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On April 6th we had a serious hail storm that resulted in roof damage for almost everyone in our community. For the last month or so roofing contractors have been doing house after house, day after day, pretty non stop as much as the weather will allow. We signed an aggreement with an out of town contractor that he would do the work the insurance would pay for at the rate the insurance would pay so long as we used him. Sounded good to me, so we agreed. We never got an estimate in writing, he took a copy of the insurance estimate, and billed them for the work. We got the check for the supplies and such, something in the neighborhood of $3,500. We paid that to him, and he was supposed to replace the roof, downspouts, and 5 window screens. He replaced the roof and downspouts a week later than he had scheduled us for, but only after we called him three times about it. I asked him then about the window screens getting done and he said he would send a guy out when there was enough work in the area for a guy to have a days worth of work. Fair enough. That was April 28. He billed the insurance for the remaining $1650 due for the roof, downspouts, and screens. The insurance sent me the check, which I cashed and deposited into savings until the guy finished the window screens. I called the contractor again on Tuesday the 11th and got the same story, though he seemed a bit surprised that the work hadn't been done. He said he would get back to me, which he still hasn't. There is no written contract for anything, no estimates, no nothing. Everything was done verbally. In retrospect that seems like it was a bad idea on my part, but what recourse does this contractor have if I just fix the screens myself? It will only cost about $250 tops to get the window screens all replaced, so I'll come out $1,400 ahead if he chooses to ignore finishing the job. Im not trying to come out ahead, I just want my screens fixed so I don't have bugs in the house if I open the windows. How long do I wait before I fix the screens myself, and how long do I wait before I just assume the rest of the insurance money is mine instead of being owed to the contractor?
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None. Sounds like he committed insurance fraud by billing your insurance for work he had not actually completed (unless he had actually only sent them an estimate).Originally posted by swanson719 View Post
Send the contractor only the portion that is due him for work he completed. That is all he's entitled to.
In my state (California) the contract must include start and approximate finish dates.We signed an aggreement with an out of town contractor that he would do the work the insurance would pay for -
He sent the insurance a bill, then the insurance called us and asked if the work was finished. Everything but the screens were done, so I told them yes. Figured the screens were no big deal, that they would be done in a couple of days. Its been 2 weeks. The insurance didn't pay him - they sent us the check though. So Im just leaving the check in savings until they finish the work or we get a different guy. Thank you.Comment
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I would be careful about keeping money from the insurance company that wasn't used as it was intended.Comment
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I would call the guy and tell him that he has x amount of days to complete the project or you will be hiring someone else to complete the screens. as far as the insurance company, as long as you do the work that was damaged there shouldn't be a problem. when my so backed into my dtrs car they had us get estimates and told us they would send the check and to get the work done, how and by who was up to us. so technically if you do the work yourself you are still getting paid for your labor, just because you do the work doesn't mean your time isn't worth anything.Comment
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