Contractor breach of contract

[Chris Hart]

Hey everyone! love all the help and support this site offers!

 I Hired the wrong contractor to finish my basement. The long and short of it is, he is way behind (7months) and only halfway done with the project. The work he did is shotty at best. I have an inspection tomorrow where I plan to point out all the issues I see with his work and plan on using that date as the day I noticed defects. According to our contract I have 20 days to write a letter with the defective issues I have found (inspectors write up). I would like to include in the letter that not only do I expect money back for the work he did not finish but I would also like to have another contractor finish the work because I don't believe he is capable. According to our contract he has 10 days to respond to my letter. 

Looking for any advice.

Thanks,

Chris 

[Bruce Woodruff]

First thing I notice is that you want money back....? Why would he have money if a part of the project is incomplete? You would only pay him when he has successfully completed a phase of the work satisfactorily, including inspections where applicable.

Secondly, if you have a proper contract, it will be easy to just suspend the work, fire him ,and hire another Contactor. You will have to have your attorney send him a Certified 'cease work' notice. That will stop him from setting foot on the property or contacting you again.

Third - what was the expected date of completion stated in your contract? It isn't usually exact, but should say something like -'work is expected to be substantially complete by 12/01/21'. (If you had no such verbiage, it is still unreasonable for him to not be complete - we assume) but hopefully you did not leave this open-ended....?