How To Deal With Complaining Contractors - Contracts
Homeowners should avoid complaining contractors like the
plague. If you hire a contractor and they somehow pull the wool over
your eyes and trick you into believing that their pleasant and easy to
deal with, but they're not, you could be in for one of those building
nightmares that you read about in the newspapers.
Usually once a contractor starts to complain about the project. They
aren't making enough money or this job is harder than they originally
thought, then get ready, because they're about to ask you for more money
and they might not deserve it.
If the work that they are doing is within the scope of the contract, the
contractors should never ask for more money. It's his responsibility and
not yours. That's what the contract is for and you need to remind the
contractor that you have a contract. That's why they're called
contractors, they create a contract that contains the amount of work to
be performed and together you agree upon the scope of work and the
amount of money that will be paid, after that task is performed.
I have never asked for more money, no matter what kind of problems I run
into. As an experienced contractor I tried to foresee possible events
and figure the jobs accordingly. That's me, that's not everyone else. I
have worked with plenty of contractors who are always asking for more
and trying to do less.
Whenever you have a complaining contractor, you will simply need to hold
your ground and explained to them, that you agreed upon a specific
price, only to be paid upon completion of each phase of that project.
Once these contractor start, there is no stopping them. Make sure that
you remind them that they have signed a legal and binding contract and
if they continue to insist that they have a legal right to ask for more
money, remind them that you'll have a legal right to arbitration and
they could end up paying the court costs.