Home | Newsletter | Advertise
loading...

UT Reader Asks: What Can You Do If Your Contractor Stops Working?

  • May 29, 2013

by Shilpi Paul

UT Reader Asks: What Can You Do If Your Contractor Stops Working?: Figure 1

In this installment of UrbanTurf Reader Asks, a DC homeowner wonders what to do when his contractor stops coming in to work before the project is finished.

I've hired a general contractor to renovate my one-bedroom condo. The project started out well; it moved along quickly and the quality of work was high. The GC was responsive, offered a lot of his own good ideas, and kept up the momentum. Probably 80 percent of the job was complete within the first couple months.

But now the work has started lagging badly, and the GC is all but unresponsive. I worry the remaining 20 percent could take as long to get done as the first 80 percent -- if at all.

I haven't lost all hope that the project will get back on track, but I worry about what to do if it doesn't.

I haven't paid the full job amount yet, and of course I won't remit the final payment until everything is done. But the outstanding balance may not be enough of a lure, as I know that the GC has other much bigger jobs than mine he's working on contemporaneously.

I was hoping UT readers could offer some suggestions about how to induce the contractor to finish the job in a timely manner.

Should I threaten legal action? Or maybe start with threatening a bad Angie's List or Yelp review?

Readers, what do you think? Post your thoughts in the comments section. If you would like to submit a question for UrbanTurf Reader Asks, send an email to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

See other articles related to: ut reader asks, urbanturf reader asks, contractor

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/ut_reader_asks_what_can_you_do_if_your_contractor_stops_working/7125

DC Real Estate Guides

Short guides to navigating the DC-area real estate market

We've collected all our helpful guides for buying, selling and renting in and around Washington, DC in one place. Visit guides.urbanturf.com or start browsing below!

First-Timer Primers

Intro guides for first-time home buyers

Red Flags Revealed During a Home Inspection Top 5 Tax Breaks For Homeowners Tax Relief for DC Homeowners
Condo Fee Tutorial What is a Rent Back? 10 Ways To Tell If a Home Renovation is Well Done
Obtaining a Basic Business License For Your Rental What is an Adjustable Rate Mortgage? The Splitting the Rent Formula
How Much Cash Do You Need to Buy a House? Is This Condo Building Financially Healthy? Interest Rates and Mortgage Points
The Scoop on Mortgage Insurance

Unique Spaces

Awesome and unusual real estate from across the DC Metro

The Most Intriguing Loft in DC The R Street Firehouse DC’s One-Room House
Dupont Circle’s Old Frat House To Become Alley Home Best Transition From a Garage To a Home The Roundhouse
Tilden Gardens Restaurant-Turned-Home Hits Market Next Week Logan Circle’s Most Intriguing Garage Frank Lloyd Wright Goes Green in Kensington
Sears Bungalow Gets a Modern Makeover Old Town General Store Becomes Three-Level Home Making the Most of a Skinny House
A Studio 27 Renovation on Capitol Hill Once a Carriage House, Now a Home The Bank that Became a Home
From Pie to Hooch to Heroin to Home The Live-Aboards of Gangplank Marina A Treehouse with Rock Creek Park As A Backyard
Modern Tranquility in Sperryville Saddle Up For Stable Living Throwing a Curve at 550 Square Feet
A Modern Hilltop Retreat Tilden Street Restaurant Becomes Spacious Home Focus on Design: A Vastu Unit at 22 West
The DC Area’s First Net Zero Home A Yankee Goes Green DC’s First Carbon Neutral Home
Eco-Friendly Alley House Off H Street The Gym, The Stables and The Firehouse