contractor question

In My Humble Opinion
1

I had vines and hedgey stuff taking over my house, I was told by the city to fix it or be taken to court. So I emailed some friends asking if anyone was interested in the work or could recommend a prfessional. Only one person respnded asking what I was paying. I said I thought $10.00/hr was reasonable and he said that wasn’t enough but he would drive by and let me know. He later emailed me that he might know someone to help. Inthe meantime I found a professional who came buy and gave me an estimate. We agreed on what work was to be done for the estimate and he said he would send a team as soon as they were free, most likely on thursday. Tuesday a come home and the hedge stuff on the side had been mostly cut down leaving a few stumps a couple of feet tall. The team came this morning and said no they hadn’t done it. In fact my friend had. I mentioned to the team that I wanted the hedge stumps cut to the ground. I came home tonight and the front yard stuff was done but the stumps on the side were still the same.

My questions are: since the work ended up being less than expected, can I expect a discount to my estimate I agreed to and if not can I expect them to cut those stumps to the ground?

I also found out today that someone has charged stuff on my debit card, my departent is being reorganised (I am low man on the totem pole) and it’s my birthday. can you say stress?

2

Moved MPSIMS --> IMHO.

3

Hard to get a firm grasp of the situation from the OP.

If I understand correctly:

  • You asked a friend about doing some yard work and he declined.

  • You then got an estimate from a contractor to do the work.

  • When the contractor’s crew showed up, your friend had already done some of the work.

  • You asked the crew to remove stumps, but they only did some of it.

Right?

Have you received an invoice from the contractor or heard from him otherwise? The crew might not be finished and still planning to come get the rest of the stumps. I would call to see what’s up.

Are you concerned that you are contractually obligated to pay the estimated price to the contractor? IANAL, but this should not be the case. His crew should have worked a lot less hours than expected and the bill should be adjusted accordingly.