There’s so much work to be had right now that I think contractors trying to bite off more than they could chew has become a real issue.

So much of an answer is going to depend on the project. Do you own the lot and are you financing the build? Or did you pay a deposit and the builder owns the lot and is financing the build?

What are the details of your contract regarding delays and parting ways?

You bank should NOT be advancing money ahead of the work completed. My bank requires an inspection to confirm the work is done (3rd party) before they give me any money to disburse.

You MAY want to invest in a couple hour consult with a construction attorney NOW. You are so early in the process - it may be VERY wise to cut this guy loose - I don't see this getting better...

@A S we own the land and we are financing the build. Actually we are already paying on what he’s borrowed. My husband told him he had until the end of the week to get our roof on or we were doing things differently. My husband and I decided if at all possible we will get the money from the bank ourselves and pay whatever needs done instead of letting him take it out. On the plus side he told us he wouldn’t need anymore money until we order cabinets. We are considering an attorney I just know that won’t get us in our house and faster. I’m worried about another contractor taking it on when we have a set amount of money from the bank to use and can’t get anymore.

What does your contract say? Surely there are details on delays and what not?

Why would the bank let him have anything? That seems odd if you are financing the build?

Its quite possible he's too busy with other projects and so might the replacement so take a careful dispassionate overview of the situation before jumping from the frying pan into the fire.

It would help to talk to a lawyer but don't threaten legal action or termination of the contract unless your lawyer tells you to.

@Hanna Leigh Our bank has it set up that either the builder or owners can request the draws. We didn’t feel comfortable allowing the builder to take draws so we didn’t give authorization for that. All the invoicing goes through me, which I approve before submitting to the bank. The bank then does an inspection.

I would suggest removing the authorization for builder draws and handling the money yourselves.

At one point we talked to our bank about firing our builder and it would just create a mess and a delay. So we’re dealing with an incompetent GC and essentially building the house ourselves. He’s not providing subs and does very little oversight. Not ideal but at least the house is moving forward. Our contract allows us to fire him and walk away. It’s the financing that is the issue for us.

AS.. I haven’t looked at our contract again yet. He has authorization to draw, they just call us to confirm. But we are going to change that from now on and draw it ourselves so we know exactly where it’s going. They required some pictures and I’m not even sure he gave them the same house. Our bank is horrible to deal with and I never can get ahold of them. They took 3 months to close on our construction loan and the builder was waiting, and I think he took more jobs during that time frame, so maybe he’s just really bad with time management.

@bytheriverbank thats funny you say that, me and my husband decided last night we would do the draws ourselves if at all possible. we just both work away from that bank so it’s hard to get there and they really suck with communication. We really don’t want to fire him because we want our house to get done. We have 3 year old twins and are living with my sister, so we really just want to get it done.

"they took 3 months to close on our construction loan and the builder was waiting, and I think he took more jobs during that time frame"

Cannot say as I blame the builder. Would you want to sit and wait for 3 months with no dollars coming in? I think you need to have a conversation and draw up a schedule with the builder period. Things are busy all over the odds of getting someone to pickup someone else's construction project are not good and the costs would definitely go up as he will now own the prior work.

@millworkman exactly. I can’t say I blame it either. We will never ever use that bank again. But you are definitely right about the work, I know it will be hard to find another contractor.

We used one bank for our construction loan and then took their draws and transferred to the bank we easily work with and have access too. We wrote checks for all payments ourselves. Yea three times we had to go deal with the other bank but it was painless when three planned times vs ever invoice or bill.