Need Advice - Contractor is Screwing Me!

[mikejr]

whew....sticky situation....was in commercial construction for many years and deal with builders quite often in my real estate brokerage...

You already know the first mistake which was to commence work without a contract and draw schedule.

From what I can glean from your statement you bought the land, you purchased and paid for the log home package, you then hired the contractor to build the property, basically a labor only situation am I correct?

I would consult an attorney within the state of the project and who is familiar with construction law and mechanics liens. Find out what your rights are and seek advice on how to work this out.

You basically have two options.

1) Work out a deal with the contractor to get the job completed and agree upon a fee schedule for same.

2) Work out a compromised settlement with the contractor, pay him and get him off the job and the liens released. Then hire another contractor to complete the work.

Also, anytime you disburse to a contractor always always get a waiver of lien signed by the contractor for the amount of money you are paying it.

Is it possible that general contractor has used the money for other things other than paying his subcontactors on the job? If so, it is possible you could be liable to pay for the work twice.

As I am sure you know, communication is the key in situations to this.

Sure you can go to the media etc in an attempt to compell this contractor to finish the job BUT do you really want a disgruntled contractor finishing your home? I would be afraid of the quality of the work and the short cuts they might take just to get off the job. Be very careful if you work out a deal to keep them on the job....what makes matters even worse is you are 3000 miles from the project and have no way to monitor the work.