Progress payments - whole house renovation

2 years ago

I’m actually embarrassed to post this. I am a home owner going through a renovation for the first time. This is a large project including replacing the flooring, major bathroom renovation, structural changes etc. I was nervous and after much research on reviews and interviewing several companies decided to go with a licensed company that called themselves a “design and build firm” - sounded exactly what I needed. A company that would handle it all, from engineering, permits to finding all the vendors etc.

I am 4 months into the project with not a single room completed. I have been making progress payments every time they initiate the work. For example they asked me to make the $10k payment for flooring but only 2 bedrooms out of the entire house has flooring installed. When they started painting these 2 bedrooms they charged me the full house painting fees. They charged me the full amount for master bathroom tile install but they started 3 weeks ago and no one has come to finish for the last 2 weeks. I have now paid $80k in labor fees alone.

To be fair there’s a lot waiting on the city to approve permits. But while we are waiting for permits they are not doing anything else, like fixing the drywall and painting the other bedrooms.

I started tracking when they come. In the last 2 months they have worked on the house for less than 10 days total.

To add salt to the wounds their workers have left half eaten sandwiches around that started growing mold, left an open bag of chips in my $1200 vanity etc.

We submitted the permit application 3 months ago and have needed to do corrections over and over. Each time it takes 3 weeks to resubmit. I’m starting to think it’s the firm and not the city. The city has actually been fast, response/review/times within 1 week.

I’ve had multiple conversations with the project manager saying I was frustrated with the lack of communication, the trash and how no one is showing up for weeks at a time. It’s excuse after excuse. “We will catch up soon I promise.”

Please do not beat me up in the comments about not doing enough research or how I should have read the contract better - I’ve been beating myself up for the last 3 months.

My question for this community is after rereading the contract, it says in bold that it is illegal for a company to collect payment on work that hasn’t been completed. Was it illegal for them to collect payment for a phase (like painting) to start but not finish? I am still trying to work it out with the firm as I’m desperate to finish this project but starting to think about what my next course of action will be if this continues.

Thank you in advance for reading this em incredibly long message.

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Comments (5)

Mrs. S
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
Im going to respond, if only to bump your thread. After spending $80K, Id say you need to consult an attorney. You should not be paying in advance for work done. How much is the total price of the contract? What are the terms of payment? % completion? specified?

What percentage of work is done? Have you asked to see the permits filed?

I think you need to take a much closer and firm hand on the construction. Start insisting they come and work, and fix things they havent done right. Dont be a pushover.
Julie R
2 years ago
Also commenting to bump this. I can’t speak to legality…

That said, in my original contract the draw amounts and corresponding milestones are spelled out. We had to debate a bit to get a couple changed before signing so it wasn’t top-heavy. What’s in your signed contract- or are they just asking for amounts on the fly? If the latter….huge red flag.

e.g.

- completion of downstairs flooring install

- completion of upstairs flooring install

- completion of painting

- start of XYZ

- project completion (& this shouldn’t be so small they’re not motivated to actually finish)

They should absolutely be working on things they can… 10 days onsite in 2mos? Oh hell no... Even if they’re facing supply chain issues, they should be able to make some kind of progress- and keep you informed.

Personally, I’m living onsite (wk14), but I do go through the house daily after they leave- both to do a check for food that would attract ants & to vacuum more thoroughly because I have cats. That part is just normal, sadly.
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Julie R
2 years ago
Jenn: Checking in and hoping you’ve found a path forward. Keep us posted.
Jenn
Original Author
2 years ago
Hello!! Thank you so much for responding. So I looked at the contract in greater details and they listed out payment due at certain milestones “$15000 due at bathroom tile in progress” basically every single milestone they have the “in progress” note added to the end, so they send me an invoice when they start, I pay, then it stalls.

I called an intervention the week prior with the project manager. They put together a timeline of the rest of the project and they committed once the plans got approved by the city they will be working on the house full time. Since then, all last week, they did come Monday - Friday and my plans finally got approved.

I asked the project manager if i can request another foreman to be assigned to my project. He hasn’t shown up for 2 months and I’m getting frustrated with all of his workers not speaking English. They also didn’t show up yesterday or today. the answer from the foreman was “he just thought the tension cable was approved so he didn’t start on footing or framing. And that he would call me to explain.” No phone call.

I was really starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel last week but now getting disheartened again. My neighbor is suggesting I call the CA board for licensed contractors as my next step.
acuman
2 years ago
Hello Jenn. My sympathies to you. Just curious, what city in California are you in? Without proper permits, the contractor may bein vioaltion of Building and Professions code 7110 and 7090. Have you tried the California State licensing board (https://www.cslb.ca.gov/Consumers/Filing_a_Complaint/) for compaints? Or maybe Angi's List. I recently tried a site called BadContractor.com, where you can put the word out about this contractor's bad faith and lack of execution. Good luck.

Progress payments - whole house renovation

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Mrs. S

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