Legal Question in Construction Law in California

I have a question, I "hired" a friend to paint the inside of a house that I was supposed to b moving in on Jan. 1st 2011. He led me to believe he worked for a licensed contractor but have still yet to see any proof of it. He quoted me $350 for the prepping, taping off and spraying the paint. He then advised it would take 3 days. Well now a week later it's only prepped and he keeps giving me excuses why he hasn't finished but three times he tells me he'll be there in the morning so I assume he's there working on the house so later in the evening I contact him and ask him the status and he tells me he never went. This has happened 3 times now. So today we decided to take it upon ourselves and rent a sprayer and spray it ourselves because we are paying rent, gas and electric at a house we can't even move in to because of his "personal" problems. I advised him I'd pay him for the prep work he had done but he's asking for $220 just for the prep work when the entire job would only had been $350. I want to do the ethical thing and pay him for what he's done but I feel what he's asking is excessive. So what should I do? He himself isn't liscensed as far as I'm aware of. We had no written contract we did have a verbal one but I feel like he violated the verbal contract but not getting it done within the time he stated it'd b done. I hope I provided enough info. I'm not trying to not pay him for the work but I don't know what is reasonable when I don't feel he's being reasonable with the amount he's asking for not even finishing the job. Thank you.


Asked on 1/02/11, 3:54 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
David Gibbs The Gibbs Law Firm, APC

Because the work is only $350 total, he is not required to be licensed. It also generally doesn't require a written contract. He is entitled, if this goes to court, to the reasonable value of the work he did. Only a painting contractor can properly estimate what the reasonable value is of the work he did, but my personal experience is that prep-work is actually the harder part of painting - spraying is not that difficult. Offer to pay him what you believe is reasonable, and if he refuses, you'll have to wait and see if he sues you in small claims court. If he does, be prepared to prove that the value of the work he did is no more than what you offered to pay him - again, that probably requires a painting contractor to testify to the reasonable value. You'll almost certainly spend more than $220 to hire a contractor to act as an expert witness. Good luck.

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Answered on 1/10/11, 1:20 pm


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