All Forum Posts by: Matthew Paul

If you are hiring a legal licensed contractor , he will provide you with a contract . 

@Steve K. Totally agree , and when a home inspector looks at a house built over 100 years ago and writes a report based on current codes .  Try to tell them there were not any codes back then and look the house is still standing 

In my area an  U&O is only done when the house is built or an addition put on 

 Dont know , I just gave them the information needed to show things passed inspection

 You as the buyer is paying for the agents commission one way or another , either by a higher sales price , or by cutting a check to your agent . 

I got a call earlier this week from a customer I installed a deck for back in 2002 . He is selling his house and the "home inspector "  says the deck wasnt built to code . The customer is upset , I told him to give me a day to go thru my files .  I pull all my copies , approved plans from the county , footer inspections , final inspections , AND I found a copy of the code from 2002 . 

I email the sellers agent all the info , and she emails back that the deck isnt up to todays code .       WTF ?

I then called the customer and told them their agent needs an education , of course the deck isnt up to todays code , code changes every year .  The house was built in 1967 , thats the code the house the house has to be in . Any improvements that were done over the years had to be done to code of that year .  Tell the buyers if they want a house that is up to current code , buy a brand new one .  If it passed inspection it was up to code at the time the work was done .

@Marc Shin The contractor didnt finish to your satisfaction ?  That argument wont get you far in court . In theory you could never be satisfied . 

The contractor can put a lien on the property , he could sue you in small claims court , or in some states have you arrested for theft of services .  If you are out of state , how much will it cost you to show up in court , once , maybe twice , and possibly lose .  The contractor then gets a judgement and can attach real property .

Stop using a debit card , use a credit card and pay it off in full every month . You dont get any credit for using a debit card . If your debit card is compromised you may not get your money back . A credit card , you are only responsible for the first $50 . 

Tell them to buy a gas dryer

Move out of New York would be my first thought .   NYC is an expensive market .