Sometimes litigating works

[Allan C.]

Oftentimes we give the advice to not sue a contractor that has walked off with your money - not worth the hassle and incremental money. It's happened a few times to me over the years but the cost has been nominal. 

recently the cost was sizable due to long-lead materials ordered. More disappointingly, it was a trusted contractor that I've consistently used for years, and had gotten me out of a bind a number of times. 

Given the extensive work relationship, I performed due diligence in the beginning and archived the information (personal residence, other family member info, business address, etc). I lawyered up and was willing to pay a reasonable cost just to make him sweat. 

The lawyers went after the contractor's business and personal property, and eventually put enough heat for the contractor to repay without having to go to court - not only the money he walked off with but legal costs too. All in it was $50k recovered. 

Lessons this reinforced was to always perform proper due diligence on contractors to have info available down the line. This was a licensed contractor so there was additional info with the state registry. A payment schedule would not have helped for this instance, but I could have asked to pay the materials distributor directly - which is what I did when I resumed the job with another connector.  

Everyone will have a different threshold on when they're willing to take legal action, but you'll need to be well capitalized regardless to carry until you recover - if you recover.