It’s great to see a business turn around and become more profitable, following practices we talk about in Markup & Profit Revisited and in our intensive class. But projects that were started earlier still need to be finished. That’s the situation a contractor described in this note to us.
First, I want to say thank you for everything you do. I have bought your books and attended your 2-day class. I have learned so much and now my company is starting to become profitable and is turning in the right direction.
I am dealing with a situation that is from before I learned so much in your class and books.
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I built a house for someone (I probably shouldn’t have) and for a price (I know I shouldn’t have) with a weak contract (3 for 3). This house nearly drove me into bankruptcy, and I did everything I could to get it finished. We finished in April and the never-ending punch list was completed while they were moved in, we have done everything on the punch list, but little things keep popping up after the original punch list. Now we have had some problem with the stained floors (due to some bad advice at the get go) and are going to be going in and refinishing. They still owe me the final payment, but this is really a warranty issue. Would I be wrong in demanding payment before we move forward? Also, what are my options if they refuse payment. I am going to attach my contract to see what my options are.
I want to do what is right and finish, but they are the people that everyone warns about. It seems there is always something as to why they haven’t paid (its only $4,000) on a $520,000 contract.
I received an email from him this weekend with the statement “I am sending this email as documentation”, which to me sounds like documentation in case of legal proceedings.
My thoughts in replying would be to say that we will take care of it, but in order to move forward we need to make final payment and move into warranty time. I am planning on offering a moving company to move all personal items out for liability and having the floors redone then the moving company will move everything back in. I just don’t want to put any more money into it before receiving my final payment (which will most likely go into fixing the floor).
Any advice you can give would help. I already have a plan. I just want to make sure I am making the right decision.
It can a challenge to finish a project, especially when it was priced too low for a difficult client and with a weak contract. Fortunately, this contractor’s plan should put him on the right track to finish the job and move on.
He’s right not to do any warranty work until final payment is made. The warranty begins after the final payment has cleared, not before.
He needs to write an additional work order that specifies the final punch list and the time frame to get it done. It needs to specify that when that punch list is complete, the job is complete and final payment is expected. Use the punch list procedure that’s outlined in our class and stick to it. If he doesn’t, this will drag on forever.
In this situation, I’d also write an additional work order for the warranty work before it’s started. An additional work order isn’t normally required on warranty work but it would be a wise step. This additional work order should specify exactly what will and won’t be done and the time frame.
During both the punch list and the warranty work, he should take pics of everything, with date and time stamps, so there can’t be any disagreement about what got done, when and if it was done as agreed.
These are difficult lessons to learn, but we’ve all had difficult learning experiences and we usually come out of them wiser and stronger.
The knowledge and experience Michael Stone gained in his 60+ years in construction has helped thousands of contractors improve their businesses and their lives. He is the author of the books Markup & Profit Revisited, Profitable Sales, and Estimating Construction Profitably, and is available for one-on-one consultations.
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