Legal Question in Construction Law in California

I am a subcontractor for a subcontractor, when I started working I was told I had to wait 60 days for my first pay, and I did and checks started out ok but then they started postdating the check then I'd get one on the first then the rest on the 10th of the month now on the first of this month I was told the check was going to be one amount but when I recived it it was 1,000.00 less and I'm still owed a large amount on the invoice i was owed for this month. I have texted several times a week asking when I might be getting the balance the response is either soon or I will let you know and I'll keep in touch, and last month they had me sign a contract stating that payment would be 60 to 90 days. I don't know how offten the contractor pay's them. I would like to get paid for work I did in June 2012 because now my uitilitys are being turned off and I have gone throuth my savings. what I'd like to know is is there any thing I can do or say to them besides a mechaics lein because I'm still working for them sometimes.


Asked on 9/13/12, 6:00 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Did you give your 20-day notices? If not, you don't have any lien rights anyway. If you did, you need to contact the owner and the general contractor and warn them about what is going on. It is completely illegal to require you to wait that long for your payments. Business and Professions Code Section 7108.5 requires progress payments to be passed through in SEVEN days. If you are not paid within a week of contacting the owner and general contractor, then you need to immediately serve stop notices on both of them. This will prohibit the owner from paying the general and the general from paying the sub until you are paid. If the project is near completion and there may not be enough money in further progress payments to cover your claim, then you really need to go forward with your lien. Working for people who don't pay you is a trap. You are much better off not working and looking for work that pays, than working for nothing.

Read more
Answered on 9/13/12, 6:53 pm


Related Questions & Answers

More Construction Law questions and answers in California