WEBVTT

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The Contractor Fight®: I figured it out. How’s everybody doing today?

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The Contractor Fight®: I like your son. By the way, that’s awesome.

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The Contractor Fight®: Thank you. Cause I know that’s what you guys gotta do this. What I gotta do, too, is get shit done.

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The Contractor Fight®: It love it.

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The Contractor Fight®: Alright, so sub contracts. Let me see if I can figure out how to make this chat, so I can actually see what’s going on here

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The Contractor Fight®: before I get started.

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The Contractor Fight®: Alright.

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The Contractor Fight®: da.

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The Contractor Fight®: there we go. Okay. So now I can see what people are typing.

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The Contractor Fight®: Good job. Okay? Alright subcontracts. I know, a lot of you guys use subcontractors, and first, wanna go over kind of why, subcontracts are important. And basically to see why in multiple areas, right.

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The Contractor Fight®: One of the biggest thing.

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The Contractor Fight®: Reasons why you wanna have a subcontract is because it it proves that the people that are working for you as subcontractors are truly independent contractors. Right? You can get into a lot of trouble both. So you know, even if you have workers comp for your own employees. If you don’t have subcontract agreements for your subcontractors when they do an audit, they might try to classify them as employees, and then your workers comp rates. Will Skyrocket had that happen to a client

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The Contractor Fight®: when he went through his audit, and so he had to get subcontracts for all his subs another way. It protects you again, proving it’s up. It’s someone’s actually a subcontractor is for wage claims right? Especially now with

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The Contractor Fight®: the rules being updated on, who’s a subcontractor and who’s not, who’s not, and and the reason why that matters is because if you’re an actual employee, you’re supposed to take out, you know, withholding and pay overtime. Those are the 2 big things. And so if somebody gets in a position where they’re talking to a lawyer, or they have another plan that happens to come up, and you don’t have a contract, and they can try to classify themselves

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The Contractor Fight®: as an employee that opens you up to potential wage claims for not paying overtime and or not withholding taxes.

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The Contractor Fight®: and

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The Contractor Fight®: that issue by itself. That one employee is not a big deal, but once that one employee starts a lawsuit in Federal court. The first thing the Federal court does is ask for your employee records for the last 3 years and sends them notice. Hey? You might be entitled. You might have a claim here. And there’s really no settlement till after that happens. So it becomes a much bigger issue

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The Contractor Fight®: you know. And that’s for your current employees. Well, make sure that we’re paying them correctly. And you know, paying overtime for the people that are employees. So you know, wage claims it’ll prevent that. Actually have a subcontractor agreement. The other big thing where I see where guys get in trouble by not having a subcontract is when somebody gets injured on the job. So one of your subs workers gets injured on the job.

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The Contractor Fight®: You don’t have a subcontract. They try to claim that they’re an employee. Right? And so then we’re talking about an injury claim against you where you don’t have any documents that shows that they’re not an employee, and your insurance won’t cover it, because

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The Contractor Fight®: general liability doesn’t cover things like that, and workers can’t. Even if you have it. You don’t have them listed as an employee because it’s employee of the sub. So one of the easiest ways to get out of one of those claims is having a subcontract agreement, an independent contractor agreement. So those are 2 major reasons, even before we get into other ones that

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The Contractor Fight®: really help you prevent huge expensive legal problems down the line, right? Getting sued on an injury claim, depending on the severity of the injury is.

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The Contractor Fight®: you know, takes forever and is hugely expensive, and so is wage claim. So, having the subcontractor agreement in place is huge, and there may. You might might also have a discussion of

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The Contractor Fight®: what is truly a subcontractor. And what is truly an employee? Right? And so there’s an 8 factor test or 6 factor test that that the courts look at to determine if someone is actual sub or an employee right?

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The Contractor Fight®: And the main one is the level of control you have over the person does the person work for somebody else, or do they only work for you? Do they use your vehicle? Do they use your tool so that? And if somebody like that is, is truly, even if you have a subcontract employ. Subcontract, they may be classified as an employee. So there’s even before we get into.

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The Contractor Fight®: You know what a subcontract needs.

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The Contractor Fight®: You cannot. If somebody’s truly an employee.

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The Contractor Fight®: you cannot change that relationship by having a subcontract. So if that’s something we need to get more into depth to. If you have more questions, you can put it in the chat, or we’ll we’ll address it at the end, because that’s something that can become very dangerous to, because that wage claim can happen by you know, even if you have a subcontract.

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The Contractor Fight®: Okay? The second big reason you wanna subcontract that’s written with your subs

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The Contractor Fight®: is insurance reason? Right? So we all know that if a sub is working for we want to get their certificate of insurance to make sure they’re insured. And and that’s great general liability. The the way insurance works, though, is that only the insured can file a claim.

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The Contractor Fight®: And so when they’re giving you that certificate of insurance. Yes, it proves that they’re insured, but it doesn’t allow you to file claim. So what would happen is, you know. He damages something, you know. It forgets to cover the roof. It rains, and now the house has got water damage inside, right.

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The Contractor Fight®: How it would work is he would have to tender yourself, would have to tender that claim to his insurance right. And so if you have subs that, go Awol, and you can’t find him, and something happens later on.

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The Contractor Fight®: having them do that may become difficult. So what the subcontract allows what we put on our subcontracts is, we add you as additionally insured to their insurance certificate. It doesn’t cost the sub that much to do that. It’s like 25 bucks. Normally to add, someone is additionally insured. But what that does is that when you know the roof is left open and it floods, you can then file a claim on the subs insurance, because now you’re listed as insured right. You don’t have to wait around for the sub to do it. If you can’t find the sub.

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The Contractor Fight®: You know, it’s unlikely the insurance would pick up the claim, even, you know, even if you file a lawsuit, they’re not just gonna step in voluntarily. They’re waiting for their insured to make a claim. And if he’s not around anymore, then then you’re then it’s worthless, right? The certificate insurance doesn’t mean anything. I’ve had it happen several cases, you know, even though in the sub was out of business.

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The Contractor Fight®: which? But the insurance

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The Contractor Fight®: wasn’t coverage for the time that he worked which would have covered the claim, but he wouldn’t never file it on his insurance. We couldn’t find him, so my client had to end up covering it, his damages on his own. So having, additionally, in short, and then another thing, too, that we put in the subcontract is, you get it, and you have to update it every year, and there’s gotta be whether you’re using some kind of software. There is a way to mark that flag that for every year

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The Contractor Fight®: that you get a new updated one that you’re listed as additionally insured because these things expire, and if they’re not on top of it, you don’t want somebody who’s uninsured. Not working for you, because, you know, you know, general liability is what we’re protecting for and what that protects form is, you know, mishaps catastrophes. You know I once had a client that

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The Contractor Fight®: had a it was electrician. Had a one of his subs out there working on the job accidentally screwed through the sprinkler internal sprinkler system. The Fire

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The Contractor Fight®: chief was off off duty that weekend, and and flooded the entire house right? And so Gl insurance is, that’s what it’s there to cover. So you wanna make sure that’s accessible to you. So you know, even if you don’t have a subcontract. You can require this of your subs, and I highly recommend say, Hey, you know I’ve gotten your certificate of insurance, but I really need to be added, as additionally insured, and the process for them to do that is not so hard. But that is another reason why you have a master sub

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The Contractor Fight®: another huge reason to have a master subcontract is me. Your sub is not entitled to be paid until the owner approves the work and you get paid right. This is a huge thing, because, if you don’t have this provision, I have a client now who is still owed $60,000 from the homeowner. Owes the sub 10,000 of that

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The Contractor Fight®: hasn’t gotten paid. We’re we’re currently going after the owner to to get him to stay and pay. But the sub has sued him for the 10 grand, and you know the sub did the work

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The Contractor Fight®: legally. He’s entitled to it on his contract. He did the work required by his contract. He’s entitled to be paid, and unless you have something in your agreement that says, Hey.

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The Contractor Fight®: either the work wasn’t approved, or I haven’t been paid.

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The Contractor Fight®: I don’t have to pay you yet. You would have to pay that sub, even though you haven’t been paid

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The Contractor Fight®: so just some protection there, and it also protects against effective work, right? If the owner didn’t approve the work or you don’t approve the work.

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The Contractor Fight®: then you you don’t have to pay them, or until they come, fix it so it gives you kind of all of the control over the funds and making sure the work is where you want it, and that you don’t legally have to pay them until you were paid.

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The Contractor Fight®: Another thing that we like to add in our sub subcontracts, and it makes it a violation of the subcontract agreement. If the sub is hired directly by the owner, right, I usually put this in. The owner contracts as well that they can’t hire your subs directly to to, especially for change orders or things like that.

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The Contractor Fight®: Unless you approve it. Of course, if it’s something outside your scope that your sub wants to do, and you’re perfectly fine with it, you can always approve it, but it makes it against the rules unless they approve it. And and and it depends on you could terminate the contract you can with whole payment. Does it get? There’s a whole bunch of different violations you can build in for the fact that they’re doing that right. Cause you wanna get the change orders. You wanna get the extra work that you can do and also, if you don’t have that in an agreement.

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The Contractor Fight®: it’s not illegal right. There’s nothing wrong with it. You can’t stop him from doing that. He can, you know, do any extra work outside your contract directly from the owner. There’s nothing stopping them from having a relationship with the owner, unless you have something in writing that says, No, you can’t do that. So that’s another thing. We that we put in there.

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The Contractor Fight®: Another thing that I like to put in our subcontracts is, the standard of work, a quality standard of work which basically says that you and the owner both have to approve the work before it’s considered, accepted, and and done right. And that way you have complete control over when payments issued. The the you know that the work isn’t a quality standard of you that you approve of. Right? And you have some control over that right cause. Otherwise the fight you get into as well.

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The Contractor Fight®: It’s not exactly as it should be, but it still works right, like a technical defect that you like to do things a certain way, and your sub didn’t do it that way. And technically it’s fine. There’s something wrong with it. It’s not defective, but it’s not the way you like to do things. And so if you didn’t have a subcontract that said, you have approval of it, you would end up, end up having to pay the sub for that.

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The Contractor Fight®: So that’s another big thing that I like to put in there.

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The Contractor Fight®: And so

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The Contractor Fight®: I know that. And it’s great. If you have a working relationship with your subs. I think that’s great. I think it’s a great way to do things because you have quality control. And all of that. And so guys are always afraid. Well, I don’t give myself a sub contract every time. You know the thing is overwhelming. It’s kind of scary, I mean, my subcontracts are 7 or 8 pages plain English. Let them know what’s going on, but the way I set them up is it’s a master sub right.

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The Contractor Fight®: So the master subcontract agreement goes over all these technical things like insurance, you know. Don’t can’t be hired by the owner

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The Contractor Fight®: standard of work. And I signed that master part once

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The Contractor Fight®: and all the work that they ever do for you will be under that master sub. But then for each job you just issue them a work order or a a, you know, a vendor bill, or whatever it is for that particular project, saying, Okay, here’s your scope of work. Here’s your schedule for this project. Here’s what the timeline looks like. And so for each job that’s just what they’ll sign for each one. But all the work they ever do will always be under that master sub because that really protects you

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The Contractor Fight®: going forward. And it’s not overwhelming to the sub, because they don’t have to sign it more than once. Right? So

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The Contractor Fight®: you know, subcontractor agreements are hugely important.

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The Contractor Fight®: I, you know, on the level of importance. I think the first one you nail down, if you’re looking at contracts is one between you and owner. And then the second thing that is just it’s just important is one between you and your subs especially so you know new subs that you’re working with for the first time, having a clarity on what you expect and how things are gonna go, really

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The Contractor Fight®: lets them know that you’re professional. You’re gonna run by the rules really sets up a relationship for success. Because you’re just being upfront about. Here’s where here’s where professional business. This is how we operate. We look forward to working with you. But here’s our parameters right? And that’s not to say you can’t do it with existing. Subs. I think that’s always a great idea to go back.

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The Contractor Fight®: Do you have somebody have a question.

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Al: Yeah. Hi, Carol, this is Alex ready?

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The Contractor Fight®: Hey! How are you?

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Al: I’m doing well. I have a question regarding that one time signature for the master sub.

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Al: That

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Al: still good 10 years down the road? Or should we be having them revisit that annually.

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The Contractor Fight®: You could. So if you wanted it will, because what in the terms of the subcontracts it’s good for one year, and it automatically renews unless somebody cancels it with 30 days notice, so it will, it will still cover you. But if you wanna review your terms or add things, it’s not a bad practice to do that every year or every every couple of years. But you would. You don’t need to. You know, you might wanna check laws and make sure every, but usually the laws between

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The Contractor Fight®: you and the sub don’t change that much. The laws between you and the owner change more often than that. But yeah, if you wanted to update it or add things it’s always good practice, too.

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Al: Awesome. Thank you.

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The Contractor Fight®: No worries, no worries. And and I know that

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The Contractor Fight®: working with subs, you know, can be kind of tricky. I’ve had. You know.

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The Contractor Fight®: people have issues with them all the time. But I I find that if we do this, and even if like, I said, even if you’re doing it with your existing subs. It really improve, improves a relationship, and let everybody know what’s going on and and reduces the disagreements and and things down the line like being sued for payment once you haven’t been paid right? So I I think it’s, you know, protects you

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The Contractor Fight®: from major lawsuits Federal lawsuits, personal injury lawsuits. And I only know these things because I’ve had them happen to clients. And they they’re devastating right? Because here we’re talking about

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The Contractor Fight®: thousands and thousands of dollars in attorneys fees plus trying to settle it. It’s can be detrimental.

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The Contractor Fight®: So

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The Contractor Fight®: we can go over owner contracts or any other questions you might have. I know I go through the stuff fast because I don’t have any Fluff, but

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The Contractor Fight®: I’m sure somebody’s got some questions.

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The Contractor Fight®: Any other legal questions, a situation we can talk about how to deal with a pretentious homeowners. I get those calls all the time.

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The Contractor Fight®: Another thing I wanted to bring up, too, that I’ve been thinking about is

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The Contractor Fight®: design contracts.

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The Contractor Fight®: Do you guys use like a design contract and then a build contract?

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The Contractor Fight®: I’m just curious.

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The Contractor Fight®: Yes, I think I think that’s I think that’s the way to do it.

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The Contractor Fight®: And and for multitudes of reasons number one one of the biggest reasons I would suggest to do that way. I don’t until you’ve designed it and got permits. Do you really know what you’re building? 100?

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The Contractor Fight®: I I you know there’s there’s lots of questions until that, like whatever the permits approved and everything’s approved, there’s really lots of questions. And I, you know, I’d be frustrated as a homeowner. You signed a contract and the permits and the plans come in, and now you gotta change everything. And now the price is more right.

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The Contractor Fight®: And then the other thing, too, is it allows

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The Contractor Fight®: you to separate ways. If

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The Contractor Fight®: if you don’t want to work with this client right you. You were hired for one contract to do the design work to get it to permit. You did that. If you’re not working well, you don’t have to go to the build face, and they can have all their stuff, and you’ve got paid for all your time.

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The Contractor Fight®: Right? I really think that’s

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The Contractor Fight®: a beneficial tool. If you don’t have one. I would highly consider it just because I’m seeing more and more issues. With people.

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The Contractor Fight®: homeowners not understanding the permitting process. And that design plans are different than permits, and that all of these things are not related. And then it’s on timeframe that you can’t control, and they can get frustrated with that. So I think that’s

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The Contractor Fight®: highly beneficial. If you don’t have one to do that

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The Contractor Fight®: and kind of break it up that way.

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The Contractor Fight®: so

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The Contractor Fight®: yes, Cya, absolutely it looks like it’s another layer, and that’s the same thing, too.

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The Contractor Fight®: so right now, I’m writing my my third book, which is, gonna I don’t know exactly what the title, but it’s going to be, but I’m thinking it’s going to be. Trust your gut, and it’s about all the stuff that should go in residential contracts that you guys don’t think about or don’t know about.

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The Contractor Fight®: absolutely so you know, it’s some of those things, I think, having a design, and then a build contract is one of those things. Another thing that I I build into my contract with the owners is

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The Contractor Fight®: what I call the escape clause, so that

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The Contractor Fight®: for any reason you can leave the contract right? I think that’s hugely important, because

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The Contractor Fight®: what a contract is is a promise right?

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The Contractor Fight®: And if you break that promise, you’re on the hook for whatever the owner has to pay over your contract price unless you leave yourself an out

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The Contractor Fight®: so if you break that promise for any reason, they could come after you

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The Contractor Fight®: for whatever it costs them over your contract amount unless you have an escape clause that says, I can cancel this contract for any time for any reason. So that’s another thing that I that’s a chapter I’m working on right now. So it’s in my mind

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The Contractor Fight®: another thing that so like breaking it up, a design

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The Contractor Fight®: lets you break that relationship if it doesn’t work on the next level, and then also having the escape clause, lets you do that as well.

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The Contractor Fight®: A change order. Is there official form, or is it simply attached to the original contract. Yeah, I can be. There’s not really an official form. I mean, I think I have one on my website. If you want to find one. It’s just the basic things or the change order are

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The Contractor Fight®: and this is to the sub. Enter your owner. Right? You’re going to want to put in what the scope of work’s going to include what the price is.

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The Contractor Fight®: And most change orders are usually paid before the work is done. And so you could put that in your contract that you know that’s due upon receipt for the change order.

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The Contractor Fight®: and any additional time that may add to the schedule, which is this is a huge one. If you’re if you’re giving clients completion dates

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The Contractor Fight®: this is a skew, huge one that if you have a change order that’s going to extend the schedule. You explain that in the change order, and then it’s in writing right? I don’t like tying you guys down to a schedule because there’s so many variables in that. But if you are promising a client schedule when you do a change order, that’s one of the biggest things. And the same thing for the subcontract. I think our subcontracts talk about a change order form, and we’ll give you that form.

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The Contractor Fight®: But it. The main thing is that that just says you get it’s additional work right. And here’s what it’s gonna cost. Here’s what it’s gonna be paid. I mean, if you’re doing it under the subcontract, it’s still under the same provisions that the work has to be completed first, and the owner has to approve until they’re paid.

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The Contractor Fight®: so yeah, I just nothing. So basically, a change order is

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The Contractor Fight®: an amendment to a contract right? And the once you have something in writing the signed by both parties. The only way that you can change is by something else in writing, signed by both parties. Right? You cannot change a written contract verbally. So you can’t just. And that’s where

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The Contractor Fight®: contractors get in trouble with change orders working for owners. Right? Is that the owner says, do this extra thing you’re like, Okay, I’ll do this extra thing, and it’ll be this much. You give them a price. But we don’t have anything in writing right, and we do that throughout the job. And at the end of the day the owner could pull the trump card and be like, well, you’re supposed to have a change order.

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The Contractor Fight®: and then you’re not entitled to be paid for any of that work. So change orders both ways. Hugely important. I mean the same thing with the sub. If you tell him to do extra work, and he doesn’t put it in writing, and you don’t sign off on it. Technically, he’s not entitled to be paid for that.

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The Contractor Fight®: you know, cause he’s got to be the same way you’re on it with the owner. He’s got to be on it with you. If you’re asking him to do something extra, it needs to be in writing and signed by everybody and approved, or or you’re not entitled to payment because you cannot orally.

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The Contractor Fight®: you know, change a contract. And I’ve seen you can do approvals through text message. You can do approvals through emails, I try to do the the actual form, but those will work as some kind of agreement. The the meeting of the minds is what they call it as that. We agreed that we’re gonna do this extra work. And here was the price. And here what we here’s what we’re gonna charge for it so important both ways. Right?

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The Contractor Fight®: another thing on any other questions.

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The Contractor Fight®: because I can keep talking guys. I got lots of stuff.

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The Contractor Fight®: so I name my, this the third book, trust your gut because

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The Contractor Fight®: 90% of the

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The Contractor Fight®: residential contractors that come into my office with an issue, whether they’re being sued or whether they got a demand letter like.

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The Contractor Fight®: Yeah, I knew I shouldn’t have taken this client. I knew, like in the very beginning, that we weren’t a fit that I shouldn’t have done it, and I did it anyways. And I hear that over and over again. And I think, you guys.

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The Contractor Fight®: I mean there’s always a balance. Right. Fill the sales, pipeline, take the risk and go forward, or can I say no to this client who’s really not a fit? That might be a bigger pain in the ass later on.

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The Contractor Fight®: Right cause. It can be big pains in the asses.

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The Contractor Fight®: and and dealing with disputes right and depending on what state you in they could, what state you’re in. They could see you right away. Or there’s this whole process that that gives you the right to cure

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The Contractor Fight®: before they see you.

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The Contractor Fight®: But you know it just it’s uncanny to me. How many of you? How many of you guys come to my office with an issue, and they’re like, Oh, I knew I shouldn’t have done it. There was signs from the very beginning.

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The Contractor Fight®: and so I think it’s really.

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The Contractor Fight®: you know, your job is, is is trusting your instincts, too. As an owner.

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The Contractor Fight®: So

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The Contractor Fight®: any other questions

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The Contractor Fight®: issues concerns

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The Contractor Fight®: with the owner. Contract subcontract.

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The Contractor Fight®: Okay.

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Joseph Arriaga: I’ve got a question if you don’t mind me asking.

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The Contractor Fight®: No no

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Joseph Arriaga: So I tagged you in

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Joseph Arriaga: Facebook a day or 2 ago.

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Joseph Arriaga: I have a client

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Joseph Arriaga: When we first talked

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Joseph Arriaga: I think it was August.

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Joseph Arriaga: We move forward in October. I think it was the end of October.

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Joseph Arriaga: and

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Joseph Arriaga: so I hired an architect to draw up the plan.

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Joseph Arriaga: He ended up having a stroke, and was unable to finish them. So I had to find another architect.

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Joseph Arriaga: and I was able to find one willing to do the work, and that was in like November.

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Joseph Arriaga: Go push things back. I barely got those plans like

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Joseph Arriaga: Probably 2 weeks ago, and I got them submitted, waiting to for them to

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Joseph Arriaga: be reviewed.

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Joseph Arriaga: Just yeah. The other day the homeowner is freaking out.

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Joseph Arriaga: thinking that I’m playing games with her for some reason that

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Joseph Arriaga: I’m purposely delaying this.

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Joseph Arriaga: And now she won’t talk to me, she said. I can’t.

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Joseph Arriaga: Tells me not to reach out to her

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Joseph Arriaga: when I tried talking to her. She just straight hung up on me and

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Joseph Arriaga: is just telling me I’m unprofessional that I should have fired that architect and tried to find another one

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Joseph Arriaga: just on and on, and and then she’s coming out with

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Joseph Arriaga: some stuff that’s very untrue.

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Joseph Arriaga: She was telling us how unhappy she was with us when

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Joseph Arriaga: we were there doing some work for her.

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Joseph Arriaga: All she did was praise about how happy what she was during the process. But when I send her the invoice.

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Joseph Arriaga: Everything just changed.

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The Contractor Fight®: So is your invoice for design work or actual work.

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Joseph Arriaga: So I already got the deposit for the design work and everything that’s fine.

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Joseph Arriaga: But the stuff that I did on a personal call

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Joseph Arriaga: and and then I need. Now I need, you know, more money in order to

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Joseph Arriaga: move forward with her other project that we’re waiting for the plans.

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Joseph Arriaga: and she. But we did some more work works. She’s we went and moved her

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Joseph Arriaga: out, to which we don’t typically do. But I felt so bad because it’s been taking so long.

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Joseph Arriaga: But we went to go help her out, and she doesn’t want to pay me for that

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Joseph Arriaga: but

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Joseph Arriaga: everything that we’ve done it kind of accumulated up to about 7 grand, and she’s

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Joseph Arriaga: she just

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Joseph Arriaga: I don’t know. It should just really

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Joseph Arriaga: armed on this and

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Joseph Arriaga: I haven’t talked to her business partner, yet.

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Joseph Arriaga: So I was planning on

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Joseph Arriaga: trying to call the

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Joseph Arriaga: the person that hired me again today. See if she’s calmed down a little. If she’ll talk to me, if not, then possibly calling

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Joseph Arriaga: our partner to see what’s going on. See which way we go. I don’t mind parting ways, if that’s what they want to do.

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Joseph Arriaga: but like

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Joseph Arriaga: the plans are already submitted. They get reviewed, I think, on the fourth.

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Joseph Arriaga: so I’m not sure what where to go from here, or what would be the best move.

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The Contractor Fight®: Gotcha, did you have any sign? Agreements with them?

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Joseph Arriaga: We? I had the contract for an estimate.

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Joseph Arriaga: but I’m I

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Joseph Arriaga: have to give her a new estimate because things have changed since we got the plans.

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Joseph Arriaga: And now I’m afraid to even do that, because now it’s going to be more than what we talk, because we have to do more.

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Joseph Arriaga: And like.

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Joseph Arriaga: I just need to.

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Joseph Arriaga: I just yeah. I don’t know what the best move would be if I should just

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Joseph Arriaga: figure out a way just that we can separate because I don’t think she’s gonna work with me. And now I’m kind of scared to work with her.

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Joseph Arriaga: I don’t know what she’s gonna do in the future. If we do decide to move forward now that I am on her bad side.

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The Contractor Fight®: Yeah, I agree. And and I know that you’re owed 7,000. And I think this is why this is an actually was thinking of your post when I was talking about, and and and things I’m going through in in my own construction projects about the design agreement, right, in my opinion

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The Contractor Fight®: from her side, and I’m not saying she’s right or not. She got she’s gotten really frustrated because I don’t think there was an explanation of the process. Right? We gotta get the plans. It’s gotta go to permitting. And once I get the plans and it goes to permitting it might change because we don’t know we’re building yet, right? I have an idea of what I would like to build.

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The Contractor Fight®: but we still have to get all this technical stuff

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The Contractor Fight®: and what it looks like to her is you haven’t done anything and now you you know, you’re billing her for work, that. And we’re still. We’re on this other job. So she’s kind of all over the place, right? I’m not saying you’re not entitled to your money. I’m not sure that’s a a

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The Contractor Fight®: we, you know you could send her a collection letter if you wanted to, but in my you and this is one of those situations where I would trust your gut, and it’s probably cheaper just to part ways, unless something, unless you can have some time to sit down with her, and it kind of explain what happened and why it happened that way. Even then I’d be kind of iffy

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The Contractor Fight®: on moving forward just because

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The Contractor Fight®: th this temperamental kind of situation we went from. Oh, you’re the greatest to now. You’re so unprofessional. I don’t know what’s going on. And and some of that is not being clear on the process right? And cause the thing you gotta understand from the homeowners. Perspective is they have a bunch of expectations, right?

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The Contractor Fight®: And these expectations aren’t built on anything

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The Contractor Fight®: in construction, reality, right things they see in Http what they heard from their brother-in-law, and unless you take the time and go through like, hey? This is really how it’s gonna go. You’re judged against those expectations, and when you don’t meet them, this is what this is, what it turns into.

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Joseph Arriaga: Yeah. And and I did explain the process. She didn’t believe me. I told her it could take up to like 3 months, and she thought. She’s like, oh, it should only take 2 weeks.

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Joseph Arriaga: I’m like no I’ll try to get it as fast as I can, but I doubt it would go be 2 weeks.

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Joseph Arriaga: and but I understand her frustration because we are well over 3 months, too. So.

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The Contractor Fight®: I understand, and and and some of that’s out of your control. There’s nothing you can do. And and and here’s the other thing, too. This is not the only thing in that project that’s gonna go that way. And now you know how she’s gonna react. You’re like, hmm! She might want to be somebody else’s headache.

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Joseph Arriaga: Well, I’m scared.

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The Contractor Fight®: What is the 7 grand for for the moving.

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Joseph Arriaga: We’re moving we did some stuff in our home, cause she she bought purchase a new home, so we helped her move some of the heavier stuff into the new home, and then she’s

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Joseph Arriaga: moving stores. So she’s moving all from one location to the next. So we helped her move all her stuff from the store

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Joseph Arriaga: into the new place that she she is leasing.

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Joseph Arriaga: and we’re supposed to build her some offices in there.

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The Contractor Fight®: Gotcha gotcha! There’s no there’s no doubt you’re definitely entitled to be paid for your work. It’s just how far you want to push it.

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Joseph Arriaga: Yeah, I don’t

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Joseph Arriaga: go ahead, I mean, yes, I can use the money. But I I would be alright. It just.

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Joseph Arriaga: You know. I’ve I’ve had losses before. So I I mean, we’ll pull through. I’m not

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Joseph Arriaga: super word. Yeah, I would love to collect, but I would rather

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Joseph Arriaga: I would rather walk away

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Joseph Arriaga: and know that

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Joseph Arriaga: I’m not doing anything wrong. And that’s kind of my question. If

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Joseph Arriaga: because she’s I have it in tech

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Joseph Arriaga: that

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Joseph Arriaga: for me to not contact her anymore, and that she’s done with me and doesn’t want to deal with me.

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Joseph Arriaga: So

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Joseph Arriaga: I mean, I’m gonna try to reach out. But if she won’t talk, should I just send an email stating? This is what.

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The Contractor Fight®: Yeah, what I what I what I would do is, Hey, I’ve tried to reach out. I’m here. If you want to work through this because you don’t. Really you don’t have a contract. You kind of have assigned proposal.

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Joseph Arriaga: We don’t right now. We just have a a contract an estimate that she signed off of

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Joseph Arriaga: on what it’s gonna what I thought it was gonna be

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Joseph Arriaga: from her explanation. So we didn’t have a set of plans or anything to move forward. But now she’s she was saying that I was telling her I had plans, and I had permits, and that I lied to her. And I’m like I’d never.

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Joseph Arriaga: But I don’t. I’m not gonna try to argue with Irkins.

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Joseph Arriaga: She’s

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Joseph Arriaga: it’s a whole different person that I’m talking to. Seems like.

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The Contractor Fight®: Yeah. And I would just send her an email here. I’m I’m ready to talk if you wanna talk about issues or talk about things, and then just kind of leave it at that and see and see where see where it goes. If you wanna talk about collection things, we can send a demand letter.

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The Contractor Fight®: may or may not be worth it to piss it. You know we can talk further about that, you know. I would just send a text and email. Tell her you’re hearing it when you want to talk to her about it.

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The Contractor Fight®: and it may be a while before she reaches out, so is she in control of the plans and stuff, or has it been set to permitting or.

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Joseph Arriaga: It’s been said she is not in control. I mean she has.

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Joseph Arriaga: She could get access to them off of job tread. They’re posted on there.

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Joseph Arriaga: And I have no, I have. I’ll give her the plans like here you go

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Joseph Arriaga: like the she paid for it already.

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Joseph Arriaga: The architects paid for the permit hasn’t been put paid for, but that’s all under my our company.

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Joseph Arriaga: so I guess I’d go in and withdraw.

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The Contractor Fight®: Yeah.

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The Contractor Fight®: and put it over to her own name.

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The Contractor Fight®: Cause. I don’t want another contract you’re building under your permit, though, under your license number, either.

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Joseph Arriaga: No, that that’s where I’m like.

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Joseph Arriaga: I’m afraid.

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Joseph Arriaga: because I’ve never been in a situation of me pulling out. Then she comes back and says that.

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Joseph Arriaga: or tried to say something that I’m the reason.

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Joseph Arriaga: or that I pulled out. I don’t know, but I do have her on pets.

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The Contractor Fight®: And that’s then that’s the thing, too, is if you text back or send an email back saying, Hey, I’m here willing to work through this, and you might say, Hey, you know, if I don’t hear back from you within 10 days I’m gonna have to go. I’ll turn the permit over to you, so you can proceed. However, you want. Just so. You’re not hanging out there.

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Joseph Arriaga: Okay. I’ll go ahead and.

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The Contractor Fight®: Whatever that was for her, that was for her lease, space.

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Joseph Arriaga: Yes, okay.

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Joseph Arriaga: yeah. Yeah. The home it’s

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Joseph Arriaga: and we didn’t even get to finish the work. We’re supposed to go back and

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Joseph Arriaga: cause she had hired us for just time. Only

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Joseph Arriaga: for 3 days or 2 days we went. Did that. We got paid for that. No problem there.

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Joseph Arriaga: But then she wanted more stuff, and I was like, well, we need

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Joseph Arriaga: to have a contract for that, and

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Joseph Arriaga: you know we we started on it, and I sent her a contract. She never signed it, and

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Joseph Arriaga: so I know that’s my fault there.

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Joseph Arriaga: But

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Joseph Arriaga: yeah, like as much as like I said, we need the money, but I mean

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Joseph Arriaga: I’d rather lose that, and just not have as long as I. I don’t have to deal with it.

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The Contractor Fight®: Yeah, exactly. I know. And then there’s a comment. It was gonna cost more than 7 K to get 7 K, yeah, we can do the mail here and phone calls, but it might piss her off more and and this is kind of I’m talking about, like, if you have a contract that says you, can. You? Can. You can terminate it for any reason that just be like, okay, I see that we’re not getting along under the contract. I’m gonna I’m gonna we’re just gonna terminate here. You’d still owe me $7,000 and just leave it there. And you’re not saying, you’re not gonna go after the $7,000. It’s still out there.

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Joseph Arriaga: And then.

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The Contractor Fight®: Decide that right? You have time. Your bridge contract claims in most States is good for 4 years, so you don’t have to do it. Now you can let things settle down and that to say you can, you know, go back after it later.

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Joseph Arriaga: Yeah, cause when I got that deposit from her, that’s what I used to hire you guys to write my terms and conditions. So now I have them.

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Joseph Arriaga: and that was the plan. But

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Joseph Arriaga: yeah, alright, that helps out a lot.

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The Contractor Fight®: A A, and you might actually, you might wait on the permit thing, and that that’s some leverage that you might have if another contractor shows up and tries to

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The Contractor Fight®: to take over the permit. You could say, Hey! She still owes me 7 grand. I don’t know how I push, depending on the situation that just a thought.

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00:34:42.760 –> 00:34:43.969
Joseph Arriaga: No in.

275
00:34:45.120 –> 00:34:47.649
Joseph Arriaga: I do like that like when I

276
00:34:50.382 –> 00:34:56.037
Joseph Arriaga: maybe I’ll I’ll do that for a little bit. But if it starts getting way more than.

277
00:34:56.370 –> 00:35:11.149
The Contractor Fight®: Yeah. And it’s all you know. It’s gonna be, you know, trusting you on what to say. I I definitely probably wouldn’t go forward on the project with her, and I don’t think she wants that either. So just kind of seeing what her responses, letting her know that you’re here. Do you want to talk about it in somewhere in writing

278
00:35:11.478 –> 00:35:15.091
The Contractor Fight®: so that you can. You know she can’t say well, he just abandoned me.

279
00:35:15.350 –> 00:35:25.269
Joseph Arriaga: Yeah. And that’s what I’m afraid of. She’s gonna say, I abandoned her. And but I’m and everyone I talked to like don’t send an email try reaching out again. But

280
00:35:25.400 –> 00:35:25.730
Joseph Arriaga: that’s

281
00:35:26.060 –> 00:35:26.390
The Contractor Fight®: I mean, but.

282
00:35:26.390 –> 00:35:27.230
Joseph Arriaga: I don’t want to.

283
00:35:27.490 –> 00:35:31.949
The Contractor Fight®: I would say, Hey, I tried to call you again, just following up with this email.

284
00:35:33.150 –> 00:35:33.830
Joseph Arriaga: Yeah.

285
00:35:33.960 –> 00:35:37.960
The Contractor Fight®: I, I I as an attorney, I’d want something in writing besides you telling me that? Yeah, I believe.

286
00:35:37.960 –> 00:35:39.309
Joseph Arriaga: And that’s how I do it.

287
00:35:39.970 –> 00:35:45.070
Joseph Arriaga: I feel like anything said from this point. I would really want it writing because I don’t.

288
00:35:45.730 –> 00:35:49.939
Joseph Arriaga: I don’t need her. I think she might. I’m afraid she might be fishing for something.

289
00:35:50.530 –> 00:36:02.009
The Contractor Fight®: And that might and and and and here’s the thing about. And it. All these kinds of disputes is that nothing happens fast right as long as you get the email or get the text or get the letter and you respond to it.

290
00:36:02.190 –> 00:36:09.250
The Contractor Fight®: Nothing happens super fast. We’ll have time to react and prepare. It’s when you ignore it. That stuff happens super fast.

291
00:36:09.800 –> 00:36:12.459
Joseph Arriaga: Yeah. Oh, yeah, no, I don’t wanna ignore it.

292
00:36:12.460 –> 00:36:19.920
The Contractor Fight®: So there’s plenty of contractors out there that have issues that just don’t want to deal with them. And that’s when things move fast and and can be really detrimental.

293
00:36:20.480 –> 00:36:21.490
The Contractor Fight®: not really.

294
00:36:21.490 –> 00:36:24.260
Joseph Arriaga: I don’t want to deal with that. I’ll be truthful, but I don’t want.

295
00:36:24.530 –> 00:36:29.390
The Contractor Fight®: I understand, I understand, because it’s painful, but the pain will be worse later on.

296
00:36:29.390 –> 00:36:29.750
Joseph Arriaga: Yeah.

297
00:36:29.750 –> 00:36:30.830
The Contractor Fight®: Deal with it now.

298
00:36:31.140 –> 00:36:32.265
Joseph Arriaga: Very much, so.

299
00:36:32.750 –> 00:36:35.700
The Contractor Fight®: I just talked to a contractor this morning that got sued

300
00:36:36.080 –> 00:36:39.930
The Contractor Fight®: 2 years ago. Got a judgment against him for a hundred $60,000.

301
00:36:40.400 –> 00:36:41.000
Joseph Arriaga: See.

302
00:36:41.000 –> 00:36:45.659
The Contractor Fight®: But he didn’t answer. He didn’t, wasn’t. And I just, I’m like, I I’m probably limited on what I can do.

303
00:36:45.960 –> 00:36:48.670
The Contractor Fight®: I know you didn’t want to deal with it then, but there’s not a whole, you know.

304
00:36:48.820 –> 00:36:49.480
The Contractor Fight®: so.

305
00:36:49.480 –> 00:36:51.390
Joseph Arriaga: It’s tough. It’s tough.

306
00:36:51.970 –> 00:36:54.750
The Contractor Fight®: And and it’s dangerous, and it’s on. You know. It’s

307
00:36:54.890 –> 00:36:57.530
The Contractor Fight®: if nothing happens fast. But it’s unpredictable.

308
00:36:57.800 –> 00:37:02.649
The Contractor Fight®: and that’s probably the most stressful thing about it. I can tell you all the things that I think could happen.

309
00:37:02.660 –> 00:37:15.209
The Contractor Fight®: But at the end of the day, you know, I I don’t have any control over the end result unless we settle and we come to an agreement. If it if it’s up to a judge or a jury or somebody else, I don’t have any control over what happens and that it’s stressful.

310
00:37:15.340 –> 00:37:22.619
The Contractor Fight®: It’s just being in these type of situations right now. You don’t know what’s gonna happen. But I’m gonna tell you like, whatever it is, we can figure it out. Just don’t ignore it.

311
00:37:25.036 –> 00:37:27.583
The Contractor Fight®: Alright had another question.

312
00:37:28.300 –> 00:37:35.870
The Contractor Fight®: Do you have any advice for subcontractors on managing the situation when the general contractor hasn’t adequately prepared the job site.

313
00:37:36.240 –> 00:37:37.060
The Contractor Fight®: Hmm!

314
00:37:38.770 –> 00:37:42.389
The Contractor Fight®: There’s some ideas that I might have

315
00:37:43.218 –> 00:38:03.829
The Contractor Fight®: is putting it in writing that it’s not ready yet, or things that need to be corrected before you move forward. And and that being said because what what may happen is that if you go ahead and move forward without saying anything like in writing, they may side. Try to say it was you that messed up right. If you have it in writing, and you’re saying, Hey.

316
00:38:04.000 –> 00:38:14.719
The Contractor Fight®: these things aren’t ready, or this is incorrect and needs to be corrected. It puts them on notice that it needs to be corrected before you can move forward, and depending on how bad it is, you might not be able to move forward until it’s corrected.

317
00:38:15.154 –> 00:38:19.720
The Contractor Fight®: So definitely put it in writing. Try to get it addressed upfront before you start.

318
00:38:20.334 –> 00:38:39.200
The Contractor Fight®: and just be upfront about it. You don’t want to come back later on and say we never told me I didn’t know anything was wrong, right? And like in commercial subcontracts. If you’re a subcontractor and you do that, you accept the work before you, and then it becomes your default. So definitely something to get in the habit of doing. If you’re a sub

319
00:38:39.240 –> 00:38:49.229
The Contractor Fight®: saying that it’s not ready. Have the other sub the sub before you come, fix it, or at least know if you, if you can move forward, at least notating that it was an issue that you brought up and nobody addressed

320
00:38:55.230 –> 00:39:00.289
The Contractor Fight®: and personally roll out. I’ve been here before, and still dealing with almost 3 3 years later. Yeah.

321
00:39:00.780 –> 00:39:05.026
The Contractor Fight®: that’s the thing about litigation. All that stuff. It’s not worth the energy, I agree.

322
00:39:07.820 –> 00:39:10.930
The Contractor Fight®: litigation is expensive and time consuming, and

323
00:39:11.175 –> 00:39:18.160
The Contractor Fight®: and the uncertainty of it all, you know, I try to make it as painless as possible, but it’s still a lot of things out of my control, and it’s never

324
00:39:20.220 –> 00:39:33.410
The Contractor Fight®: you think you know your side so very well, and and I believe that your side is is correct. But attorneys are crafty right? And we can flip stories and make it seem like you’re the bad guy very easily, and I don’t. I think people

325
00:39:33.450 –> 00:39:38.350
The Contractor Fight®: don’t understand what that feels like it’s and it’s in a personal pack, and it gets very personal.

326
00:39:38.490 –> 00:39:55.659
The Contractor Fight®: It’s personal for you, and it’s personal for the homeowners, because it’s their home, and they’re crazy. So I’ve I have a general rule. I don’t represent homeowners in in construction disputes because they’re nuts right? They’re not happy with you. They’re definitely not happy with me.

327
00:39:55.720 –> 00:39:59.789
The Contractor Fight®: so I just made it a rule I don’t represent home owners. I tried it for a while, and

328
00:39:59.800 –> 00:40:01.260
The Contractor Fight®: that it’s yeah.

329
00:40:01.490 –> 00:40:18.890
The Contractor Fight®: I feel your pain is what I’m saying, I guess, especially when it gets to that level. It’s it’s very personal. It’s their home, and I understand that. But then expectations get unreasonable about what’s recoverable, what’s not whose fault it was, and it just becomes a total mess. So

330
00:40:18.940 –> 00:40:23.813
The Contractor Fight®: I will save that for much hungrier attorneys than I am to to work with those kind of people

331
00:40:24.848 –> 00:40:28.079
The Contractor Fight®: any other particular questions on situations.

332
00:40:31.140 –> 00:40:32.630
The Contractor Fight®: contract terms

333
00:40:33.220 –> 00:40:33.900
The Contractor Fight®: me.

334
00:40:33.900 –> 00:40:35.639
iPhone: Yeah. Hi, good afternoon. How are you?

335
00:40:35.640 –> 00:40:36.629
The Contractor Fight®: Good! How are you?

336
00:40:37.010 –> 00:40:38.830
iPhone: This is fairly so help you remember me.

337
00:40:38.830 –> 00:40:39.710
The Contractor Fight®: Yes, sir.

338
00:40:40.260 –> 00:40:47.090
iPhone: Yup, I’m really excited to have my lunch. So this is what’s what’s kind of going on with me right now is I had a client

339
00:40:47.380 –> 00:40:50.980
iPhone: for some reason that I don’t miss it, Frank. We miss the

340
00:40:51.370 –> 00:40:53.380
iPhone: I don’t want to happen. But she was not happy

341
00:40:53.440 –> 00:40:54.930
iPhone: last couple of weeks.

342
00:40:55.110 –> 00:41:02.700
iPhone: We will really have a hard time in our in our crossing process. Today we have our finalized questions.

343
00:41:03.110 –> 00:41:10.100
iPhone: But and we kind of have a conversation with her, and she ended up being happy at the end. But I think what’s gonna happen is

344
00:41:10.762 –> 00:41:24.520
iPhone: she’s gonna start calling me up for things that they may pop up. I mean we did. The job is beautiful, beautiful job, right? But I’m I’m with. There’s there is no warranty we put on the contract for the job

345
00:41:24.900 –> 00:41:32.119
iPhone: cause like we did the addition. And she’s she’s asking us to fix things on the original floor, which we did nothing to do with us.

346
00:41:32.620 –> 00:41:35.339
iPhone: We ended up painting the entire ceiling, the first floor.

347
00:41:35.500 –> 00:41:37.209
iPhone: which we didn’t really do nothing to it.

348
00:41:37.520 –> 00:41:39.930
iPhone: but just just to make sure she’s happy.

349
00:41:43.020 –> 00:41:44.850
iPhone: Yes, but my question is

350
00:41:45.270 –> 00:41:46.970
iPhone: heard about a warrant here.

351
00:41:47.730 –> 00:41:49.379
iPhone: and that’s enough, is it?

352
00:41:49.870 –> 00:41:51.839
iPhone: He’s gonna come back to me saying

353
00:41:52.150 –> 00:41:58.470
iPhone: this, this broke down, or whatever right? I’m not how this gonna happen. But if it does happen, I just want to be prepared for something like that.

354
00:41:58.690 –> 00:42:00.300
iPhone: Does that make sense or not?

355
00:42:00.300 –> 00:42:02.664
The Contractor Fight®: Yeah, yeah. So I’m I’m I’m trying. So

356
00:42:03.110 –> 00:42:05.310
The Contractor Fight®: does. She still owe you money? At this point.

357
00:42:06.020 –> 00:42:12.230
iPhone: Oh, yes, she gotta do 5. The last 5% of payments like a 5, 7,000. Something like that’s not in a lot of manner.

358
00:42:12.230 –> 00:42:13.035
The Contractor Fight®: Okay,

359
00:42:14.520 –> 00:42:27.079
The Contractor Fight®: so this is, this is kind of common, is that we get to the last payment. And we’re doing final walkthroughs. And it’s like the never ending punch list things that you’re not responsible things for that just and and and what it is that

360
00:42:28.793 –> 00:42:40.840
The Contractor Fight®: they don’t want to pay the last payment in my in my experience. And so what I try to do is tell them upfront. Okay, like this is, we’re gonna do one last walkthrough. Right? Show me all the blue tape. Where is everything?

361
00:42:41.410 –> 00:42:43.979
The Contractor Fight®: I’m gonna go fix all that. And then

362
00:42:44.170 –> 00:42:47.250
The Contractor Fight®: I’m going. You’re going to issue the final payment. Right?

363
00:42:48.360 –> 00:42:58.770
The Contractor Fight®: and then we’re done right. And if you have issues later on, you said, if you have a warranty, it may be covered by the warranty or not. But I’m not coming back out again until you pay me my final payment.

364
00:42:58.910 –> 00:43:06.579
The Contractor Fight®: because, even though you have your final inspection today, I would tell her right now tell me everything that’s wrong, and we will get it done, you know, and obviously

365
00:43:06.620 –> 00:43:14.730
The Contractor Fight®: stop doing things that are outside your scope, that you didn’t mess with. I know there’s a level of keeping happy right? There’s some things you do extra, but then it becomes

366
00:43:14.930 –> 00:43:17.260
The Contractor Fight®: they realize they can push you to do things.

367
00:43:17.260 –> 00:43:17.850
iPhone: Yeah.

368
00:43:18.140 –> 00:43:22.209
The Contractor Fight®: And and so there’s gotta be, hey? You know, I I did this extra thing already.

369
00:43:22.230 –> 00:43:31.539
The Contractor Fight®: This is not in our scope. We didn’t even touch this. This is not what we’re responsible for. I can fix these things. But you know I I need to have final payment and kind of just putting it.

370
00:43:31.620 –> 00:43:43.740
The Contractor Fight®: You gotta draw the line in the sand and say, Hey, you know. Yes, these things are my fault, and you know they need to be corrected, and I will, and then I’ll the issue final payment. But I’m not coming back out here again until you issue final payment. This is

371
00:43:44.020 –> 00:43:58.501
The Contractor Fight®: very common, especially on the last draw, the final walk through and I don’t know if it’s that they just don’t wanna pay the last payment, or they’re afraid that they’re gonna find something else that you after you leave that needs to be fixed, that they didn’t see before

372
00:43:59.100 –> 00:44:01.239
The Contractor Fight®: And and you said your contract doesn’t have a warranty.

373
00:44:01.453 –> 00:44:08.290
iPhone: No, I did not put it. I never put in it never had anything. If something breaks down, we want to go back and fix it, or 5 years in the business.

374
00:44:08.700 –> 00:44:34.659
iPhone: 99 customers. They were super happy because we always do a bob, and beyond. So we always do extra. We make people like everything’s night and excited and things like that. So this is the first one kind of going through. And it’s not, it’s it’s hurting, because when you get home, you you know you fill in this, that stressful because you know you do your best, even though people are not happy, is like, you know one thing. Well, I’m like, you know, so I don’t know. I just.

375
00:44:35.020 –> 00:44:38.229
The Contractor Fight®: And and is, and a lot of the time it’s not you. They’re seeing what they can get

376
00:44:39.340 –> 00:44:46.822
The Contractor Fight®: right. And you keep giving. And they’re gonna keep taking. And so there’s some people out there that you’re never gonna make happy right? And you.

377
00:44:47.110 –> 00:44:47.480
iPhone: Dance.

378
00:44:47.480 –> 00:44:52.149
The Contractor Fight®: You gotta go. You you did a good job. You did the best job you could, right? You went over and above.

379
00:44:52.230 –> 00:45:07.970
The Contractor Fight®: and there’s just some people that are that are not gonna appreciate it and not it’s not gonna be enough for. But you as a business owner, to be like, okay, yes, this I’ll do. No, I won’t, because it’s not within my scope. And this is the last time I’m coming out here, if there, you know. And and the other thing that I put is like.

380
00:45:07.970 –> 00:45:08.520
iPhone: Ms, yep.

381
00:45:08.520 –> 00:45:10.250
The Contractor Fight®: Is there something that is defective?

382
00:45:10.460 –> 00:45:21.602
The Contractor Fight®: That would be, you know, a claim that I would cover later on. But you have to pay me in full first. I don’t. I won’t not gonna come back and fix anything until if there’s anything wrong until you pay me in full. Right?

383
00:45:21.980 –> 00:45:28.839
The Contractor Fight®: Yeah, just say, and and yeah, you could do it with respected, but to say, because they will continue to push, and there will continue to be things.

384
00:45:29.330 –> 00:45:35.490
The Contractor Fight®: And hey? If there’s something wrong after you pay me, I will be here right. They they think that you’re gonna

385
00:45:35.610 –> 00:45:36.770
The Contractor Fight®: not be there.

386
00:45:37.290 –> 00:45:41.919
iPhone: Yeah. Yeah. Now, just last question. Now, I was talking to Sony yesterday about this is

387
00:45:42.120 –> 00:45:51.060
iPhone: somewhere because of this experience. I was able, like, we were like a final 10%, 5% to be done on the prey.

388
00:45:51.230 –> 00:45:55.429
iPhone: I just wanna leave the job like, I just so badly want to finish this break.

389
00:45:55.480 –> 00:45:59.319
iPhone: cause he was so much so stressed. It’s stressful for me and my team and everybody

390
00:45:59.450 –> 00:46:00.990
iPhone: as a

391
00:46:01.350 –> 00:46:03.700
iPhone: and she was not doing the last

392
00:46:03.870 –> 00:46:05.819
iPhone: 15% of the payment

393
00:46:05.840 –> 00:46:08.069
iPhone: she was like. She wanted me to.

394
00:46:08.330 –> 00:46:11.280
iPhone: She’s not really pushed this the bank has to approve.

395
00:46:11.310 –> 00:46:13.630
iPhone: I believe, for sure. To be honest, that’s it.

396
00:46:14.210 –> 00:46:24.319
iPhone: There’s any way I can put in my contract saying that if they don’t do the payment I can pull out and not come back from to the job site in in that. Is that legal to do something like that? Absolutely.

397
00:46:24.320 –> 00:46:25.190
The Contractor Fight®: Absolutely.

398
00:46:26.120 –> 00:46:26.679
iPhone: So that’s.

399
00:46:26.680 –> 00:46:39.510
The Contractor Fight®: Absolutely. If you need help with language, let me know. But yeah, you can absolutely put in there, hey? You know, if you don’t pay within 5 days. You know I have. No, I’m not coming back to the project, and if you don’t pay within 30 days the contracts considered over.

400
00:46:40.030 –> 00:46:42.809
The Contractor Fight®: and then you could go about collecting if you’re owed money right

401
00:46:43.080 –> 00:46:48.579
The Contractor Fight®: which is a whole nother situation, but at least put you off the hook of having to go more work if you haven’t been paid.

402
00:46:49.280 –> 00:46:52.690
iPhone: Alright beautiful! I haven’t. I had to reach out to you so we can get these things out.

403
00:46:52.880 –> 00:46:54.150
The Contractor Fight®: Absolutely excellent.

404
00:46:54.430 –> 00:47:02.180
iPhone: First time happened, but I didn’t like the feeling, and then it was like a he got me from from my parts, which I couldn’t remove, and it was not filling.

405
00:47:02.230 –> 00:47:03.789
iPhone: The feeling was not good.

406
00:47:03.790 –> 00:47:06.040
The Contractor Fight®: No, I know, I know, and it’s stressful.

407
00:47:07.130 –> 00:47:08.080
iPhone: Alright. Thank you so much.

408
00:47:08.080 –> 00:47:09.750
The Contractor Fight®: No anyone anytime, anytime.

409
00:47:12.290 –> 00:47:14.639
The Contractor Fight®: yes, the running Punch list

410
00:47:15.090 –> 00:47:17.550
The Contractor Fight®: very common. I hear about those all the time.

411
00:47:17.970 –> 00:47:28.110
The Contractor Fight®: I try to set it up in the contract where we talk about, because the homeowners also don’t understand if they’ve never been through the construction project that there are going to be, especially if it’s a longer project.

412
00:47:28.570 –> 00:47:43.679
The Contractor Fight®: things that are not like 100% complete as you’re going through right? And if telling them about the process of when we’re close to completion. We’re gonna do a walkthrough. You can point out everything that you think is incorrect. I’m you know, we’re gonna do this list. Once

413
00:47:43.780 –> 00:47:53.459
The Contractor Fight®: I’m gonna go out and correct it, you’re gonna sign off on it, and then final payments do so, letting them know number one that just because you’ve moved on to a different section of the project.

414
00:47:53.490 –> 00:47:57.159
The Contractor Fight®: There’s still a Punch list, and that that process happens right

415
00:47:57.688 –> 00:48:16.179
The Contractor Fight®: and then telling them what it would look like, and when final payments expected, like letting them know that even if something comes up after final payments issued, if it’s something that we did wrong. It would be cover under warranty, and we’ll be here. But I don’t. A honor warranty claims until I’ve been paid in full right and kind of alleviating that

416
00:48:16.330 –> 00:48:18.219
The Contractor Fight®: fear that you’re not going to come back

417
00:48:19.160 –> 00:48:23.069
The Contractor Fight®: and that. But we have this never ending punch list for the last.

418
00:48:23.130 –> 00:48:26.449
The Contractor Fight®: the last $2,000 that’s near tired of chasing

419
00:48:27.127 –> 00:48:45.170
The Contractor Fight®: it’s very common thing. So just being upfront about the process because I’ve seen homeowners to throughout the process. Get upset that everything’s not exactly like they like it. When you move on to another section and they don’t understand. You’re not done yet. It’s just we’re moving on, and we’ll we’ll we’ll get this later. It’s a minor item. So just being upfront

420
00:48:45.670 –> 00:48:59.499
The Contractor Fight®: about how that process, how the whole thing works is is, I think helpful, even if you have it in your contract, kind of pointing it out and walking them through it. So they understand, because, as you know, not all of them read their contracts which they should, but they don’t until later on.

421
00:49:01.750 –> 00:49:03.950
The Contractor Fight®: Alright. Any other questions

422
00:49:04.950 –> 00:49:07.429
The Contractor Fight®: on any issues. Contracts.

423
00:49:08.390 –> 00:49:10.869
The Contractor Fight®: What else we got? We’re working on. Hmm.

424
00:49:15.060 –> 00:49:16.940
The Contractor Fight®: Sure, somebody’s got a question

425
00:49:18.330 –> 00:49:21.460
The Contractor Fight®: or an idea, or a thought or something. Wanna they wanna talk through

426
00:49:23.340 –> 00:49:25.139
The Contractor Fight®: business questions.

427
00:49:31.300 –> 00:49:32.250
The Contractor Fight®: Okay, that’s

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The Contractor Fight®: alright.

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The Contractor Fight®: Okay. Well, guys, I’ll be around on Facebook. You can tag me. Here, I’ll put my email address in. You have any questions that you didn’t think of.

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The Contractor Fight®: You can email me there, or any topics you like. I tried to. I tried to get on need to be more consistent about my videos on Facebook, my Facebook lives. There’s anything you like me to cover there, anything you could think of

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The Contractor Fight®: subcontracts, other legal issues.

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The Contractor Fight®: Do you have a question.

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00:50:13.920 –> 00:50:16.440
Lucas Wilson: Carolyn, I have a question. That’s okay.

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The Contractor Fight®: I’ll go absolutely.

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00:50:19.566 –> 00:50:22.349
Lucas Wilson: so I had an employee

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00:50:22.780 –> 00:50:24.360
Lucas Wilson: who I let go.

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00:50:25.340 –> 00:50:26.800
Lucas Wilson: A

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Lucas Wilson: I was just paying him regularly, but then he texted me, and he’s like, Hey, where’s my last code?

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Lucas Wilson: And

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Lucas Wilson: I realize that I didn’t actually know if I was within the law or not. Is there like a a certain

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Lucas Wilson: dismissal routine you have to go through, or something like that?

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00:50:45.260 –> 00:50:45.969
The Contractor Fight®: And I

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00:50:46.070 –> 00:50:55.769
The Contractor Fight®: I’m trying to remember if this is State specific, or if this is Federal raw, like something that they have to be paid within 7 days of termination even that, even if that’s not their payroll cycle.

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Lucas Wilson: Yeah, that’s kinda I found stuff that said that was the case and stuff that said that wasn’t the case. So I like was not 100% sure.

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The Contractor Fight®: And so you know, and I I violated that rule myself. Be not knowingly. I didn’t know it at the time, either. I you’re supposed to pay it within 7 days. But their claim is a wage claim under the We’re under a Workforce Commission claim. So I mean out, you know, it’s not really anything that extraordinary. Just make sure you do pay them.

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00:51:23.470 –> 00:51:26.749
Lucas Wilson: Yeah, yeah, that will happen. But I was kinda like.

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00:51:26.810 –> 00:51:27.899
Lucas Wilson: screw you dude. I mean.

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The Contractor Fight®: Yeah, I know, yeah.

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00:51:28.970 –> 00:51:31.319
Lucas Wilson: I’m not giving you cash. Now go ahead.

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00:51:31.320 –> 00:51:34.137
The Contractor Fight®: I would not give them cash. No, definitely, not

451
00:51:34.640 –> 00:51:36.970
The Contractor Fight®: cause I need to say, I you didn’t actually pay me.

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00:51:37.310 –> 00:51:41.580
Lucas Wilson: Yeah. Yeah. Or I like, don’t pay taxes also, not good. But.

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The Contractor Fight®: Yeah.

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The Contractor Fight®: So yeah, I think you’re fine. Pay him as soon as possible. Just get them out of your life hopefully, forever.

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00:51:51.260 –> 00:51:52.020
The Contractor Fight®: Hell!

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00:51:52.060 –> 00:51:54.102
Lucas Wilson: I don’t know about that. He’s my cousin, but.

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00:51:55.580 –> 00:51:56.300
The Contractor Fight®: Huh!

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00:51:56.300 –> 00:52:00.045
Lucas Wilson: Anyway, I said, I don’t know about out of my life forever. He’s my cousin, but.

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The Contractor Fight®: God.

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Lucas Wilson: I doubt.

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The Contractor Fight®: Christmas will be odd.

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00:52:07.550 –> 00:52:09.530
Lucas Wilson: Yeah, that’s all I had. Thank you.

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00:52:09.530 –> 00:52:13.900
The Contractor Fight®: No worries. There’s a question. Can you change the interest rate

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00:52:13.930 –> 00:52:25.769
The Contractor Fight®: after no payment? So you can’t technically charge interest unless you have it in your contract or something in writing signed off by the other side. Right? And I think the Max interest rate

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00:52:25.950 –> 00:52:34.230
The Contractor Fight®: is 18%. In most States. We had to check it. Stay specific. And the very, very important thing is, you don’t want to charge

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00:52:34.390 –> 00:52:41.149
The Contractor Fight®: more than the Max interest rate, because and there can be something called usurious interest, and it can actually

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00:52:41.490 –> 00:52:48.620
The Contractor Fight®: erase the debt that they would owe you if you charge them more than you’re supposed to. So let’s talk about stay specific. But

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The Contractor Fight®: on what the Max can be. But you need to have the interest rate in the contract signed by the both parties to charge interest, and if you wanted to change that interest rate you’d have to have the party sign off on it. So

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The Contractor Fight®: but it has to be in writing and sign, and agreed by every agreed by both parties.

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The Contractor Fight®: Any other questions.

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The Contractor Fight®: and some States have built in interest for contractors for not being paid on time. It just depends, in your particular state

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The Contractor Fight®: that may something to look into as well. But yes, if you’re going to charge, I would say more than 10% interest. Let’s have a conversation about your state specific state.

473
00:53:36.875 –> 00:53:40.100
The Contractor Fight®: Because I don’t want you get in trouble and charging more interest than you should.

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The Contractor Fight®: Alright guys.

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The Contractor Fight®: Alright. Well, I hope everybody has an awesome afternoon. I’ll be around via email or on Facebook. If you need anything, look forward to hearing from you guys.

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The Contractor Fight®: Thank you.