Construction Materials
We fired our contractor last week and since we paid him a $1000 deposit for insulation, which he hasn't started, and overpaid on a few of the other jobs in our new home construction, can we keep the materials (insulation/lumbar) he has on our property? I am concerned that he hasn't paid the suppliers and we'll get a mechanical lien placed on our home. Can we hold on to the supplies that are unused since we already paid him and he hasn't paid his suppliers? We didn't want to break any laws by holding the insulation material and lumbar and not allowing him to take it with him since he's been fired from the job?
Re: Construction Materials
You don't just "fire" a contractor as you might an at-will employee. That's why he is/was your contractor rather than your employee. Your relationship is governed by the contract. It will (or should) have a section or sections dealing with the parties' right to terminate for breach. It probably requires a material breach, and may give the breaching party a right to written notice of the breach and an opportunity to cure the breach before the contract may be terminated.
This is only a guess, of course; for all I know, your contractor may have been unlicensed and the contract was perhaps oral or nothing more than an estimate scribbled on a stationery form. By the way, if the contractor is unlicensed, he is not entitled to file a lien, but the lumberyard can.
The question as to ownership of the materials is fairly complex, and would take a little research to learn whether you, the supplier, or the contractor owns them. However, as the other attorney has pointed out, the $1,000 value of these materials pales in comparison with the prospective damages and legal fees that may change hands if the courts have to hear and rule upon the question of whether the contract was breached, and by whom.
By the way, does the contract have an arbitration clause or an attorney-fee clause? Either of these may affect your strategy.
Re: Construction Materials
You don't just "fire" a contractor as you might an at-will employee. That's why he is/was your contractor rather than your employee. Your relationship is governed by the contract. It will (or should) have a section or sections dealing with the parties' right to terminate for breach. It probably requires a material breach, and may give the breaching party a right to written notice of the breach and an opportunity to cure the breach before the contract may be terminated.
This is only a guess, of course; for all I know, your contractor may have been unlicensed and the contract was perhaps oral or nothing more than an estimate scribbled on a stationery form. By the way, if the contractor is unlicensed, he is not entitled to file a lien, but the lumberyard can.
The question as to ownership of the materials is fairly complex, and would take a little research to learn whether you, the supplier, or the contractor owns them. However, as the other attorney has pointed out, the $1,000 value of these materials pales in comparison with the prospective damages and legal fees that may change hands if the courts have to hear and rule upon the question of whether the contract was breached, and by whom.
By the way, does the contract have an arbitration clause or an attorney-fee clause? Either of these may affect your strategy.
Re: Construction Materials
You don't just "fire" a contractor as you might an at-will employee. That's why he is/was your contractor rather than your employee. Your relationship is governed by the contract. It will (or should) have a section or sections dealing with the parties' right to terminate for breach. It probably requires a material breach, and may give the breaching party a right to written notice of the breach and an opportunity to cure the breach before the contract may be terminated.
This is only a guess, of course; for all I know, your contractor may have been unlicensed and the contract was perhaps oral or nothing more than an estimate scribbled on a stationery form. By the way, if the contractor is unlicensed, he is not entitled to file a lien, but the lumberyard can.
The question as to ownership of the materials is fairly complex, and would take a little research to learn whether you, the supplier, or the contractor owns them. However, as the other attorney has pointed out, the $1,000 value of these materials pales in comparison with the prospective damages and legal fees that may change hands if the courts have to hear and rule upon the question of whether the contract was breached, and by whom.
By the way, does the contract have an arbitration clause or an attorney-fee clause? Either of these may affect your strategy.
