I hired a concrete contractor to stain/patch/polish the floors in my home. He left the work incomplete, charged me extra and has failed to return on numerous appointments scheduled wasting my time. I have now moved into the home, and need the following done: move the furnishing, get the floors cleaned and patched and refinished completely again since the concrete stain products are incompatible and most concrete stain companies have provided the same solution costing me nearly double the initial costs. Since the job is over the small claims limit of $5k, am I entitled to recover punitive losses from all the times I took off from work, legal costs, and rework expenses, and once a judgment may be in my favor how do I then get the judgment monies. Is this under their liability ins?
Good afternoon and thanks for your question. First and foremost, construction law is a highly complex area and you would be doing yourself a grave injustice if you try to handle this on your own. You need to consult with a construction attorney to determine the best way for you to proceed. In general, I advise my property owners as follows: The goal should be to avoid litigation, unless of course you have an unlimited budget and no money concerns. A phone call or letter to the contractor demanding that it correct all defective work immediately may be all that it takes. In the event the contractor refuses to finish the job, the next step is litigation. You are entitled in Florida to hire a remediation contractor and seek the excess monies you paid from the original contractor. However, it is very important that you properly terminate the contractor in accordance with the terms of the contract, if any. It is also critical to determine what amounts remain outstanding, or at least as far as the contractor is concerned, to best account for the contractor's legal rights and potential next moves (i.e., liens). The money you can recover is also dependent on the contract, if any, but there are a multitude of other causes of action that you may have that would entitle you to additional damages. Good luck!
Mark Theodore TischhauserLitigation LawyerTampa, FL ·
All of those questions, and the varying answers to them, is why a pro-se law suit in such a case is not a prudent choice. If you intend to pursue legal action, you need to retain an attorney to do so properly, as all of your questions are very very valid ones and you will not be likely to make adequate legal decisions yourself for a vaiety of reasons. Otherwise you could be this guy....
http://www.attorneyqna.com/legal-answers/does-a-small-claims-motion-for-court-costs-and-att-1994355.html
I agree with Mr. Richards answer. I wanted to add something to it. Some contracts require that you give the contractor an opportunity to cure defaults or defects. Mr. Richards alluded to this somewhat when he recommended that you demand that the problems be fixed. You need to carefully review (and you'd be wise to hire an attorney to review) the contract to see if there is any "opportunity to cure" requirement.
