Get out your contract and look at page 7 and 8 of the Attorney General's rules for contracts for home improvements. If any of these are missing, contract is void. Not sure a judge would toss it for no 1-800 number on there, but worth a try.
On page 10, home improvement fraud section b is what would apply in your case.
#5 on page 12 applies to your case.

Here is a link that might be useful: PA Unfair trade practices and consumer protection law

I'm assuming you've checked his license, but just to be sure...
http://hicsearch.attorneygeneral.gov/

I've read through much of this, and I understand completely how stressful this is. It will get resolved one way or another, and the only real issue is money. I know money is important, but it's not as important as your health or your baby's health. Try to let the anger and worry go so you can get the sleep you need. I know, easy for me to say.

I personally wouldn't worry about his threats. He's demonstrated that he's not likely to follow up on what he says.

Hobokenkitchen,

I've been scanning this thread and watching the situation deteriorate and I agree with the advice to just stop answering his texts (or even reading them, frankly). Your DH should do the same.

My husband is a transactional attorney and wrote the contract we had with our GC. Most forum members here probably don't remember me but we finished our remodel in 2010 as our GC's business collapsed. We had to ultimately hire the subs ourselves (becoming our own GCs) because our contractor ceased to function as such. It was quite a stressful time, but the two things that made it survivable were that our GC was a stand-up guy and did his best to make our situation work while his company fell apart, and the contract my husband wrote had given us a bunch of cash held back so that we COULD pay the subs even when the GC could not.

Your GC is not a stand-up guy. He's not going to change. Accept that and stop talking to him in any forum. You don't have to be mean, you don't have to apologize, you just go dark.

Your financial situation isn't awful, even if you did overpay him. The money is not the issue. The issue is you being able to move on and get the work done. The GC is going to TRY to make the money the issue. Whether he succeeds or not is something that time will tell. Your talking to him or communicating with him in any way is not going to resolve that question.

Get yourself a lawyer. Not a 2 hour consult. Not a friend down the street. Hire an attorney. Talk to your real estate lawyer about referrals to a transactional attorney who is experienced with home builders. Plan to spend a couple of thousand dollars getting this all resolved. It might take a few weeks to get to a point where you can see how the rest of it will play out.

I agree, just go dark on this guy. Stop trying to get into his head. It is about keeping the money he has received or thinks he is owed and nothing else. I've seen the pictures. If representative, he and his crew were way over their skill level. You have every right to stop the work and find someone else to fix their mistakes. You also have the witness of two other contractors that this was defective work backing you up.

hoboken,

i am sorry to see the situation deteriorate but not totaly surprised given the info you have provided previously. having had to fire my cabinetmaker mid-job and resulting difficulties with the him, I understand your stress and anxiety. it was a real pressure cooker for me and that was just related to cabinets. to go through it with the GC is even worse, i can only imagine. some thoughts in case this is helpful:

-i decided the money involved was not worth the stress and toll on my body. i am single and had to deal with the whole thing myself. i ended up incurring +3K in extra costs as a result of the issue but i was so stressed out i did not want to fight. he failed to deliver on his contractual terms and i could have won in small claims court but felt my health and time were far more important. a year later with more perspective i still feel the same way, in fact more so. life is short. money can be earned, i just wanted to move on. i am so glad i took that approach, it just was not worth more hassle.

i do not fully understand the amount of money involved but, if you can absorb the loss financially, would suggust you consider just cutting your losses. either your husband or attorney send a formal communication indicating you are ending all work, that while you are owed funds you do not desire a refund, you consider the matter closed all payments are final you two are equal.

glad the locks are changed.

i was so angry i wanted to post him on yelp or angies list but given i live alone and he knows where i live, plus my continued desire to not increase stress, i never did. he demonstrated a temper, i did not want to take a chance. i feel bad for future customers but could not take the risk myself.

good luck, let us know how it turns out.

We are prepared to eat the loss. However he feels that he is owed more. How much and for what I have no idea.

Just got the first quote from a new GC. OMG. $9000 for the great room to add 8 recessed lights, 2 fans. Finish the spackle job and paint ceilings walls and trim.
That seems INSANELY high to me.
The rest of the quote was equally high.

Ugh.

In my opinion you need to hire your individual subs and forget about using a GC. You will have more control over each phase and pick and choose who you want to hire. AND save money! Just my two cents...

hoboken, a lot of times $ can be saved by hiring out your own electrician to do the lights and fans, a drywaller to redo the drywall mess ups and a painter to do the paint. You become the GC, but you have more control over each aspect which seemed to be majorly lacking with the last debacle and you can get the best of the best in each field. People are really struggling to work, at least where I am, so getting a good price on all of these aspects of work shouldn't be too difficult. If I lived closer to you, I'd happily do research on people and set up appointments for quotes so you could go get a prenatal massage.

You don't have to actively do anything to stop someone from suing you. You can't stop them. You do have to get good legal advice to ensure that if he does try to sue you (unlikely), he'll lose. And to see whether there's anything else you can do to discourage him from pursuing you.

Get quotes from some individual subs at this point and see how you could manage it from that perspective.

What a mess. First, on a personal note this is such a rotten situation to deal with, especially at this time in your life! Sorry for all the stress and aggravation and I hope things get resolved very soon.

However, from a strategic vantage point: it is probably time to quit airing the situation, in detail, on this (or any) forum. While it certainly *feels* like talking to a group of supportive online friends, this is a public electronic discussion board. No barriers to this guy finding the board and starting to read what's been said, so why chance providing ANY ammunition in a situation that could end up in court. Once the L-word comes up, my advice is always to shut up, lawyer up yourself and let them do your fighting for you. That includes not putting things in writing at random points. Like electronic dicussion boards!

agree it is time to go silent on the guy and retain an attorney to deal with it from here on out. have attorney send communication indicating he/she is the point of contact from this point further.

take some time off from this situation, get ready for the birth of your daughter. you can take some time later to deal with this after the birth and a little perspective. so sorry this has happened, i hope you can get some rest.

That new quote seems very high. I agree with others, start by finding an electricien and get a quote for your installation of 2 fana and 8 recessed lights.
Then go from there.

Second the advice from running in place. This is a public forum. Go silent.

Unfortunately, pretty much any quote from another contractor will probably be "high" because he is stepping in in the middle of the mess. No contractor wants to begin a job that is half done by someone who didn't do the prep for the final job correctly. It will cost him extra money and time to go back and fix things now that sho7uld be the foundation for the final job. Thus the extra charge.

Ditto live wire. When I had the GC come in to fix cabinet makers mess it was definately more.

I'm with the others who say to "go dark."

(I'm also with whoever said they'd be appalled to see "ur" in a professional communication, even though I realize this is a text and I am lousy at texting.)

Whether you get an attorney or what kind, just go dark.

$9000! Hoboken, the sharks are circling. The first thing to do when you see a shark is to remain calm. Take a break. Collect your thoughts. Your house can be locked and the roof doesn't leak. Enjoy your new baby and pick this up at a later time when you and your husband are more rested. You have at least a whole year before "The Toddler" arrives :)

Doug is right--just fix what needs fixing. You can live with an ugly ceiling (especially one that is dark because it also doesn't have lights). Get your kitchen operational, the floors cleaned, and ignore the house for at least 6 months.

It'll annoy you for a few days to have your sposta-be-remodeled house looking like this but any day now you are not gonna give a *&^* about the house. You'll care again in a while, but in the meantime you're going to be busy and exhausted. Postpone what house stuff you can. Relax and try to enjoy your last few days of freedom. Can't postpone baby.

I am sorry but I disagree. If there is anything that should be done right away, it would be the sheet rock. Once cabinets are installed, it is much harder to do.

I am thinking this contractor is a blowhard and a bully but once he realizes it's over, he will just fade away. He doesn't want trouble and he's gotten plenty already.

No experience or advice here, but I so admire your fortitude during this time. As a mom of a 10 month old, it really hits home how dealing with a rotten GC would be almost the last thing I would have wanted to be doing during that time right before my son was born.

I agree with those who say that in the long run, the $2-3k will be insignificant compared to the energy and emotional toll to fight for it back. Hopefully he'll crawl into a hole somewhere and never appear again. It sucks and it's not your fault, but as my dad used to tell me "sometimes life's not fair". It sounds like you have a great DH supporting you, and I wish you the best with the upcoming birth and your and the baby's health which are the really important things!

I agree on time to chill, but there is one thing that may need attention sooner rather than later. It was mentioned, many posts ago, that there might be issues with some electrical work this guy did. I do think that you need to find out if there's ever been an electrical inspection from the city - maybe any inspections whatsoever. Whatever the city says, I would be more comfortable if you had a reputable electrician look it over for safety issues. Bad drywall is one thing and it can wait. Electrical problems are a different ball of wax.

If sheetrock is missing in the kitchen, yeah, that's necessary. Kitchen absolutely needs to be functional as does anything dangerous or drafty or whatever. But a terrible mud job on the kitchen ceiling is not a priority. Cabinets and a sink--priority.

Anyway, good luck, Hoboken! What a mess!

if it's just a matter of mudding over some drywall to make it look good then it's not a problem. However, if it involves removing pieces of drywall, it much more difficult to do once the cabinets are installed especially if the cabinets go to the ceiling. Also I would not want drywall dust all over my new kitchen and appliances. And no matter how much you cover, there is always dust. But that's just me.

That being said, suzanne is right, the electrical work definitely takes priority over everything else. Also remember that even though the contractor might pull the permits, it's the responsibility of the homeowner to make sure that proper permits get pulled for the work that's being done. So if there are no permits, the new contractors will probably have to redo the bad work anyway just so they can pull the permits and get the work inspected and approved.

So sorry to hear this has been such an ordeal for you at a time when you should be enjoying the last few weeks of pregnancy. I am not sure where you are in PA but I live in Doylestown and have a GREAT electrician to recommend. I also have a guy to recommend that did our basement a few months ago. He can do most things. He was very reasonable and WONDERFUL to work with. Message me if you want the names and numbers. Best of luck!

I'm so sorry you're going through all this. You've gotten great advice here. I just wanted to second the need to get a electrician in there to take care of any electrical issues. I went through a remodel from hell when we did our last kitchen (had to rip out a BRAND NEW kitchen!!) and we discovered three separate instances where the electrical work was so shoddy it would have caused a fire. Thank goodness we'd never gotten to the point where the kitchen had power restored. Just make sure your home and family are safe. Sounds like you have some potential safety issues going on.

I wish I was close enough to help come clean up and make you some meals. You poor thing. You're a strong woman and you're going to have some great stories to tell your sweet daughter about how she came into the world. Hang in there!

hoboken-I understand if you've gone dark, but just wanted to wish you luck tomorrow if you do meet with the GC. I am however, REALLY hoping your daughter made her grand entrance and you have gone dark for an entirely wonderful reason.

I've decided I'm not especially worried about him finding this thread.

We met with him and it went badly. He lied through his teeth about pretty much everything and refused to walk through and look at the issues with us.
Anything that we said was not up to scratch was "not finished yet" including the kitchen ceiling which has two coats of finish paint on it and cabinets installed and the walls which also have two coats of finish paint.
Apparently that's how they do it. Paint and THEN spackle. Bet they wouldn't if they were the ones paying for the paint! Every other contractor to walk through the door has said that it is completely incorrect.
Not that he so much a glanced at it - he just said it's not finished every time we tried to ask him about something.

When we told him the reason we asked him to clean up the drywall dust was because we were due to have a baby in two days, he said (and I quote) "Not my problem" and said it was cleaned to his standards.

Fortunately I have date/ time stamped pictures of what 'his standards' are.

At the end he said he was suing us again (but didn't tell us what for or what he was seeking) and said that he hadn't had it inspected and that he was going to 'school us' and that it was our responsibility and we would be made to take down all the cabinets.

He said he would not remove the dumpster. So we called the number on the dumpster and they have not been paid. Payment was due May 3rd. They're been trying to contact him and he says he has no money to pay. The money for the dumpster was one of the things I had actually allocated to his credit from our contract, but now I guess I need to remove that too so we've had even less for our money than I thought.

I am now convinced that the charges to our credit card were no mistake and it was outright credit card fraud.

We did however ascertain that he will not be coming back.

If he does sue us we will counter sue for work not complete (but paid for) and for damages. I have had enough of being pushed around. Meeting him yesterday it was once again clear that he has no intention of making anything right - he just wants to bully us into submission. Probably thinks he can get away with it more because he knows money is tight and because of being so close to having a baby.

The guy is a real piece of work.

I'm so sorry! What a piece of work! I hope you get things taken care of quickly with other contractors!

(I've been following your threads b/c I am not too far away - outside Philly). Good luck - and good luck with the baby :)

I have a feeling he won't sue you, he sounds like he is full of hot air and is just trying to scare you into submission.

That said, I'd keep tracking records (as you have) and ask the subs that come into your home to replace things to help document the state it was in when the arrived. I think you'll be fine.

Good luck with everything in the coming weeks! I'm actually 6 months pregnant and trying to plan building a new house and that is stressful enough, I can't imagine what you've been going through!

I'm sorry for all the crap that you are going through. I always feel bad when I hear stories of people just being mean and rude as your GC is being to you. I just don't understand people like that.

On a better note, Can't wait to hear baby news. Good Luck and I have faith that all will work out.

When we told him the reason we asked him to clean up the drywall dust was because we were due to have a baby in two days, he said (and I quote) "Not my problem" and said it was cleaned to his standards.

This just says it all. As they say, good riddance to bad garbage.

My jaw dropped at the "not my problem" comment. I'd call your Dr, ask permission for a glass of wine, drink it and RELAX. This, too, shall pass. I cannot wait to read a happy post from you about your daughter's birth.

so sorry to hear the outcome but good riddance and i agree with the other posters, i doubt he will get it together to take legal action and if he does, your quality process of documenting will cover you.

as you stated previously, he is "jumpy", likely abusing drugs as your husband surmised. his life and work will continue to get implode if this is the case, so good to just cut it off now and and get a rescue GC in who can finish the job for you. and you can focus on your darling soon to be daughter. what is the status on the little one!!!

What a piece of work. Sorry you crossed paths with this guy, but getting him out of your life and moving forward is the best thing you can do. Glad to read you've already done that.

I'm not too far from Doylestown either. Could you please disclose the name of the GC, or his company's name, so that he will not get work from anyone here in PA who's on this forum again?

Good luck on your impending delivery!

I do just wonder why things have to be made so difficult.

We've had to beg the appliance store for the specs (they keep referring me to the Internet - bad GC took our kitchen plans and specs when they left). So I keep getting asked questions about the specs and trying to find answers.
Finally got specs from appliance store (DH had to get extremely firm with them) and today the electrician asked me to clarify the depth of the microwave as it seemed very large. I called and asked them to measure it. He didn't, gave me the wrong number again and now my husband is at the store (I'm at a prenatal appointment) and of course they are measuring it and it's totally different.

The hood vent location falls right on a stud. So annoying.

---------------

Stepped away for a bit.
I'm 2cm dialated and 80% effaced. Wonder how much longer we have?!

Suggestion: Tell them you want all the anesthetic they can give you. Then just float away for a while...

WooHoo!! Best wishes on the little one!

Nancy

Congrats!

One piece of advice, ban all house talk from the hospital!

The only measurements you need to worry about now are length, weight and that apgar score! Wish you all the best!

Oh wow! You are definitely in the home stretch. Are you having any contractions yet that feel "different"?

So sorry to hear of all this drama! Enjoy motherhood...and when you all start sleeping again, perhaps call up those guys from Hoboken who are on HGTV "Kitchen Cousins" - maybe they'll make it right for you in exchange for your story ;-) http://www.hgtv.com/kitchen-cousins/show/index.html

Your daughter's grand entrance has begun. Let all else float away for a bit as this is family time!

Will keep my eyes open for a new thread announcing her arrival!
We're rootin for baby Hoboken!

Electrician was here all day.

We now have electric to the hood (still no vent, but it's a start!), electric to the range and electric in the right place for the subzero.

Need to decide what to do re temporary countertops.

No 'different' contractions, but the exam today was really painful and i'm very crampy and sore now.

If I'm this much of a wimp already, imagine how I'll be for labor! ; )

At least through the pain of labor you get something wonderful out of it. Too bad we cannot say the same for this idiot contractor--though i hope your dream kitchen and home eventually makes an appearance through the work of others.

I don't know you, hoboken, but I've been following your story. It seems your little one was holding off her arrival until you got that ugly man out of her house.

Congratulations for taking care of yourself! Your intuition was right all along. He won't sue; he can't even pay for a dumpster.

Now just relax and focus on your your beautiful baby girl. Love is all you really need to make a happy home.

Best wishes for a smooth delivery and good health for everyone.

If it makes you feel better, Hoboken, my main early labor symptom for my last kid (#3) was extreme crankiness. When we got to the hospital, I told my husband that I'd changed my mind, we weren't really having this baby after all. We looked at each other and said, "But we don't have a name for a girl!" This was the days before ultrasounds and I was sure this baby was a girl. He wasn't, so we had a name after all. It could have been like my brother and SIL - it took them several more days after the birth of their kids to agree on names. That really causes issues on the birth certificate front.

Good luck, keep breathing, she'll be here soon.