Legal Question in Construction Law in Illinois

inaccurate contractor draws

Our contractor has taken over a year to finish our house (which our contract stated 180 days btw). Throughout the build process, invoices were submitted by the contractor for amounts equal to our allowances. He never made one mention of being over our allowances. We made no changes or upgrades. Repeated inquiries for budget status were never answered along the way. We've closed on the construction with the bank and we're settling up with the builder. He faxed me a final bill that was $20,000+ over our agreed price. to my horror, the plumbing, electrical, foundation,paint... (ad nauseum) went over our 'allowance'. As far as I knew, we were never over, I had no visibility as to what the contractor paid.

My question is: Are we liable for monies that went way over our allowances despite the circumstances?

In regard to overages, our contract addresses by stating the owners are supposed to submit a work change order (which we obviously didn't). I feel we shouldn't be responsible for overage monies the contractor paid to subs because I didn't approve the or have knowledge of the overages.


Asked on 5/04/07, 11:59 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Patrick Tracy Patrick J. Tracy, Esq, P.E.,

Re: inaccurate contractor draws

The answer to this lies in the contract for construction that you signed to have the house built. If there is no contract then it is a situation which needs to be stated in front of a judge in court. Without review of the contract, I cannot give you further advice, except to seek legal help from a business lawyer in your area who can help you deal with this situation.

Good luck!

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Answered on 5/05/07, 6:00 am


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