You have allowed yourself to be an ATM. I hope your lawyer can stop the bleeding for you.

You need to talk to your CONSTRUCTION lawyer.

yes we called around to find a lawyer who specializes in construction contract law

I'm curious what you said when presented with the ceiling invoice that was 11k? Did you call him out that he told you 4500 and what was his explanation?

We asked why the price ended up being more and he simply said that lumber prices were high. He said by the time its sanded and stained and installed that that was the price. It's been like this every single step of the way.

We went to the lawyer today and he was shocked at the 2 page contract and contradictory wording...it looks like cost plus and also it doesn't. Like he tried to cover himself both ways

"Shave his belly with a rusty razor, Earl-eye in the morning" was the first thing that came to mind after reading the title line.

I know it's too late for you rehb, but hopefully someone reading this who's just starting will now take their contract to be read by a construction lawyer BEFORE they sign anything.

Good luck to you.

@cpartist please please if you build a home or hire a GC, go to a lawyer to review your contract and add things that will protect YOU and not just the builder. There needs to be new laws passed and a full overhaul of the entire construction industry. Our lawyer says it is disgusting how many people come into his office after the damage has already been done. 99% of the time, the home owner is getting screwed by poor contracts and by builders. The GC's rarely are the victims. Makes me want to start a construction business just to put them all outta business, doing it RIGHT and FAIR for everyone. Pftt. It is an industry that is overrun by greed and fraud.

honestly - after the first major overages for your changes and other reasons - I would have invoked a weekly or biweekly budget meeting to ensure both parties were on the same page for costs and emailed meeting minutes after each review. Probably have also done a spreadsheet with the allowance costs and done a line by line review based on wha trades were working on the project at the time. Change orders would have reverted into writing for sure.

It's not too late to do these things and if you don't - the behavior will continue.

None of this should be an issue for your builder - as he needs to be tracking costs in this manner anyway - and since he's charging you for overages - he knows what they are.

Stop the bleeding.

honestly - after the first major overages for your changes and other reasons - I would have invoked a weekly or biweekly budget meeting to ensure both parties were on the same page for costs and emailed meeting minutes after each review. Probably have also done a spreadsheet with the allowance costs and done a line by line review based on wha trades were working on the project at the time. Change orders would have reverted into writing for sure.

This was exactly what we did with our build.

He never once had us officially sign anything approving any change orders. We live 2 hours away from our custom home.

Not even too formal with change orders but at least documented via email and noting that it's a change order, etc.! Anything but verbal.

You need to convey to him that although this has been going on too long, the ATM machine is closed until he comes up with an itemized breakdown of all the changes.

What you want to do is force him to choose between salvaging the relationship and blowing it up. Be firm, bluff if you have to, but you have to make him believe you're not afraid to throw down, but you're still being reasonable enough that it makes business sense to come to terms amicably.

This worked really well with my divorce several years ago. Every time my ex would get too greedy, I'd remind her of how much money her parents set on fire getting divorced and I wasn't afraid to do the same. We settled with a mediator for about 7K, way less expensive than a court battle. Like my ex, make the builder's greed work in your favor.

@rehb,

I'm sorry for your experience. I'm not sure it's sufficient to conclude the need for a complete revamp of contractor laws and contractor licensing requirements in your state. The best laws and contracts can't protect against every problem nor every contractor. It's incumbent on homeowners to thoroughly vet prospective contractors and to have any contracts reviewed by an attorney before agreeing to the terms and conditions. That's no guarantee there won't be issues, but it should go a long wait to minimizing them.

@rehb,
I am so sorry that you are going through this, and have a couple of suggestions based on having had to fire a contractor during our house build.

1. Stop telling the contractor how much money you do or don’t personally have that you may be able to access- he will “ spend “ it all.
2. Tell him that you need to go to the bank to see what you can do about the financing, and that they are requiring itemized invoices for everything , as well as all receipts of payment from all subcontractors thus far.
3. Do not give him any more money until you have met with your lawyer, the bank etc.
4. Try to keep your savings intact, and use a construction loan to finish the project. The bank is usually much fussier about making disbursements, isn’t likely to be bullied, and will have more of an idea if the amounts you are being charged are really off- base.
   The bank will also require releases by the subs, so that liens cannot be filed against you.

Our builder was a bully, and a liar, was getting kickbacks from subs, for example a $10,000 item, was marked to $12,000 on the sub’s invoice, then they refunded him the $2,000. difference between the customary price and “our” price, and his “plus” on the inflated price was obviously higher than it should have been. Talk about double dipping.

My last bit of advice would be, depending where you are in the build, if the relationship has gotten too antagonistic, while the bank considers the new loan amount, ask them for recommendations for other local builders and quietly go see them. You might find someone willing to take over the project who you feel more comfortable continuing on with. It is a very discouraging position to find yourself in, I have been there too, it was difficult, and somethings were “lost in translation” when we changed builders-but we got the house done, and have lived happily in it for 18 years.

(Also, don’t tell builder you’re thinking of firing him if you think you might until you’ve made some changes on the record, ours showed up at city hall trying to cancel all of our permits 15 mins after his replacement had had them transferred over. We had to sign several documents to do that.
A lawyer should be a help.)