Legal Question in Business Law in California

Hi, We hired a contractor to build a deck for us. He gave us a bid of almost $21,000. He told us at the start that the material would be about $1500 more. We agreed. He said the project would be done in about 3 weeks. Since he is a friend of a friend we stupidly trusted him. It is now over 4 months later and we are waiting for him to finish. Again, stupidly we gave him the last payment as he said he needed to pick up the railing and would finish the next day. HA! He finally arrived after I called him several times and threatened to take action. He arrived with the railing and asked for $5000 more! We have learned his contractor's license is suspended. Now we are stuck with a deck that is about 80% finished and no railing. After so many lame excuses we just want the railing and call it a day. Can we sue him for those materials and labor to finish it?

We have asked for invoices which he said he would provide, but surprise, have received nothing.

I know I can contact the Contractor's License Board and go to small claims court. Anything else?


Asked on 10/09/10, 7:02 am

5 Answers from Attorneys
Anthony Roach Law Office of Anthony A. Roach

If his license was suspended, you can sue in Superior Court, limited civil or general unlimited, depending on your damages, and get all of your money back.

Read more
Answered on 10/14/10, 8:05 am
Aaron Feldman Feldman Law Group

You may also be able to mak against his bond. If you check his license on-line, it should also tell you the name of his bonding company. Obviously since his license is suspended, it is possible that the bond was not in force when the contractor was working on your job. Good luck!

Read more
Answered on 10/14/10, 10:42 am

Clearly the three attorneys who have answered before me are not experienced construction attorneys, although between the three of them they have mostly given you a correct anwer. Here is the full story: A complaint to the CSLB is in order, but will not be very helpful in getting your job done. You should absolutely make a claim against his license bond. That may or may not get you anything, but never leave the possiblity of insurance money on the table. As far as legal remedies, because his license was suspended, he was not legally entitled to collect anything from you, and you have a right to reimbursement for every penny you paid him. The attorney who told you that the improvement value of your property would be deducted is not up on the current state of the law. Contractors who are not properly licensed are not entitled to anything for their work. So you can sue him for everything you paid him, not just the cost of completion of the work. The standard course of action in this situation is to send a demand for performance letter, with a drop-dead date certain for completion (that is reasonable to meet), and advising him that if the deadline is not met that you will hire another contractor to complete the work, and exercise your right to sue him for recovery of all the money you have paid. I have over 20 years construction and real estate law experience, and my last job for a paycheck was in charge of construction law for the San Francisco Intl. Airport's General Counsel's Office. So if you need any further help with this, let me know.

Read more
Answered on 10/14/10, 1:10 pm
Jonathan Reich De Castro, West, Chodorow, Glickfeld & Nass, Inc.

You can sue him and make a claim on his bond, but based on what you have said about your job, I would not hold out much hope of a significant recovery. I would also suggest that you have someone else check out his work to make sure everything was done correctly and up to code.

Good luck.

Read more
Answered on 10/14/10, 2:40 pm


Related Questions & Answers

More Business Law questions and answers in California