Home Improvement Contractor - Licensed Contractors
General Contractor without contract signed.?
I am a general contractor (non-licensed) and I built a house for some friends (at the time). No contract was ever signed with them. I built the house and took much less on payment on it then normal due to our friendship. Things became sour between us for personal reasons, but I completed their house and they closed on it. They called about a month later and wanted a few things fixed. Some nails were sticking out on the sheetrock and wood was splitting on a closet door. I gave them the numbers to the people who could fix this for them and told them that I would prefer them from now on out I would prefer them to call the subcontractor for any problems they have in the future. They have sent me a letter threatening to sue because I am obligated to a one year warranty on the house. Without a contract between us do I have to provide a one year warranty?
Public Comments
- If you didn't sign a contract or a warranty, they can't do anything. If they try to take you to court, tell the court, you were once friends and that you built the house for nothing. Tell the court what happened between the 2 of you and let them know that you finished the house anyway and now you don't care to have anything to do with them. But, I suggest you get a license and insurance. The license isn't too much don't know about the ins. in your area. Good Luck.
- A contract is an agreement. You have a contract, even if you don't have it in writing! The problem with not having it in writing is that memories are faulty and persons of good faith can genuinely disagree about the details of a verbal agreement. Without a written contract, the details of the agreement may have to be determined another way. For instance, there is no question that you built the house. If there were a question, a simple search of purchase records could resolve the question. Since you did build the house, there must have some agreement in place (verbal or otherwise) If the laws in your jurisdiction require that the builder provide a 1 year warranty, if they can prove that you are the builder, you may have no choice. Remember this. If you have to provide the warranty, that does not mean that you have to do the work. You can call the sub, they should have a warranty on their work which you can exercise. To sue you would be expensive and therefore is not very likely if the amount in question is small. Good Luck
- Courts usually say that there is an implied warranty attached to the sale of something like a house, and that is usually a year warranty. Implied means automatically assumed- discussed or not. Part 1- It would probably be better to take care of the repairs, and pass what you can to subcontractors where appropriate. Part 2- IF the buyer did not pay you the agreed amount, the act of repair will renew your lien rights in many states. I once had a customer who had refused to pay for some upgrades he requested, and I didn't pursue it right away- thus my lien rights expired. When he demanded a warranty repair, I fixed things promptly, and then filed a lein on the property for balance past due. He paid.
