Get bids from multiple local contractors. There are too many variables to give you even a rough estimate here.

JM$.02W

2 ton a/c unit- tankless water heater... no fixtures for lights and basic plumbing

If you are looking to keep costs down then install a 40 gallon gas hot water heater instead of tankless. The tankless is overkill for house they may have two occupants. Other than that is very difficult for anyone to give an estimate how much it will cost to run water and sewer connections to the house and do all the rough plumbing. You need to get more estimates.

Will this house use a heat pump, gas furnace, or something else for heating. If you post the the equipment and model numbers, you may get an opinion on whether the installation quote is reasonable. You should also be getting additional HVAC quotes.

Can we get quotes for someone to come out and estimate the cost if it’s already half built? I’m uploading the plan - maybe that will help. We are only wanting rough estimate for each.
Gas was run for furnace, fireplace and gas stove. It’s 138 feet from city water main to house. We live in Midwest so not crazy expensive.
Tankless water heater was best option due to size and space.
Tried to provide photo of house- and then the plan and the lot it’s on.
Any ballpark would be helpful.

An HVAC contractor can give you a quote based on the house plans and the equipment to be installed. With the house framed the contractor will be able to see if there will be difficulties installing the duct work and locating the equipment.

The plumbing contractor needs to know where the plumbing fixtures will be located. I also think having the house framed will give a better picture of where waste lines can go. Plumbers have a bad habit of cutting joists beyond what is structurally allowed.

New construction HVAC install will require ductwork, electrical, maybe plumbing as well as just the split system. Heatpump or gas/electric? Your likely looking at $8,000-$12,000 for all that, depending on what you need and any complications. Consider a 1.5 ton system for 800-900 sq ft. Where are you located?

What were the estimates you got and what were they for?

The hvac snd plumbing company is togther- one owner - believe it or not he says his total was 40k. He is willing to take 29k. But we have had a few quotes comes in today ( called few we had originally asked to come out to quote finishing job and now asked them based on plan to quote all out) and found two good friends who use to build here last few years- and one found out still a partner with a builder here- have all come in almost the same. Quotes are 10k plumbing- 10k HVAC - if one is slightly higher it’s plumbing.
It’s normal heat and air - ducts all installed (house is in drywall stage)- it’s gas furnace- we have both gas and electric in house. 2.5 ton unit.
I don’t want to get side ways with this guy but his quote is so much higher than everyone else’s.
Other quotes were from plumbing company snd hvac companies.

Ditch the first guy. Anyone who quotes you double the going rate and then drops his price 25% overnight can't be trusted.

2.5 tons is too big unless you live in the desert and your house has no insulation (another red flag with this guy).

The first guy is the guy who did the rough in all work so far. He is nicely saying he is going to put lien on house if we don’t pay. He says the original package was 40k with builder who is gone. But he’s willing to do at his cost of 29k. That’s the amount he wants and it’s really not invoices - it’s an email with what he wants.

We feel trapped. I guess he can place a lien but that’s not ideal. His number is just crazy. Not a single other quote is near that.

Depending on what state you live in, mechanics liens must be filed within 20-90 days of the last work being done. They are then generally good for 90-120 days before they expire. They can be renewed but that takes him time and mostly this is just used as coercion for the homeowner and only really matters if you are trying to sell your house. Consult an attorney about liens where you live - it'll cost a lot less than $9000!

Where we live they have 120 days to file lien. What i dont undertsmd is how they can just put a lien for any amount and expect us to pay it. they were hired by contractor not us- we never approvrd or gave go ahead to do work at set price. but they can charge us whatever??

and do we dispute now or once we sell our house and go to pay the lien? with this plumbrr/hvac guy quote so high, we arent seeing this end well.

we did retain sttorney. neeting with him this week.

It appears you have quotes of about $20K versus $29K from the original HVAC and plumbing contractor. Make sure you are getting comparable work, materials, and equipment for all quotes.

I get a little suspicious when the original quote to the builder for $40K and not it drops to only $29K. Builders use sub-contractors who offer the best prices. It is hard to believe you are getting a $11K discount.

You are doing the right thing by consulting an attorney in my opinion. Hopefully the attorney will give you good advice.

So, builder passed away.

There should be a bond to help you bring this job to a conclusion without you being out additional money.

I would look for another GM to take over the job. I think you will get taken for a ride if you try to do this on your own.

The builder was apparnetly on drugs and gambler- and bankrupt. no one was aware until he went off the deep end. He actualky had contects going with our state university. those were probbaly bonded.

But sadly, we understns he hadnt updated his state license or state bond. So seems there is nothing to get/ he was broke.

he gave us ”fake” paid notices. so subs are saying he didnt pay them at all.

we have dexided to get a nee bulder snd that is good. but its very tough dealingnwith all the people sending us bills and lien threats.

That sounds like a mess, I'm sorry.

What won't work is you trying to deal with it yourself - and trying to get estimates off this web site. Even if we could tell you, "That's a $20k job" it wouldn't carry any weight.

Here's the thing: He died and left a mess of things. They can file liens, but they aren't going to get paid until this gets ironed out. Don't compound the problem by agreeing to bad contracts to finish the job... let the new GC deal with that. If he's smart, he will say anyone filing a lien will go to the end of the line to get paid, and If they file a lien and don't have an actual contract, it will be very problematic for them (I'll bet many don't).

I know the basic idea behind mechanic's liens. That said, the subs made bad decisions doing business with this builder, just like you did. I'm going to guess a lot of sloppy business practices like not having written contracts, allowing him to get too far behind on payments, etc. You should not bear all of the responsibility for their bad business management... they should expect to take a haircut also. This is where a new GC and the attorney sit down with the subs individually and negotiate a fair settlement based original contract amount and % of completion. They get paid the negotiated amount in exchange for an agreement not to file a lien in the future.

Again, subs who come to the table with paperwork and negotiate get paid, others will go to the end of the line and the liens will be contested. It would be a reasonable argument in front of a judge that you attempted to clean up this mess by settling with subs in good faith, and the subs who refused and filed liens instead were operating in bad faith and should have their claims dismissed.

Find out what you need to do to file a claim against the builder's estate. You may not recover anything, but I'd let a judge tell me that, not simply believe word of mouth.

This is also a warning to others about actually making sure a GC is bonded if they are doing any significant work.

I am not an attorney. However, here’s my reading of this:

Mechanic’s liens were intended to protect workers from not getting paid for their work. They are enforceable against the property owner because the property owner benefitted from their work. For that reason, you are obligated to make sure that the contractors have been paid for the work they have done up to the point of the GC’S death.

The subs contracts were with the GC. He is dead. Assuming there is no legal entity (a corporation) surviving the GC, any claims for work not yet done is the responsibility of the GC’s estate.

You are NOT obligated to fulfill the terms of the contract for the GC. The contracts are not enforceable against you. You are only obligated to make sure that the subs were paid for the work that was actually done. You are not liable for any penalties, late fees, the balance of the contract, termination clauses, etc. You may be liable for reasonable collection fees if you don’t deal with some of this.

At this point your job (with the new GC and attorney) is to determine how much work was completed by each sub and what is owed to them.

There are a couple of ways to determine this, but looking at written contracts and progress billing would be where I would start. Percentage of completion is where I’d go next. If, for example, an electrical sub has a $20k written contract and that’s within “normal and customary” range for a job this size and the contract states 50% at rough in – for example- and rough-in is complete, I’d honor those terms.

There are some trades where the costs are front-loaded, and some where the costs come at the end of the contract – so percent completion can be tricky… this is where your GC is very helpful. Also, the GC can help determine what is usual and customary.

Ultimately, determining a fair amount for the work that’s actually been done and not paid needs to be a mutual agreement and everybody will take a haircut. The subs who will come out best will be the ones who have well documented contracts and progress billing, come to an agreement on what is owed to them at this point, and agree to finish the job based on a new contract with the new GC. Payment for work done under the previous GC is contingent on them agreeing to not file a lien for work done under previous GC.

You don’t have the benefit of seeing the GC’s payment records, so a sub could BS you about not being paid. You can caution them that if it comes to light that they lied, you will come after them.

You really want your attorney to get out ahead of this to avoid liens being filed. Again, I think that making a good faith effort to promptly clean up the mess will work very much in your favor in the event that subs decide to do an end-run around the settlement process and make an unreasonable claim and lien.

$29,000 doesn't sound bad if the contractor is including all the materials and fixtures to completion.

A lot of noise about liens, but did you have a contract with dead GC? If so there must be a notification in the contract stating "Subcontractors or materials suppliers may file a lien against the property upon which the work is being done if they are not paid for their contribution" or words to this effect. This would be the pre-lien notice for the contractor and subcontractors. Without a pre-lien in a notice the contractor and subcontractors lose the right to file a mechanics lien against real estate property.

If the subcontractor's right to file a lean notice isn't in the GC's contract they must notify you within 45 days after work begins or material delivered to job site of a pre-lien notice to have the right to file a lien, did you receive any?. One point to make is even if the subcontractor gives proper pre-lien notice, that once the General contractor is paid in full the subcontractors will then lose the right to file a lien.

You did not mention the state you are building in as others have asked, but the lien notification process above is for Minnesota. The 120 day period mentioned is a time limit AFTER the work is completed which they can file a lien.

The lawyer will give the details for your state so take your papers with you. I'm kind of thinking the Subcontractors have lost the rights to file a lien and the plumber/HVAC guy is willing to cut the price and trying to scare you.

Who paid for the building materials? Good chance the suppliers will be coming after you next if the GC didn't pay them.

Good info. We live in Little Rock. . There is some confusion on what was signed as far as the Lien Notification. Nothing formal but according to one sub, they can sue on personal improvement or something along those lines. There was a paper signed iwth the lumber yard but nothing at all signed with individual subs by us and absolutly nothing in contract. One attorney said that each sub has to have this filled out for them individually. Another person (not attorney) said they can all share one... That's unclear but again, one of the subs going after another neighbor in similiar situation said that he can go after the owners on enrichment claim regardless. One of the subs won't call us back so we are documenting all of that.

We are going to get another attorney opinion. And as for the HVAC and Plumbing quote.. we asked for the invoices because as of now, no quotes are coming in at that rate. The HVAC have all (i think we got a 5th quote today) are coming in around 8k. Almost to the dollar.

The plumbing is bit tougher but all those so far have come in between 8-11K. That includes the fixtures and tankless water heater (we provided exact items for the quotes). So we can't see how even at the high end, there is more than 20k by much. And it makes us VERY suspicious that his original quote he said with the builder was 40k for HVac and Plumbing. This is small 850sq ft. One bathroom with single sink and small shower. One kitchen sink. That's it. Builder grade faucets. Plus why would he not agree to settle instead of demanding full amount. HE knows we paid the GC who hired him 85%. He said that in all his emails and on the phone.