Contractor Completely Overcharged Me - No Way to Pay

[Matthew Spiers]

Hi everyone,

I've been building a 4-unit property in FL and I had a specialty drywall contractor I had to hire for a fire-rated ceiling. They had to do some work outside the scope of an initial contracted amount of $19k. They were supposed to bill based on hours (different rates for framers, drywallers, supervisors, etc.), and send me invoices every week.

However, they never sent me the invoices each week, and when I asked about the overall cost of the project toward the end of may (the project started in May), they told me $35,000 so far. Well it turns out the overall price they're charging is $89,000 and it is so far outside of my budget I have no way of paying this.

Does anyone know how I should approach this? What concerns me is any lien that would prevent me from refinancing the property.

Thanks,

Matt

[Bruce Woodruff]

So the real question is this - Do you have a signed Change Order with this Contr that specifies the work to be done and the payment schedule?

If you do have one and it is state legal, then you are screwed. If you do not, then he has no legal way to put a lien in place. If he tries, just sue to get it released. It's easy. Oh, he can try to sue, but he will get no where.

Also is this agreement to send you weekly invoices stated in writing anywhere? I'm guessing no......?