One of my mentors in the remodeling business, Herm Mainwald from Toledo, Ohio, told me he would never sign a contract with time deadline penalties. Herm was in the business 50 years and was the envy of his peers.

You are not General Motors or Chase Bank with millions of dollars of future work to dangle as incentive to complete on time. You're a onsie.

With the labor and material shortages these days, his advice is even more relevant. If your contractor agrees to this, you need to fire him because he's an idiot.

"I’m realizing now that my contractor needs that extra push to move things along. Can I create an addendum and add a timeframe that he is in agreement with me on?"

You can ask for anything you want. Were I him and you did not insist on it originally in the contract you can pound sand now. In fact this may start more issues than you think as attempting this now hints at trust issues.

Construction schedules can be difficult to manage in "normal" times. Throw in a world-wide pandemic, a healthy dose of supply logistics issues, and demand for trade contractors that outstrips supply in most areas, and you've got a recipe for extended construction times.

Do you want your contractor focused on documenting each little issue that contributes to missing the agreed schedule so the contract time gets extended or do you want him focused on executing the project?

Why would a contractor agree to amend a contract that just puts penalties in place?

If you wanted to ADD incentives instead, he may be willing to do that.

"If XXX is completed by YYY, a 10% bonus is paid"

Construction projects should be collaborations--not competitions. They generally go better when expectations are calibrated, scopes are clearly defined, and the construction team's goals/objectives are aligned with the owner's.

Thanks all. I agree and that’s why initially I didn’t have a timeline. I just wanted them to do a good job and not rush through it. But I’m in a situation now where they are never working on our house. They are working on everyone else’s house. We are years beyond the initial time estimate. Yet, I’ve paid more into my “fixed cost” project than has actually been completed. So I’m kind of stuck. But I had a conversation and he promised he would get people back here to continue working this week. I just thought if this was something I could do, it might help. I would come up with something that’s realistic for him. I just don’t want him to keep putting other projects first and I’m not sure what else to do. Any other suggestions?

Understood completely. I want to have a good relationship with my GC. He’s a nice guy. But our project was estimated at 10-12 months. We are going on 3 years and maybe are a 3rd of the way done and there is not one section of the house that is completely done. It’s been months since they’ve been here. Is that normal? I’m hoping to see them this week and he assures me they will get the first phase (which they are still working on) finished within a few weeks. So maybe this will happen. I just thought other people had given him a timeline and that’s why he’s working on their house and not ours. My husband and I are very easy going people... I think he might take advantage of that. We just wanted to keep a good relationship with him. But this is just taking too long now. We’ve been living out of boxes for 3 years.

"But our project was estimated at 10-12 months. We are going on 3 years and maybe are a 3rd of the way done and there is not one section of the house that is completely done."

Then it is time for a good heart to heart conversation in this case. You did not include that info in your initial question. My answer would be the same EXCEPT you need to strongly voice your displeasure if everything is truly as you state and him dragging his feet. No excuse for 2 years over a timeline estimate.

If you have a fixed-contract-price construction agreement that was entered into pre-pandemic, it's a fairly safe bet that costs have escalated well above what was estimated. As a consequence, your project is a negative cash flow for the contractor, and answers your question about why he's working on everyone else's projects.

You've been more than patient. I suggest you seek advice from an attorney licensed in your state whose practice includes construction matters.

Thanks. I voiced my concerns several times but seems like he might move forward soon. This time I was a little more direct than I had been in the past. I will not create the addendum for a timeline/deadline if that doesn’t seem helpful. I don’t want to spend all of the money on an attorney. We are at the top of our budget with this project. I’m not sure if that would even help matters. I’m sure he’d love to walk away from it but we’d lose money. So we’ll see how things go.

When people think about losing money on a construction project, they typically consider the additional costs of material, labor, subcontractor costs and contractor fees to complete the project above and beyond the original contract price. The real additional costs include excess temporary living expenses during the course of construction, the cost effects of warranty timelines which may be ticking away, any tax consequences of paying construction loan interest vs. mortgage interest, the distraction from their day job or other activities and the impact on their family's quality of life.

What do you all think about me offering an incentive (10%) to finish by a certain deadline? I shouldn’t have to do that since it’s not my fault it is taking this long, but I’m just at a loss. The deadline can be somewhat flexible and realistic (given the difficulties of supplies) but at least it’s something for him to aim towards (instead of being open ended) and maybe we agree upon a new deadline if there is an unforeseen delay that couldn’t be avoided. Thoughts?

I think your offering an incentive is silly at this point. The first pieces of advice you got, which I 100% agreed with, were based on the information that you provided and the assumption that you provided all the important details. In fact, I was going to comment the same thing Millworkman did.

However, now that we know this is a three year old contract and not something you signed 3 weeks ago, that has changed.

You should have your attorney draft an addendum because at this point your contractor is definitely in breach, especially if he has been working on other projects. The incentive that you are offering is not hiring someone else to finish the job at his expense. Seriously, talk to an attorney in your area.

True. I’ll see how this goes and if my latest response woke him up. If he still drags his feet, we’ll have to look into other options.

This guy underbid your job three years ago. He's bleeding like a stuck pig.

This guy is probably busy searching for a way to get out of this project for the least amount of money. It is obvious he does not want the project and I am surprised he hasn't disappeared completely by this time. The situation is bad now, but it could get much worse.

You may be able to hold him to the original scope and price but he is going to be losing actual money every time he works on your house. The longer he avoids you, the longer he gets to look for a suitable excuse to fire you as a customer.

Whenever a project gets upside down and no profit remains, the motivation disappears and it becomes a weight dragging everyone down. By that time, corners get cut, workmanship slips, and careless mistakes occur more frequently. Obviously the contractor has not delivered on his promises so the current question is whether he is incapable of finishing or able but unwilling to continue.

I just had to provide an update here. I can’t tell you how nervous and sick I was after reading all of these comments. Thank goodness things did not go sour after all. My contractor has a history of taking awhile…while that’s not good and it’s very frustrating from many aspects, he has pulled through in the past 2 months. We’re having a new addition built and we’ve had a full time crew. Fingers crossed it continues at this momentum. Although I anticipate there to be more delays in between trades (especially since nothing is in the contract about deadlines). Of course there are still portions of a different phase of this project that really need to be finished because it’s going on 3 years now. Little by little he’s working on that part. At least we are seeing some movement. At this point, I’m happy. A total roller coaster this is.