Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Michigan

My home was in a fire in June 2009, I have had a contractor repairing my home since August 2009. For the past 3 months no one has been working on my house. The contractor removed my furnace and replaced it with a temporary furnac (unsafe by city code) and he has been paid all of his money to complete my home repairs. It is now January 2010 and my family and I still are not at home because this man won't finish my house. There is no completion date on the contract, what can I do?


Asked on 1/11/10, 6:43 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Audra Arndt Audra A. Arndt & Associates, PLLC

Rule #1 that I thought everyone knew by now: never pay a contractor the full price up front. Never. Rule #2: always have every detail in writing and you should have had a lawyer draft or at least review the contract. What if you gave the contract $20,000 and his company went bankruptcy a month later? The law provides little recourse for you and you'd be out almost every cent. Plus, you'd have to hire a lawyer to get your money back, which is what you need to do now: hire a lawyer to either enforce the contract and get the work done, or rescind due to breach (if appropriate after knowing the specific details), and get your money refunded and move into another contractor. I'd suggest you contact me immediately to arrange a consult to discuss all of your legal options. If you have an insurace company involved, then they have clearly failed to perform as required as well.

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Answered on 1/17/10, 12:59 am


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