Legal Question in Construction Law in Connecticut

Re: problem with a contractor

Hello,

This is going to depend on the terms of your contract. Look for the following in your contract:

a) how was the work defined? is it broad enough to encompass the new work, or so narrow that it only covered the work already done?

b) There should be a provision in there for exactly this situation, something governing the quality of the work or inspections specifically.

If those things are not in your contract or you do not have a contract, you are going to be in a tough spot. Whose fault was the problem with the building inspector? Did the contractor do a poor job, or did the contractor do what you agreed on but this was not enough in the building inspector's eyes?

You will need to weigh all of the above to decide what to do next. If it is a lot of money, it might be worth it to litigate. If it is a small amount of money, you will have to weigh the cost against the aggrevation. If it was just a miscommunication between you and the contractor, you might propose splitting the cost, just to get through the problem. If you do not like the contractor's estimate, because you feel like you have to do the work, now that the building inspector identified the problem, shop around with other contractors for price quotes. You are not locked into that contractor, just because he/she did the initial work. But you are locked into what the building inspector says needs to be done.

Good luck!

Diana