Again, we're having problems with a sub contractor hired by our former contractor. I would love to see what some of you would do in this situation.

The background....New contractor discovers that siding company put up all "radiata pine" trim without priming cut edges. Not a huge issue as the painters can prime all exposed cuts but there are many areas where two cuts meet that won't be accessible to painters. Our contractor does some research and discovers that the warranty for this product is VOID if ALL cut edges are not primed before installation. When making final payment I held out $8,000 knowing there were some potential problems. So we have a meeting with siding co. They acknowledge the issue (although they state that no one primes the cuts), they say that they could tear it all off and re-do it, or they could give monetary compensation. We all agree it would be best not to tear it off so rep for co. goes back and calls to say they're willing to compensate 2,000. During our meeting our contractor asked what it would cost the company to "re-do" the job, he said between 4-5k. So we feel we should be compensated 4-5k for their mistake. I call back and say we will pay 3,000 when they fix the porch mistakes (another issue but minor in the scheme of things and they came out an fixed it last Friday). They call back and say no, 3,500 is all they'll compensate. So, under California lien law the sub-contractor must file a 20 day pre-lien to have ability to file a lien on your property. This company had a contract with our original contractor (who walked when they were about 1/2 way through the siding job), they never got a new contract with us directly, and they never filed a pre-lien. So technically, we don't have to pay them another dime and they have no recourse to file a lien on our property. Not to mention that even if they did try to come after us legally, they made the mistake in not priming the trim which voided the waranty. What would you do???