Legal Question in Construction Law in Massachusetts
We hired an uninsured, unlicensed contractor to put an addition on our home. The addition was not built according to specs and his reply was that the "blueprints are only a concept - the builder can do what he wants". Since the near completion of the project - we actually fired him before he finished because we ran out of money (the project ended up costing three times the quote) - we have had to have blown in insulation installed because there was no insulation in our outside walls which was causing our kitchen pipes to freeze up in the winter and now we have a major leak in the dining room because the contractor didn't know how to connect the additions roof to the existing house correctly - we have what the contractor called a "cricket" which has a 6" rise above the existing house roof where ice dams form. I was wondering what kind of recourse if any do we have against this contractor? I know we can contact our homeowners insurance to get our ceiling fixed but we need to have the roofs connected properly so this doesn't continue to happen. Any help in this matter would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
2 Answers from Attorneys
Did you know he was unlicensed and uninsured?
If so, lesson learned. You get what you pay for!
You can file an action against him for poor workmanship and make a demand for damages sufficent to fix the problems he caused.
Make sure he has assets!
Get your insurer on it ASAP.
You very likely have strong leverage over him using your rights under the Home Improvement Contractor Statute, and the severe applicable penalties thereunder. I handle cases like this all the time; Feel free to contact me directly to discuss further.
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