One of the leading types of home renovation complaints is the contractor has abandoned the job after receiving a significant amount of money and doing very little work. Too often in such cases we are confronted with a situation where very little is known about the contractor (e.g. a first name and a cell phone only). If there is a written contract and the building renovator has missed the deadline to complete it then the homeowner may wish to put the contractor on notice of the default and afford them the opportunity to return to the job site to finish the work. This is not necessarily required, however, as failure to complete a project on time may be considered a material breach by the court. From a pragmatic aspect, however, and if one is looking to avoid litigation, then it may be a prudent course of action.
If the contractor has indeed left, or has neglected to return after being the afforded the opportunity to do so, then the home owner is well within their rights to hire another contractor to finish the job. Before doing that, however, and in possible anticipation of having it sue the original contractor, the homeowner should obtain three quotes from other contractors to finish the project. This is because the court needs to be satisfied that the costs of completion that are incurred are actually reasonable.
Any amounts spent over and above the original contract price to finish the job would then become the responsibility of the original contractor. For example, if a homeowner entered into a contract for a $50,000 renovation with a $30,000 deposit and the contractor then abandoned the project mid-way through then the contractor would be responsible for any costs over and above the $50,000 to finish the job. Consequently, if the homeowner had to hire another contractor to finish the job for a further $30,000 then the homeowners total expenses are $60,000 which is $10,000 more than the initial contract price. The initial contractor could then be sued for this amount since the homeowner is entitled to be put into the same position as they would be had the initial contract been competed as agreed.
