Home Improvement Contractor - Licensed Contractors
General Contractor Insurance Question?
What recourse do I have against my general contractor who does not have my office completed in a timely manner. My current lease expired November 1st and I will most likely not be in the new office until January 1st. Do I eat the 2 months of holdover rent (300% normal rent) plus lost business, or pass it along to my contractor. Will his general contractor insurance cover claims of that sort? Contract stated "Project time to be 3-4 months weather permitting." 4 months from signature would have been 10/19/07.
Public Comments
- Did you set a deadline in your contract with him? In court, you would have to prove your definition of a timely matter. Were there circumstances that caused any delays beyond the contractors control?
- What you are experiencing is sometimes called "loss of market". You are loosing the loss of use on your new office because the contractor did not complete it. Think of it this way: Let's say you own a toy store. You order the hot new toy to arrive (from China) right before Christmas. You have a competitor right down the road. He orders the exact same toy as well. You both ship with different companies. His shipping company gets the toy there on time; your shipping company gets the toy there 3 months late. You lose all of the Christmas sales. This is called loss of market, and generally no insurance policies cover this, regardless of who is at fault. If you had a contract with the contractor that states it will be done on a certain time, you may have some recourse; however, typically for that type of contract to be valid, it must clearly be spelled out what the exact penalties and (this is a nice kicker) there has to be opportunities for a bonus if the contractor gets done early. Talk to an attorney about legal action, but I think you're out of luck for insurance purposes.
- Was there a PERFORMANCE bond put in place, guaranteeing that the job would be completed by a certain date? If not, you have no recourse. Especially if the delays were due to your making changes to the original plan, weather issues, or building permit issues (all completely outside the control of the GC), he's not responsible. Even if you do sue him, this isn't the type of thing covered by an insurance policy. The ONLY thing that "covers" not having a building done in time, is a performance bond. And you have to buy it BEFORE the project is started.
