Legal Question in Construction Law in Illinois

Contractor needing advice

I am a one man contractor, 23 yrs experience, zero complaints. I was hired to build an addition onto a house. The project started in September 07 with a tenitive completion date of 6 weeks. The homeowner's wanted to purchase their own material. They were delayed in getting most of the material, which delayed my work. When the majority of the material for that stage was present I was able to complete the project. After every stage I would ask for approval before going on to the next thing, and then having to wait some more for material. They would verbally sign off everytime. Included in this, was things they thought should be done that was not included in the contract, or changes they made to the origanal plan. I recluctently did those jobs as well. Now it is Feb. 08 and I was 90% finished, and still waiting for more material, and they are now telling me they are not satisfied with any of the work that was done and they want to sue for that, it taking to long, and materials going over budget. A letter was sent stating that they could keep the balance and hire someone else to finish, or provide the remaining material and let me finish. I gave them a week to respond. Now they are wanting to sue me for breech. Can they do this?


Asked on 2/21/08, 4:06 am

2 Answers from Attorneys
Zedrick Braden III Ainsworth & Associates PC

Re: Contractor needing advice

Hello. In my opinion the homeowners have no basis for filing a lawsuit against you. You have done the work and any delay is due to their tardiness in getting you the construction material. I will be happy to discuss any additional issues on this matter that you may have.

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Answered on 2/21/08, 8:50 am
Thomas Westgard Illinois Mechanics Liens

Re: Contractor needing advice

The question you asked is CAN they sue you. The answer to that question is always yes - any idiot with a pen and a checkbook can stagger into the courthouse and file some meaningless BS. (That's the business plan of a lot of attorneys!)

In that sense, you have to take their threat somewhat seriously, because if the situation gets silly enough, you might have to deal with a BS lawsuit, even if it's one that a judge would quickly throw out. But the real damage is already done - you got involved with whackos, and you can't undo that. What you can do is separate from the battle immediately.

The homeowners have proven themselves dangerous to your business and to your peace of mind. Don't try to repair a relationship with dangerous people - get away from the whackos and find new work. "Good craftsmanship," when considering the whole business process, includes walking away from projects where the customers are so toxic that they make it impossible. There are lots of great customers out there, and you're better off to let your competitor take on this particular problem.

Keep track of what the "enemy" is doing by continuing to communicate, but get the hell out of there. Let them spin their wheels by yelling until they find a new GC to yell at. If these people are threatening to sue for no good reason, continuing to work with them won't change that. They've proven that the relationship will end badly, so better sooner than later.

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Answered on 2/21/08, 9:46 am


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