Legal Question in Construction Law in Illinois

For purposes of analyzing this I will assume when you say "owner" you mean the owner of the company you hired to remodel your kitchen, as opposed to the owner of the house, being you.

1. You need to look at your kitchen remodeling contract (it is in the nature of a general contracting contract) because it may or may not provide you appropriate protection.

2. The general contractor/remodeler is normally in charge of hiring and firing subcontractors, and for paying and withholding payment; that's one main reason you as the home owner are paying the general. But when the general hires and fires subs, those are separate contracts that you theoretically don't have direct relationships with ("privity") and normally can't interfere with, and your protection as home owner is that the general is supposed to protect you. Your remodeling contract should hold you harmless from disputes between the general and subs, unless you caused the dispute, but your remedies may only be firing the general --- this is why you need to look at the contract, because it may not give you the right to set off amounts claimed as owed like this.

3. Assuming you did nothing to cause the dispute, the subcontractor who claims non-payment by the general is required to notify you as the home owner and to record a mechanic's lien to protect his (the sub's) interests -- what it does is put you on notice in particular that the general hasn't paid the sub and that you may be at risk in paying the general without getting the sub issue cleared up. If your remodeling contract adequately protects you, the general should fix things, but at the end of the day you will want to see a lien waiver (and release of lien if recorded) from the sub, not just from the general.

4. The problem can be exacerbated where the subcontractor's bill/claim arrives after the general has otherwise been paid in full and you received a "final lien waiver" from the general/remodeler. If so you should look at lien waivers the general should have given you because if in fact the unpaid sub fails to appear, the waiver may be fraudulent as to you. If the sub appears to the extent paid, the general may still owe you a defense assuming your contract protects you. The next question may be whether the general is solvent.

5. Various licensing is required for various contractors by the State or by local governments. You can complain of course, but this will only be a ding against the contractor's license, and will not affect the monetary/contractual issues.

6. If the general is refusing to intercede, there may be something more wrong here, including a possible scam where it appears that the general is protecting you when in fact the general is double-dipping. Can't say. Not enough facts. But for 10 "large" you may want a lawyer because the lender won't help either -- and if the lender's affiliated with the general, oh my. The Illinois Attorney General may want to know what's going on.....

the fundamental issue is whether a subcontractor can bill for labor and materials incorporated into a job and send the bill to the party who contracted for the work -- ie. you.

Yes. Absolutely. If you hired (signed the contract) then the general has a contract with you, and all subs have contracts with the general. Under Illinois law the subs have a right, and obligation when they are not paid, to notify you and the owner about non-payment and to record a mechanic's lien within a specified period of time. The purpose of a subcontractor's notice is to let the owner in particular, along with any contracting party, know that there is a money claim and that the contracting party (owner or otherwise) may be at risk in paying the general contractor if subcontractors remain unpaid.

If you're saying that the job got messed up because the general and the owner both