# What to do when contrator misses deadline, doesn't show up?



## echelon3 (Aug 21, 2008)

Hey guys... what are the possible options here? I'm bleeding a lot of money and can't get the guy to respond anymore?


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## BuiltByMAC (Mar 11, 2006)

What's a contrator?

Perhaps you misspelled the deadline and he thinks he's still got 2 weeks...

Mac


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## Burby (Nov 25, 2008)

echelon3 said:


> Hey guys... what are the possible options here? I'm bleeding a lot of money and can't get the guy to respond anymore?


Con - trator = Con, one who tries to manipulate others with illegal activities. Trator, one who pretends to be a GC and is not. (even though trator is mispelled, the term GC is misused. :thumbsup:

Cause a true GC would not do this to you or anyone. If a problem on your part he would call you in to be corrected, pay you and just not use you again. 

Your option is lein him/her

oh & on a final note, I not picking on your spelling, cause I surely nt one to do this. Sometimes my fingers make more spelling mistakes than all the mistakes of all who come here and ask the question "how much does it cost" :thumbup:

Regardless of hardship, Happy Holidays, hopefully all will work out.


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## neolitic (Apr 20, 2006)

BuiltByMAC said:


> What's a contrator?
> 
> Perhaps you misspelled the deadline and he thinks he's still got 2 weeks...
> 
> Mac


:clap::laughing:

OP,
Hmmm, two weeks and no response?
What to do?
What to do? :whistling


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## Grumpy (Oct 8, 2003)

echelon3 said:


> Hey guys... what are the possible options here? I'm bleeding a lot of money and can't get the guy to respond anymore?


There are too many variables to answer. How are you bleeding money? What are his reasons for not working? 



If you truly had a written dead line and he missed it, I would assume there would be a clause what happens if the dead line is missed. for example hire another contract and back charge the first contractor for the difference.


Personally I don't agree to any dead lines if possible and when I do I make sure there are exclusions "Not responsible for delays outside of our control including, but not limited to, weather, strikes, materials shortages, acts of terrorism, acts of god, etc... two weeks notice must be given before commencement of the work. Work expected to take X weather permissible business days." That x days, I'd double what ever I figured. If I thought a 10 day job, it'd be a 20 days job. Notice I wrote business days, and therefore I could use saturdays at my discretion to "atch up" if necessary. 

Another thing, I also won't agree the penalty clauses unless there is an early completion reward. As discussed since I double the number of days, i should always complete early. Usually just the asking for an early completion bonus is enough to make them remove their deadline all together. And if not sometimes we aprt ways at this time and I let one of my competitors have the head ache.


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## echelon3 (Aug 21, 2008)

Well, I can't edit the topic name to fix a typo, but thank you Grumpy for the response. This is a tax issue, they knew I had to get this finished before the end of the year. And I have empty, useless apartments now. They had plenty of time when I hired them, but they dragged with so many issues that it's spiraled into this mess. Thanks again.


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## Burby (Nov 25, 2008)

echelon3 said:


> Hey guys... what are the possible options here? I'm bleeding a lot of money and can't get the guy to respond anymore?


After you posted in reply to Grumpy's post I believe I now better understand you, (I think)
You did not explain all this in your first question. Without any real details when looking for honest & sincere replies, How can you expect to get them? 

So don;t be upset with the ones who do post in fun. As I said in my reply, I prolly am the worst speeler here, but I didn;t know this was a requirement or I would turn on my spell checker :thumbsup:
Or proof what I write. 

I take it you are the property owner and feel you have been shafted by the GC? As I stated, no reptuable GC would do this and especially with the economy being as it is. And as I state frequently on here, what one does bad in business it does affect us all in one way or another. So I don;t believe anyone on here likes to see or hear of a trades person doing this. And if properly asked one will get more replies than he or she needs.

Regardless of which side of the fence you sit on, it "does" go back to a simple "contract" and what it does or does not state, yet should to keep both parties honest. 
If you are the owner of the apartments who hired a GC to perform work, you are the one who controls his money for that job. Did you over pay, late in paying? 
If you want to get rid of money by years end, he ma have helped you, obtain a lawyer with some money, bring in another contractor to complete the said work and move on as should be by now. 
Just first have your lawyer review present contract, add all that is missing, & move on. Then sue his/her azz for delays & added cost. 
You should hire an Engineer to do a walk thru and not present conditions prior to have another take over to properly document where the other GC left off at. 
The best on here can only offer their opinion, that will get you from your desk to your next drink & back. 
If you have apartment buildings under construction new or reno, you are talking a few bucks here & never should have been started without a proper contract, seeing for your income, contract to include your loss of income should the GC fail to uphold his/her end of the deal. 
And again, a reptuable GC would have insisted on this. 

If you hired one with anything less for far less than others may have quoted you, what did you expect? 

Happy Holidays, ya hear


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## skyhook (Mar 17, 2007)

echelon3 said:


> Hey guys... what are the possible options here? I'm bleeding a lot of money and can't get the guy to respond anymore?


Send him a check, maybe he underbid and needs more money. :laughing:
Seriously, document every phone call, send him a registered letter, if a response is not forthcoming, hire someone else and sue his azz.


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## BuiltByMAC (Mar 11, 2006)

echelon3 said:


> And I have empty, useless apartments now. They had plenty of time when I hired them,


m'kay... the reason why I posted a non-response to your post is because this here is _contractortalk.com_, not _whinylandlord.com_. Bummer that you've got this situation w/ your contractor but coming on here, misrepresenting yourself as a GC, asking for help in dealing w/ a contractor in your first post - I don't normally jump on people's spelling unless they've already fulfilled the D.A. criteria, then everything's fair game...

Man up, learn how to read a contract, listen to the folks here that took the time to answer your question, figure out what *not* to do next time and consider it a learning experience.

Mac


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