Contractor Taking too Long to Finish past estimated completion date on contract

[Scott Gullaksen]

Hi,

I am rehabbing a property in Philadelphia with intentions to flip it and I am a Realtor. The estimated completion date was April 1st initially and then with some added work that came up, we signed an addendum for an estimated completion date of April 17th. The contractor has told me that he would be finished on time, but know he is not showing up some days and obviously on other jobs. I still have a final payment of $5500. The total job was $36,000 and it has an estimated date of completion, but I did not write in any penalties if he didn't finish in time. I would say 75% was done and 25% left, but this last 25% has been about the same for the last 3 weeks. I have a feeling this might take another 2 months at this rate. I would love to just fire him and get someone else to come in and do the rest of the work in 2 weeks and just eat the difference. I had a contractor out and they said there is $8k worth of work left. (25% OF THE WHOLE JOB COMES OUT TO $9000.) I also have date stamp pictures from today (5-8-14) showing all the work that needs to still be done.

I have been told that if I were to fire him the contractor can file a mechanics lien for the last $5500, which does not make sense to me since he is well past his deadline and there is more than $5500 worth of work left. So can my contractor really take his good old time and finish whenever he wants with no recourse? Any suggestions?

He is being non-responsive now and I do not know what to do.

Please help!!

[Wayne Brooks]

Well, with no contractual penalties or remedies, you have fewer options. Just like if he finished the work, then you took an extra 30 days to pay him. And of course letting him get ahead of you on the money gives him less incentive. Send him a letter putting him in default, threaten to contract out the work to someone else by a certain date, and let him know the extra amount you will be suing him for. Don't know that you can, or if it will get him going, but better than jus giving in. You need to give him notice anyway if you're just going to take the remaining $5k and eat the rest. After you do it this way, he'll have no basis for a lien, you could get it easily quashed, and he may create some legal issues for himself if he does file a lien. If you need to go this route, spend a couple hundred bucks to sit down with a construction lien attorney, and get some pointers on revising your contract at the same time.