Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Maryland
My family heard noises coming from a specific area in the wall saturday March 30-April 1 the whole weekend. I called a contractor for pest/wild life removal on Monday April 1st and explain the situation. The guy came out to inspect and remove the animal (squirrel) from my home wall. He came out on April 2, 2013 with another guy (brother in law) whose license to work on home roofs. They inspected home and concluded there was 2 holes on roof and went in the attic and said he saw mice droppings but no mice was seen. The contractor said he would need to seal the holes he saw and place a cage trap to get the squirrel along with mice traps. He stated this would be a 4 week clean out and he would come weekly and the total price would be $750.00 plus $195 inspection fee. I agreed. This guy was at my home for about 1 hour 30 min.
After this 1st visit, he came back the next day April 3 and didn't call to say he would to remove the cage trap. I was not home someone else let him in who reside in my resident. After that I haven't heard anything from him. I called left a message and no response. This is now over 2 weeks.
The paper work I signed which is the contract states 4 week clean out and roof fixing but doesn't itemize what he actually did for my money.
My question: is this contractor in breach of contract for not showing up or calling to complete the 4 week process? and am I entitled to get some of my money back?
1 Answer from Attorneys
If the contractor doesn't complete the project as outlined to you he would be in breach of contract. The typical remedy in these cases is to hire a replacement contractor and the cost of the second contractor would be recoverable in a suit against the first contractor. This would be a small claims case, and unfortunately it's very difficult to collect in these cases even if you get a judgment. It sounds like you paid in advance, which is never a good idea in these situations. You might try sending him a letter informing him that you will take him to court and file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and other internet business evaluation sites (like yelp.com), but frankly he doesn't sound like the sort of contractor who cares about these things.
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