I hired a contractor to do work inside my house. The contractor doesn't do the work. He has his brother and an unlicensed man work inside my house. The house is vacant and I was there seeing the unlicensed man doing the tiling and baseboards. The brother is partner on the license, but the unlicensed man is not an employee and I told them I only used licensed people. He told me the guy that doing my tiles and baseboard is not a contractor, but a helper. I don't care what term they use. I think that is illegal. Anyway, they did sh*t work and I cannot put my house on the market. They threaten me with a mechanics lien. I never signed any contract with them. The stuff was done through email. My brand new shower door looks old, scratched up my hardwood floor, etc.
It is not illegally for an unlicensed person to do work if total compensation, including materials, is under $500. And every employee of a contractor does not need to be licensed by the CSLB. Your recourse is against the contractor you hired, not the person who did the work.
This is not an Employment/Labor practice area question. You would be better off re-posting this question in a different practice area. Good luck to you.
Netta E GrutmanEmployment / Labor AttorneyTarzana, CACA licensed ·
We handle these types of cases a lot. The first step is to check the legitimacy of the contractor's license. You can visit the Contractors State License Board website for this information. If the contractor does not have a legitimate license, he will not likely be able to record a lien against your property. If he does have a legitimate license, you may have recourse against his bond. Find an attorney who specializes in Surety/Construction Law. Good luck.
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He would have to be an employee and they would have to carry workers compensation for all employees, or it is possible that their license may have been automatically suspended and thus they might not be entitled to any payment for the work.
If this was a home or residence, they were required to have a written contract with you.
However, an exchange of emails might be sufficient to constitute a contract in compliance with the law if all statutory requirements are met, but that is unlikely.
You might want to file a complaint with the Contractors State License Board.
You will probably have to disclose all these problems to any buyers of the home.
It appears you hired a contractor who then hired an unlicensed subcontractor, although I would want to review the e-mails and facts to make a definite evaluation.
Assuming the foregoing is true, you can sue the contractor for the shoddy work. I would let the contractor know you are displeased and ask him to have it repaired to your satisfaction. If he refuses, I would let him know you are going to have it repaired. Invite him to come to your house before the repairs are made to document the defective conditions. You should also document the defective conditions before repairs are made. You should then sue the contractor for the cost of repair.
Find out the cost of repair for the substandard work. That will be your damage. If it is under $10,000, you can make a small claim without lawyers. Edward C. Ip
You have asked this question multiple times. To answer again, you really need to take everything to a local construction attorney. There are too many potential factors involved to give you a complete answer on this forum. Everything you describe could be legit. It also all could be any number of different violations. It is impossible to give you all the possibilities without seen everything.
Generally, if the contractor did the work and you are happy with it, you should pay.
If the work is not good quality, then you probably don't have to pay until it is done properly.
Regardless of the quality of the work, if you don't pay, the contractor may be entitled to lien your property.
