Legal Question in Construction Law in California

Re: unauthorized labor

I'm glad you posted here first instead of just paying.

If the time period for performance of your subcontract was shortened due to his error, you have a claim for acceleration. Acceleration is a construction law term that means you had to "accelerate" your performance by performing the same work in less time, and that requires extra labor charges. Your subcontract would have to have been an element of the critical path for your work to be accelerated.

Your GC is liable for all extra charges due to acceleration.

However, why did you let him use his laborers? I think you could have found someone cheaper than $375/hour ($6,000 divided by 16 labor-hours). Is there some other charge you're not telling us about? What did you say when he brought the extra laborers? If you just went along with the GC's idea, it is possible that you waived your acceleration claims, so we need to know what happened in that conversation.

To determine your best course of action from here, why don't you give me a ring. We can chat about it at no charge.