Financial Dispute with a Contractor

COR80 on 29/03/2016 - 04:40

Hi all, passing this question on from a friend here in Perth:

"A contractor has completed renovations on my house but never removed the large mess, leftover wood, aluminium sheets, general rubbish as per their contract.

I tried several times to contact them but no response. After 7 weeks I took the day off work and filled up the ute with the rubbish and dropped it off at the nearest rubbish dump which was 20kms away. This took me a lot of time and cost me in petrol and $75 to dump the rubbish.

I have paid to date $19100 towards the renovations but have just received the final part of the bill which is $900. I am only willing to pay $700 due to the cost of time and money it took me to dump the rubbish. The contractor stated if I do not pay in full this week they will take legal action and send it to collections.

What are my rights?

What is my next step?

How do I avoid a black mark against my credit history?"

Any general advice would be appreciated. I cannot answer any specific questions as I do not know anything more than is written above.

Thanks in advance.

Financial

Comments

  • tomsco on 29/03/2016 - 06:50
    +1

    I don't exactly know how credit reporting work, but if he's a small fry, I doubt he'd have the ability to default you. He would have to send to a debt collector.

    You could try taking him to SAT, but then with further time off work and an application fee, it won't be worth it. You could still possibly threaten to take him there for breach of contract. Have you kept records of your requests to fulfil the contract/his rejection to do so?

    • COR80 on 29/03/2016 - 08:14

      Thanks for taking the time, I will pass this on.

  • eatwell365 on 29/03/2016 - 07:05
    +1

    Is this guy a master builder association member?
    http://www.mbawa.com/contact/

    • COR80 on 29/03/2016 - 08:14

      Thanks for taking the time, I will pass this on and see if he knows this.

  • chumlee on 29/03/2016 - 07:20
    +3

    He will not commence legal action over $200. Legal action will cost 10 times more that at least.

    Your mate should send a letter to the contractor outlining the reason why $200 is being withheld and you are prepared to pay $700 and should he accept the offer then the matter is deemed to be closed and he waives his right to legal recourse.

    • COR80 on 29/03/2016 - 08:14

      Thanks for taking the time, I will pass this on.

      • StewBalls on 29/03/2016 - 11:46

        Tell the contractor to consider himself lucky it's your mate & not me, I would withhold the entire $900 just on principle…

  • cloudy on 29/03/2016 - 13:22
    +2

    You shouldn't have done it yourself if you haven't fully paid him.

    Even though it's been 7 weeks and u wanted the stuff removed, he can still argue he needed to find time to do it and was intending to do it. But since u have now cleared it up it's not his fault, but u still owe him for work completed.

    It would have been best to withhold the $900 till the full job was done, but now the job is done, it's hard to argue the true value of the rubbish removal.

    • COR80 on 29/03/2016 - 22:10

      Good point, thanks for taking the time, I will pass this on.

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