Legal Question in Construction Law in California
terminating a contract
I hired a cabinetry company to remodel my home. They subsequently wanted to do most of my work within my home. I signed a contract April 3, 2004 and was told that the job would be finished before mid August. There have been many delays, mismeasurements, price switching, and quotes for unneeded work, as well as damage they do not want to fully credit back to the contract. It is now mid Sept. and I need my home back for my childrens sake. We have been out of the home since mid July. I have had a meeting with the owner and tried many phone calls, emails and faxes and still there has been no attempt on their part to right the wrongs or to even stop all the delays. I want to terminate them and hire another company who can finish the work within the next two weeks. It is obvious to me that they do not have any intention to make things right by me and I am inccurring more and more expenses due to their unprofessionalism. I don't know what abondonment deifintions could be used here but I definitely have been ignored and abandoned. Please help!!
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: terminating a contract
A cabinetry company? Are they properly licensed? This would be the first thing I'd look at.
You can always demand that a contractor leave the job, but you risk being found in breach of contract yourself. You haven't given enough facts to tell whether the contractor is in breach or if you'd be in breach if you kicked them off the job. For example, if there have been a number of change orders and extra work, then it wouldn't be unusual for a 4 1/2 month job to run over an extra 4 to 6 weeks. You list some problems, but, frankly, my experience is that homeowners often don't know what is incompetence versus what is required due to the exigencies of the job. The only way to tell is to hire an experienced construction law attorney to thoroughly evaluate the situation.
You almost certainly haven't been abandoned in the legal sense, though. It sounds as though they are consistently showing up.
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