Thinking of taking my contractor to Civil Court for $20,100

[bkboggy]

Hope I'm posting this in the right place. I never thought I'd be in this situation... but a lesson is a lesson, even if it's an expensive one. Back in June I hired a guy to do Wrought Iron for a fence and I wanted to have an imitation stone for the base and columns. I also wanted to add a second driveway and connect the two with a semi-circle driveway. I asked the Wrought Iron contractor if he knew anyone. He introduced me to two other contractors who specialize in concrete. After reviewing their previous work and talking to them, I chose one. Fast forward... I have not heard from the concrete fella in 1.5 months after giving him $20,100 in 3 payments for the materials he needed to order (yeah... right). Up to the point when he disappeared (in the beginning of August) he laid the concrete driveway and started the base for the walls and columns (maybe around $6,000 work of work or less). I was finally able to get a hold of him via text message.... he doesn't even have the decency to reply to my emails or answer my calls. He tells me he never ordered the materials, does not have the money and he's broke (has a BMW). I researched CSLB and BBB, it appears both have 2 complaints with similar situations... I should have done my homework, right? Right... On top of that, guy is unlicensed (expired), in violation of California B&P Code section 7028 (misdemeanor). Since this is a "Civil" matter completely, Sheriff won't even do a report for the misdemeanor (even though, it carries of penalty of up to $5,000 in fines or up to six months in jail). Go figure. I filed complaints with BBB and CSLB and now looking for a lawyer. Problem is I got no money for any upfront attorney costs (and all of them want like $100-200 for 1 hour of consultation before they take the case), my wife is pregnant (and stressed... we don't have money... we're young and trying to build our life up) and is due in 2 days, I'm paying interest rate on the money he stole, and I'm exhausted from working over-time all the time.

What am I to do? I'm so stressed right now between being over-worked, waiting for the baby to come and now this.... I'm lost.

 

[army judge]

Hope I'm posting this in the right place. I never thought I'd be in this situation... but a lesson is a lesson, even if it's an expensive one. Back in June I hired a guy to do Wrought Iron for a fence and I wanted to have an imitation stone for the base and columns. I also wanted to add a second driveway and connect the two with a semi-circle driveway. I asked the Wrought Iron contractor if he knew anyone. He introduced me to two other contractors who specialize in concrete. After reviewing their previous work and talking to them, I chose one. Fast forward... I have not heard from the concrete fella in 1.5 months after giving him $20,100 in 3 payments for the materials he needed to order (yeah... right). Up to the point when he disappeared (in the beginning of August) he laid the concrete driveway and started the base for the walls and columns (maybe around $6,000 work of work or less). I was finally able to get a hold of him via text message.... he doesn't even have the decency to reply to my emails or answer my calls. He tells me he never ordered the materials, does not have the money and he's broke (has a BMW). I researched CSLB and BBB, it appears both have 2 complaints with similar situations... I should have done my homework, right? Right... On top of that, guy is unlicensed (expired), in violation of California B&P Code section 7028 (misdemeanor). Since this is a "Civil" matter completely, Sheriff won't even do a report for the misdemeanor (even though, it carries of penalty of up to $5,000 in fines or up to six months in jail). Go figure. I filed complaints with BBB and CSLB and now looking for a lawyer. Problem is I got no money for any upfront attorney costs (and all of them want like $100-200 for 1 hour of consultation before they take the case), my wife is pregnant (and stressed... we don't have money... we're young and trying to build our life up) and is due in 2 days, I'm paying interest rate on the money he stole, and I'm exhausted from working over-time all the time.

What am I to do? I'm so stressed right now between being over-worked, waiting for the baby to come and now this.... I'm lost.

Your problem gets bigger, friend.

In your state, the maximum you can sue for in small claims is $7,500.

You appear to be out about $15,000, give or take.

Here's the link for small claims information in CA:

http://www.courts.ca.gov/selfhelp-smallclaims.htm

You may just end up eating this.

But, here's another angle:

http://www.cslb.ca.gov/

Your state has a contractor licensing board.

Check their site out, help might await.

I don't know what else to tell you.

I sure won't say, what others might.

Good luck.

 

[bkboggy]

That's actually not a bad thing, I was looking through contract and comparing the work he had done:

Gray Concrete 1902 SF $5,706.00 - Completed
18" wall 6" block 108 LF $3,780.00 - Completed
16-5' columns 12" block $3,600.00 - Completed
Cut existing wall to size $350.00 - Completed

Incomplete (and no materials):

Caps on wall (46) $2,070.00
Stone on columns 3 sides only except from columns $3,408.00
ledger stone on wall 330 SF $3,300.00
Column caps (15) $1,440

Total: $10,218 of unfinished work.

Minus $3,554.00 I did not pay him yet, makes it $6,664.00

I'm not even going to count in electrical and fireplace in the house, which were material only.. screw it.

So, I would have to come up with around $6,000 + left over money for someone to finish the job.

As far as CSLB, I filed a complaint with them and BBB. BBB will be taken care of within 30 days, but they rarely produce any results. CSLB on another hand... takes 60-100 days.. and not sure what they can do, considering he has an expired license and no bond.


What bothers me is that if he doesn't show up or does not decide to pay.... it's an incredibly lengthy and expensive process of collecting my money. Wonder if I should just kiss the $6,664 goodbye and move on... save up some more and finish.

 

[army judge]

That's actually not a bad thing, I was looking through contract and comparing the work he had done:

Gray Concrete 1902 SF $5,706.00 - Completed
18" wall 6" block 108 LF $3,780.00 - Completed
16-5' columns 12" block $3,600.00 - Completed
Cut existing wall to size $350.00 - Completed

Incomplete (and no materials):

Caps on wall (46) $2,070.00
Stone on columns 3 sides only except from columns $3,408.00
ledger stone on wall 330 SF $3,300.00
Column caps (15) $1,440

Total: $10,218 of unfinished work.

Minus $3,554.00 I did not pay him yet, makes it $6,664.00

I'm not even going to count in electrical and fireplace in the house, which were material only.. screw it.

So, I would have to come up with around $6,000 + left over money for someone to finish the job.

As far as CSLB, I filed a complaint with them and BBB. BBB will be taken care of within 30 days, but they rarely produce any results. CSLB on another hand... takes 60-100 days.. and not sure what they can do, considering he has an expired license and no bond.


What bothers me is that if he doesn't show up or does not decide to pay.... it's an incredibly lengthy and expensive process of collecting my money. Wonder if I should just kiss the $6,664 goodbye and move on... save up some more and finish.

The choice is yours.

Small claims makes it easy to prevail, but very, very hard to collect.

Given your set of facts, your case looks like a winner.

But, collecting is hard.

Once you get a judgment, you can hire a debt collector to get you some money.

Those guys usually take about 25% of what they rake in for you.

Look at it this way, say they collect $6,000.

They keep about $1,500, you get about $4,500.

It might teach the crook a lesson.

 

[bkboggy]

Are those debt collectors pretty good? How does the process work? You've been giving me a lot of good points and I definitely appreciate it. If this works I could use that money to buy materials and finish the work myself. I learned my lesson, after doing some research, this guy has been screwing over big time. Taking those 16 columns for example - in materials (blocks and concrete) it's $340-400, he charged me $3,600 for them. $3,000 in labor? Don't think so, lol

 

[army judge]

Why not interview a couple?
Then, you make your own call.
Like anything else, somebare very good.
Others suck.
Choose wisely.
Pick the right one, you get paid.
Good news is, they collect nothing, they take nothing.
Works like a repo man.
He doesn't get the car, he gets nothing.
He gets the car, you're both happy.

 

[bkboggy]

Alright, well thank you very much. You actually gave me a little bit of hope. I'm going to call a few and see if it's worth proceeding to small claims.