I don’t think there was anything wrong with posting this in MPSIMS but I believe it is slightly better suited for IMHO so I’ll move it there.
From what I know of contractors who do it as a side job, I actually doubt you’ve been ripped off. There’s actually really high demand for people who can do “small jobs”, because a lot of guys who work full time at this and even have a crew of employees largely won’t even be interested in a job that only pays $1000 for labor. This is actually one reason why our company has full time maintenance employees for our rental properties–if property managers were left to rely on Angie’s List/Craigslist etc to get the very small jobs done a lot of them never would.
So someone who can do these jobs ad hoc is going to have probably way more work than he can ever do, he likely has just overbooked himself and likely he’s prioritizing based on which jobs pay him the most money and yours is just lower down on the list. Not cool for you or cool as a business practice, but he’s not a professional, so it’s not unexpected. He probably isn’t outright scamming you, though.
I just called the lumberyard. Jeff never ordered the materials.
Assuming you know where he ordered them from and what name he ordered them under. It’s possible he combined them with someone else’s order (maybe whoever he work’s for) to get a better deal.
Also, if he’s a contractor, you might not be able to get the price he can get.
Like I said, I’d give him until the the 10th. Maybe email him again this weekend and say “Hey Jeff, just want to make sure we’re still on for next weekend, I really need this done, I’ve got a Halloween party on the 31st and can’t wait any longer since I still have a lot more going on. [If you’re sure you can do this yourself], If you’re not going to have time to do the work, could stop by tonight and drop off the materials so I can start working on hanging them myself.”
I’m sure he’ll confirm that he’ll be there. From there you can either see what happens of send him another nag note that Friday even something like “Hey Jeff, what time are you going to be here, I want to make sure someone’s here to let you in?”.
But, so far based on what I’m reading, the actual agreed upon date to start seems to be the 10th. I’d be annoyed, but not worried about getting scammed until that day comes and goes. I really think that you “hired” him then pushed him off so he found other work until you were ready for him. Now you just have to wait your turn.
I’m sorry. I was holding out hope for you. I would call him and ask which lumber yard he ordered from, and tell him you’re going to pic up the materials yourself. I would do this just to see what he says then. To see if he digs himself in even deeper. Keep doing it by text, that way you have a record of the conversation. Then tell him he has 24 hours to return your money, or you’re filing a police report. Maybe he doesn’t realize it’s a felony.
I’m not saying you’re wrong, but what’s the felony? This sounds like a civil matter. The police aren’t going to arrest someone for not helping you build your barn even though you already paid them. You have to settle that on your own (or with the help of the courts).
See post 13 - could be theft by deception.
But it’s unlikely that a prosecutor would bother with such a case for the small-potatoes amount of $2300. Criminal prosecution tends to be reserved for the kind of people who skip town with a $100,000 check for a full-house renovation that they never do.
I suppose you can get into all kinds of con type charges, but I think, in the end, you’d be better off just going for Small Claims (if it came down to that, which I don’t think it will). If he were to go that route, it could mean waiting months or years for restitution.
Has the check actually been cashed? If not, just put a stop payment on it.
Eh, did you actually know for a fact where he was ordering the materials? I may have missed that from the conversation you posted. To be honest if he does this work full time, but for an employer, and is also doing work on the side for himself it wouldn’t be atypical that he is getting the material through his employer, so that may be why there was no order at the lumber yard.
He told me it was from Conover Lumber. When I called them yesterday, it went something like this (my paraphrasing),
CL: “Ah, yes, we know Jeff. Let me check the database… looks like he placed an order in August for $6380.”
Crafter_Man: “No, this would be an order for around $2000 placed in June for metal ceiling panels.”
CL: “No, I don’t see anything like that.”
As someone else mentioned, there is the possibility he combined it with another order. Or ordered it from someplace else.
I’m going to ping him today to ask if he’s ready to start next weekend.
Have you tried searching your local court records to see if he’s ever been sued before?
It’s hard to know what’s going on here. If he’s a good, cheap contractor then he might really be booked with jobs, and your job is just a really low priority for him. Since he already has you committed to working with him, he’s going to make other jobs his first priority. It doesn’t help that you’ve been soooo understanding. You really should be more assertive because you’re giving the impression that it’s all good.
You’ll know soon enough who he is. I’d text him and say, “What day can I expect the materials to be delivered? Do we need to be here?” just to see if he plans on starting this weekend. If he waffles again, then tell him that he needs to deliver the materials regardless of whether he’s ready to do the work. IF the materials ever show up, be sure to look at the order date. That’ll tell you everything you need to know about his character. If he asks for more money, then you can tell him he can pocket the price difference in materials between June and October.
FYI, I’ve built/renovated three homes now and every place in town, including the big box places, allow a customer to come in and order stuff using a contractor’s discount. The vendor will usually have to bill the contractor directly, and you reimburse the contractor. But I’ve never paid until I had that (wood, flooring, lighting) in my possession. I’ve never had a contractor ask me to pay him for materials in advance. The fact that he wanted the money upfront is a big red flag. The fact that nothing was ever delivered to your home in the subsequent months is another. Every contractor that I’ve worked with has had the materials delivered directly to my home. Otherwise, they’d have to have it delivered to their home/place of business and then load it up and take it to my home later. Why would they do that?
I’m going to guess he spent your money the instant you handed it to him on whatever debts or drugs were in front of him at the time and that is why you are getting shined on and on. The low price quoted for the job was deliberate bait. He does not have your materials and cannot start your job. His only hope is to scrape together enough money from what he is working on to pay for your materials and start the job. You will keep getting delayed until the last possible moment.
This could all turn out wonderfully but I don’t think I’d bet the rent on it. Small time part time, contractor scammers who start out OK and get decent reputation but then get entangled in by drugs or other nonsense and start scamming customers for deposits are as common as dirt. Even if you get a judgment your chances of collecting are tiny.
Former general contractor here. Insisting on being paid upfront for a small job such as yours is a big red flag. Usually, we’d do three draws. 30% for materials, 30% at the halfway point, balance and any overages on completion. Under no circumstances would I write a check to a contractor before I was ready for work to begin. You might as well get ready to sue, because you have no leverage to get him to do the work now. And even if he does, he’ll likely hit you up for more money.
There is no way he bought the materials.
So, to protect yourself, you need to ask him to have the hardware store send you an invoice? There’s some simple way like this to ensure the money for materials goes to materials?
Actually, in my professional opinion, the reason why they run out of money is not typically drugs or other nonsense, it’s because they don’t charge enough. They do side jobs for dirt cheap, and eventually it catches up to them.
Running a profitable business long term isn’t easy, even on the side.
Sometimes, you get what you pay for.
Update.
October 3
Crafter_Man: Hi Jeff. Are we starting the job in a week or so as we discussed previously?
October 4
Crafter_Man: Hello??
Jeff: Sorry my phone acting up but I have to push it off till the weekend after next
Crafter_Man: It doesn’t sound like you have time, Jeff. You ordered the material from Conover Lumber, correct? I’ll pick up the materials. And do the installation myself.
Jeff: I want to do it just give me one more week and I’ll have it done And I’ll have them drop the metal off at ur place this Saturday
Crafter_Man: I’ll be waiting for it this Saturday. Thanks.
Jeff: No problem
It may be “no problem” for Jeff, but it sounds to me like you still have a big problem for yourself:
Your tone is surprisingly soft.
I would have been MUCH more assertive…like telling him that he’d better be at your house on Saturday at 9:00 am, or else you’re going to small claims court. Unless he prefers a criminal case for theft by deception.
I understand what you’re saying, and you certainly have a valid point. But I am a bit leery of getting him pissed off at me at this point for the following reason: if he does end up installing the ceiling panels, I want him to do good work. If he’s pissed at me for any reason (and even though I did nothing wrong), he may purposely cut corners and do a crappy job.