give to the people, type people, with the business sense of flies. This leaves the people who should have benefited from the grant in a worse position than they were often in when they originally applied!

Have your attorney request copies of your entire grant file, and if it's state or federal money, even county funds, you should be able to request the grant request (the application the entity used to fund the program) as well as the program specifications (rules and regs associated with it). While the grant director may be telling you that they made a mistake so umm tough luck...he probably is wrong. Most grant programs have an out that makes the entity responsible for the mistake, responsible for returning the funds to the grantor if the program does not follow the rules. The cost to the program when errors are found is significant, so most will step up to the plate to clean up their mistakes, but only when made to do so. If they don't clean up their mistakes (take care of you) they could loose all ability to receive funding from the grantor in the future, and to dispurse federal or state funds.

But most of the time they are dealing with unsophisticated clients (that is NOT an insult...it just means that you probably don't have the same level of experience in handling funding as someone like me...but then again...I don't qualify). They bully you past their BS and hope you will go away, and 99.9% of the time...you will. But since you've hired the attorney anyhoo, and that program might have more money than your contractor, at least ask the attorney to carefully investigate the grant program and look for a loophole.

I still want to spit on the street when I pass the woman whos' job I took....because she left me with significant programs to clean up. I cleaned them all up, but had to really push clients hard to get them to make it right for themselfs. Don't be like that :o) Please, for me :oP Push on this issue and see if there is anywhere to go with it!
cearbhaill (zone 6b Eastern Kentucky)
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I'd be contacting my local newspaper, television station, and any other media that has any sort of consumer advocate person or program. This reeks.

what recourse do i have?

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sierraeast

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what recourse do i have?

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