Demand letter from your attorney? Threaten court? Sometimes you just need to poke with a larger stick.

If the cabinetmaker isn't painting the cabinets, why is he responsible for the painter's problems?

There are basically two models in the cabinet making industry. The first, and most common today, is shop finished cabinets. Everything will be delivered to you finished. The other method is site finished. These are typically installed unfinished and you have a contract with a third party finisher to spray boxes and trim on-site and spray doors in their shop.

In the former, the painter will typically be an employee of the shop, third party painting is too much of a profit sink for cabinetmakers and it isn't that hard. So I don't really understand the legal relationship that you have with the cabinetmaker and painter to advise you.

@bry911 The cabinet maker is responsible for the cabinets regardless of who the 3d party he hired to make him the doors or paint them... he hired them to do the work and they screwed up... that would be between the cabinet maker and whomever he hired... but the contract is between the cabinet maker and the customer so he is liable to make it good.

If the cabinet maker just provided the cabinets and the customer hired the 3d party to make the doors or paint them would be a different story.

The cabinet maker is getting a loss on the balance sheet to learn to properly finish in house. At this point, your contract is with? That is the person to light a fire under with an attorney's letter.

Or agree to settle for $$. Then take matters into your own hands by purchasing your own doors and having them finished with a qualified cabinet finisher of choice. That may cost more than you paid the cabinet maker though. The business model that he appears to be using is the lowest cost one. Not the one that yields the best results.

@GN Builders L.L.C said, "The cabinet maker is responsible for the cabinets regardless of who the 3d party he hired to make him the doors or paint them... he hired them to do the work and they screwed up."

The OP doesn't really say they paid the cabinetmaker and he hired the painter, they just say that the cabinetmaker agrees that the doors have to be remade. That doesn't necessarily mean that he was paid to construct painted cabinets and subcontracted out the painting.

Furthermore, even if the cabinetmaker paid the subcontractor there are two ways to set this up...(1) as a contractor-subcontractor relationship, (2) as a disclosed agency relationship.

The second relationship would probably look something like this.

The Cabinetmaker: I don't paint cabinets but I have a great painter who I usually contract with and if you would like, I can make arrangements with him to paint the cabinets.

In the latter case, the cabinetmaker is acting as an agent (he is engaging in a contract with a painter for the benefit of the customer) and not as a supervisor and therefore would not be responsible for fixing the errors of the painter.

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If the things went down as you suppose, then I agree... However, I don't think that model is all that common and want to be sure that is the arrangement before I make definitive statements.

So we hired the cabinet maker, and our contract and warranty is with him. We honestly thought he made and painted everything himself, but as it turns out he sub'ed the painting out. So we had no idea who was hired or who did the painting at all. It is all under the cabinet maker whom we contracted with to deliver the final product, and the painted doors were delivered (painted in the shop, not on site).

It sounds like the new doors have been made and painted a while ago but possibly the painter is refusing to release them without being paid.

If you paid the cabinet maker, he needs to deliver your corrected doors and deal with his dispute later and without your involvement. You say you have been very patient up to this point. Time for that to stop. The squeaky wheel gets the oil. Let him know you expect the corrected doors by the end of the month with no exceptions.

HU-260093153 Since you contracted only with the cabinet maker, your dealing is with them, only. In your shoes, I would simply tell him that it's time to get the cabinets and that you sympathize with the difficulties they are having, but you too have had more than your share of difficulty as well. Ask what date you can expect them, and on that day, if no cabinets, tell them you will take a refund of any monies paid, otherwise you have to, well....get your cabinets another way. (this MIGHT go on another couple of years, really.) you have to take action because you held up your end...for over two years at that. (simply put: enough is enough. ) Try t be kind and understanding with the cabinet maker if he's been nice to you, but be firm that you are also the main victim in this scenario.

@GN Builders L.L.C - When I paint things for a shop, I am almost never a subcontractor. Shops will almost always accept money from customers and pay me for my services as an agent acting for the benefit of the customer. Even though I don't take any money from the customer and rarely even talk to the customer, my contract is with the customer and not the shop who pays me. This is quite common in the coatings industry and is the standard for many custom shops, which is why I wanted to ask a few more questions.

However, the customer must be made aware of that. Since the OP was not made aware that the cabinets would be painted by a third party then the cabinetmaker can't claim they were acting as an agent.

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I agree that it is time to be firm. However, I do have concerns about the financial viability of the business model and therefore the ability for the cabinetmaker to absorb thousands in losses. The profit in cabinets usually comes from doors & drawers or finishing. Subbing out both of the most profitable aspects to other businesses makes me wonder how much profit is left for the cabinetmaker, which will directly effect how much loss they can absorb.

I am always a bit wary of undercapitalized businesses, so my concern might turn out completely unfounded, but it is something to keep in mind as the OP proceeds.

I ran into a similar situation with a bathroom countertop. The fabricator, who screwed up the original order, got into a pissing match with my contractor over responsibility and refused to proceed without payment. Since my house has only one bathroom, it was a huge burden to me. I told my contractor that the dipute was between him and his sub but I was paying the price. And I told him to let the fabricator know that I was going to immediately start posting on every social media account there is about their unprofessional business practices. The owner of the countertop shop was in my bathroom the next day with an apology and a solution.

Contractors have dispute resolution processes they can access to resolve these types of situations -- this shouldn't be your problem to solve. Sorry you have to deal with this.

I believe you can take this to small
Claims
If under 10k

@bry911

The shop you do work for only collects the money and gives it to you, they don't own anything to the customer... if you screw up perse, its on you not the shop.

I do hope you prepare the contract and the amount not the shop :-)

This can be set up any which way, it makes no diffrence who is paying who...

The important thing is the signature on the contract that is the person who is responsible to deliver what was agreed upon and signed by both parties.

My old mechanic had a small shop, if I needed wheel alignment he would send the car out to another place, same thing I pay his invoice and he handles the wheel alighment shop. If something should happen I don't go to a wheel aligment shop I go to him and its his responsibility to make it right, how he gonna do it its not my problem.

Thanks so much all, time to get firm. I'm hoping to get the doors since it sounds like they are already remade and painted. But if it does end up in a legal battle, how much do we even seek in damages? Paid around 27k for the cabinetry job, have all the boxes and most everything is done minus putting new doors on. I looked into barker doors to see what it would cost us if we had to buy new doors, and it's going to run 9-10k.

Have you tried google lens to find similar doors?

@User Let's not pour any more salt on the wound here.

This started in 2020 when Covid was at its best, you don't know what kind of a shop that is, who made the doors, or who painted them, and for whatever reason, it didn't come out the way it should... it happens to the best out there, nobody is perfect in this world I have seen 30k-60k kitchens coming in screwed up also, the costs don't matter.

OP is out a lot of money already.

The cabinet guy instead of waiting for who wins the battle needs to get involved and get her the doors from them or from a different source and finish this job. Period.

I'm sure it will get resolved one way or another and the OP needs to stop being nice and press the issue to complete the job or else.

If your contract was with the cabinet maker, plain and simple! He is the one that needs to make it right!