Anyone have any suggestions to how I can get someone to pay me my money?

[MARCUSO]

I am looking for some creative suggestions.
I did a side job for some people, they seemed honest and all.
Spent lots of hours working on their place, evenings and weekends. When I submitted my amount, they told me that They think it is worth only 75% of what I was charging.
The agreement was verbal, as to my rate, and it was gonna be an hourly ongoing thing.
To make a long story short, they said they got quotes from other guys, for a lot less than what my bill came to.... and that is what they were gonna pay me.
The job actually went smoothly, except for some snags, which were the homeowners doing.... changes, etc.
I refused to accept anything but the full amount, which was agreed upon.
I have a feeling this is gonna be a stalemate, and they won't budge.

I am turning to you fellow forumers to give me some ideas to persuade them, or make them pay me my full amount.... without bringing the ol' ball peen hammer to their kneecaps.
I considered liens, calling them every day, removing my work, knocking on their door every day.... I dunno.. LOL

 

[Rmk900rider]

I would put a lien on it. Thats to bad u didnt have a contract. I dont understand why people are that way. No one goes to there job and tries to negotiate their wages. Well hope it turns out for you. Been there done that.

 

[dragon12]

How much is the total bill and does it include materials? Not sure what your (canadian) laws are but around here liens must be filed within 120 days of the last day of significant work. If less than 1k liens are pointless. You can always send them an intent to lien, and if they don't pay within 10 days file the lien. It would then be up to them to pay the full amount plus fees or you can forclose on the property. Seek legal advice would be my suggestion if the amount is fairly large.

If you remove the work it can be considered theft.

 

[Himark]

Is it a remodel where they do not have there permanent financing yet? Or just existing where they have been residing? Is the total $ amount high enough they will have to finance it?

 

[m8magicandmystery]

submit a bill indicating soon to be applied high interest charges...and do apply them..it won;t worry them much cause they think they will never have to pay it..but she could be extra dollars when the court rules on your behalf...and is the amount suitable for small claims court...???..fast and fair..

 

[Sturgis Sledder]

Start an online forum and charge everyone on there $10.

 

[icr]

If you remove the work it can be considered theft.

Even if they didn't pay?


Rent a billboard stating your side of the story. Try to get one near their house/work.

 

[dragon12]

Even if they didn't pay?


Rent a billboard stating your side of the story. Try to get one near their house/work.

Even if they didn't pay. Sucks doesn't it. Once it is installed, or is on site, it is considered part of the property. I have seen it a few times where guys didn't get paid and went to get their materials back at night. The last one I know of almost landed in jail and he also lost the court case.

 

[m7john]

I would put a lien on it. Thats to bad u didnt have a contract. I dont understand why people are that way. No one goes to there job and tries to negotiate their wages. Well hope it turns out for you. Been there done that.

x2 it sucks when people do this. go get someone to give a larger bid than what you did it for that will solve their undercutting. hope it works out.

 

[PLUMR]

Take the 75% and file a lien for the balance. At least you get something now. perfect the lien, foreclose and start compounding interest and fees. If they ever try to sell the property you win. Just went through it myself, the interest and administrative fees were an extra bonus after waiting 18 months to get paid.

 

[Ex-Member]

Collection agencies are pretty obnoxious.

They're nice to deal with when they're on your side though.

Still not something I'd wanna do over.

 

[greenskeeper]

If you did the job without getting anything in writing, sorry it would be your word against theirs, you went ahead with the work eventho they said they were only going to pay the 75%, in my line of work that is an exceptence of a contract, even tho there is no written contract, I think you are out of luck, if you do accept the 75% and cash it, than that means you except it as final payment,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,have been in this problem several years ago, now its written down and every change is noted and signed by both with the change in price noted, my advice is take the money and move on, a lot better on your mind,,,,,and oh yes DO NOT REMOVE ANY MATERIALS, that is theft, I know that for sure.......

 

[snowmobiler]

tell them youll split the difference.87.5% and move on.those people suck

 

[dmkhnr]

The only way you can legally file a lien is if you notified them of a right to lien withing 30 days of starting the job, and notify them of intent 20 days before you file it and file it within 90 days of completion of the job. All this is fine and dandy, and you can go down and file a lien against their home but it won't mean a thing until it is perfected.

Perfecting the lien needs to be done within 90 days of filing the lien and requires that you go before a judge, state your case and he will either grant or reject your lien.

If you don't have the first steps in order, the judge will most likely reject the lien. However, most people don't know how it all works and just the talk of a lien will grab their attention. Even filing the lien can bring them to action. Be aware that filing a lien for monies above the original contract is fraudulent and will cause you a problem when you go to perfect the lien.

You can go take your materials back but this is considered theft, so I personally would advise against. How much money do they owe you???

I did a job this summer for a neighbor who had a leak in the gate valve to his house. The total was $1300.00. He asked for 30 days to pay me as he was elderly and waiting on his social security check. Well 30 days goes by and he doesn't have a dime for me, I express my irritation to him, tell him I bought several hundered in material and paid 2 of my laborers a days wage. He didn't care and started making payments at 45 days finally paying me off at 90 days. I went over to his home weekly and bugged him about it but he didn't care. I even brought a cordless grinder and a witness one day and asked him if I could have my gate valves back, hoping he would say yes I was planning on quickly cutting them out before he realized what I was doing. Fortunatley before I asked he had a check in hand for a payment. I told the neighbors about the money he owed me, I threatened with lien, I got him worked up everytime I went over there, called him a liar to his face but he was going to pay on his terms. Had I been younger and less experienced, I probably would have thumped the geezer, and taken my materials back, but $1300 to me today is alot of money but not anything to get too worked up about.

1 more thing, In my state you have to have a contractors license to do contract work with homeowners. If you don't have a license, you won't be able to file a lien. Basically you can have a contract to do a job, perform the work and the homeowner can tell you to pound sand.

 

[sledin]

If you take a ball peen hammer to their kneecaps,the question is,do they still owe you money?

 

[Fosgate]

Don't know about Canadian law but in the U.S. you can look up the Fair Debt Colllection Protection Act and look for it's Canadian Counterpart. It states what deems a legal persuit of collection. A contract does not require writing as many may think, verbal contract is sufficient. Where people loose is if they are able to discredit you and get the judge to believe you are a shady business practice. Though it would be pretty difficult that the judge would overturn anything since they have the materials onsite and they did make changes. You should just need reciepts for materials and charges associated with unpaid accounts and total hours of labor. You fullfilled your end of the contract and they refused to pay, which is their obligation under the contract, therefore they are in breach of contract. I would just take them to small claims and keep being a professional and let the judge tell them to pay you.

 

[m8magicandmystery]

impregnate their daughters,castrate their sons...put catnip for their cat on their pitbull dogs balls...and just maybee take the 75 percent...and even though it can be identified as final payment you can STILL try in a small claims court...remember small claims is not bound by typicall laws...it is bound by fair reason...and a Judge in small claims could reason that you had no choice but to accept the 75 percent on THEIR terms when he could still award judgement to you because your costs was JUSTIFIED..and by them saying they would not pay anymore then 75 percent and you accepting it because you believe its that or nothing that they EXTORTED the 25 percent from you

 

[MARCUSO]

Thanks for the suggestions

Well the amount was 4 grand.
They said that they would pay me but not what I want. 3000$

It was hanging a dozen doors, closet doors, casing, and baseboard throughout. They supplied it.
Funny thing, the night before I finished, I said I wanted to square up with them, and told them the amount. I added the last evening to the bill and submitted it to them.
It was a private job. I did it on verbal, they sounded ok, until I noticed that little miss pissy pants had tantrums from time to time when she didn't get what she wanted. He jumped like a little dog for her. Man that guy couldn't even make a simple decision without asking the wife. Red flag!!

The other quotes he got were about 3100, and they said "that's what I should just get".
The job went smoothly, except for about 1/3 of the way in they insisted I cut and machine outside (downstairs, down the hallway, outside, down the sidewalk, on the driveway).....

I warned him that the labour cost would be greatly effected if I couldn't cut inside (the house was empty, just primed and first coat and they were living in the basement.) I would have pollied off one room with no dust spreading.

She gets him to call me with his resolution a couple of days later, I told him my view as to why I deserve it all, and he said that he had to talk to his wife again. What a Pu$$y.

I think I am gonna write him a letter stating my facts, and demand my full amount, and send it to them registered mail, and be as professional as I can I guess.

 

[Cyle]

That's a ****ty deal for sure. Sad part is being on the contractor end, your screwed most of the time sueing them or anything, and it would be more time and hassle then it's worth. Collection agencies are useless especially if there is no signed contract (who hasen't gotten collection threats from UPS , they can't do anything).

You can take back your material just fine but not in your case as it's just labour. Have done it before, legal or not. Not payed=bye bye work.

Have you considered getting a nuetral 3rd party to quote it? Or maybe 3 and see what the prices comes out? They should pay what you told them it would be, but it might work because it would prove that is a fair price.

People do suck. My dad has ran his own company forever and a couple times people have said after the job is done the same thing and don't pay the full amount, even with a signed contract. Not worth fighting for the money, granted it was never that much less then what your looking at. Let me guess, while you were doing the job they were the type of people who wanted extras for free?

 

[Sidehiller]

Well the amount was 4 grand.
They said that they would pay me but not what I want. 3000$

It was hanging a dozen doors, closet doors, casing, and baseboard throughout. They supplied it.
Funny thing, the night before I finished, I said I wanted to square up with them, and told them the amount. I added the last evening to the bill and submitted it to them.
It was a private job. I did it on verbal, they sounded ok, until I noticed that little miss pissy pants had tantrums from time to time when she didn't get what she wanted. He jumped like a little dog for her. Man that guy couldn't even make a simple decision without asking the wife. Red flag!!

The other quotes he got were about 3100, and they said "that's what I should just get".
The job went smoothly, except for about 1/3 of the way in they insisted I cut and machine outside (downstairs, down the hallway, outside, down the sidewalk, on the driveway).....

I warned him that the labour cost would be greatly effected if I couldn't cut inside (the house was empty, just primed and first coat and they were living in the basement.) I would have pollied off one room with no dust spreading.

She gets him to call me with his resolution a couple of days later, I told him my view as to why I deserve it all, and he said that he had to talk to his wife again. What a Pu$$y.

I think I am gonna write him a letter stating my facts, and demand my full amount, and send it to them registered mail, and be as professional as I can I guess.

I would say 90% of the times we have had trouble collecting it has been because of a domineering woman and a cowering man. If a couple are fighting on a house site you have problems! Not woman bashing, bit(h bashing