Anyone ever report a contractor to CSLB

[Mr Doof]

Per the contract, work on our home stairs was supposed to be done by December 7, 2018.

Today we are Fed Ex-ing a 3-ring binder to the California State Licensing Board to ask for some help resolving things that are as of yet undone and overcharged for and not needed (the latter two are our in our opinion).

Anyway, has anyone done this and what was the result?

I don't need a story, just a short "Yes we did and we are glad we did" or a "Yes we did and it made things worse."

Thanks for your time.

 

[waxhead]

Yes, I'm a flooring contractor and a general contractor had me a do a job and refused to pay. I filed a complaint, and the board threatened to pull his license unless he paid up, which he did. I think as a private citizen, you'll get some action from the board. I don't know that you need to give them a novel though-they are, after all, government employees....next time have a penalty in the contract for every day they are late.

 

[000]

hopefully it was all done with permits...

 

[ocean7847]

Yes, but in a totally different context. They can pressure people who have something to lose. Not sure if you situation involves the right elements...

 

[Mr Doof]

hopefully it was all done with permits...

Part of it was.

I can't get an answer from them about other parts, but I doubt it very much..

 

[Ifallalot]

 

[LiamUnknown]

assuming he's licensed and bonded you can also go after the guys bond.

 

[casa_mugrienta]

Per the contract, work on our home stairs was supposed to be done by December 7, 2018.

Today we are Fed Ex-ing a 3-ring binder to the California State Licensing Board to ask for some help resolving things that are as of yet undone and overcharged for and not needed (the latter two are our in our opinion).

Anyway, has anyone done this and what was the result?

I don't need a story, just a short "Yes we did and we are glad we did" or a "Yes we did and it made things worse."

Thanks for your time.

How was your communication with the contractor?

What is their reason for not completing the work?

 

[JBerry]

Yes, call. You can file complaints. I'm a painting contractor and the CSLB exists to help the consumer, I just wish there were more enforcement.....


Why did you wait 2+ months to consider calling CSLB?

 

[everysurfer]

I had a client call them on the plumber. The CSLB are a bunch of lazy fucks. They do their unlicensed contractor stings once in a while, but won't get off their fat government asses to investigate anything.

Did he just abandon the job, or did he screw up? What was the job cost and how much did u pay him?

 

[Mr Doof]

Yes, call. You can file complaints. I'm a painting contractor and the CSLB exists to help the consumer, I just wish there were more enforcement.....


Why did you wait 2+ months to consider calling CSLB?

Because the project was going well until it wasn't.

The excuses seemed reasonable to me: rain, sick employees, other jobs, project mngr hurt his back, and because it is better for me to be trusting than paranoid or think I am being ripped off.

 

[Mr Doof]

I had a client call them on the plumber. The CSLB are a bunch of lazy fucks. They do their unlicensed contractor stings once in a while, but won't get off their fat government asses to investigate anything.

Did he just abandon the job, or did he screw up? What was the job cost and how much did u pay him?

Job was to replace the 90 yr old stairs, then investigate front window for rot (repair and replace support if rot found), then paint front room, then paint house. I am in deep over $140K to date.

I believe the problems started when we didn't agree with their change order to replace a support beam for an extra $19K back in December, then started balking at additional charges for things already covered by the stair/painting contracts.

We gave the CSLB a three ring binder with a 7 page complaint cover letter (in addition to the form), and about 200 pages of emails, PDFs, and photos. Kinda of meal on a silver platter we think.

 

[everysurfer]

It might be time to lawyer up, but hopefully not. That's going to cost 5 figures easy, and the guy will counter.

It might be better to cut your losses. Hopefully you are close to getting your monies worth. Unless you were getting a new foundation too, 19k sounds way high to replace a beam; like double what it should be.

P.m. me if you want to know how to finish up the project from here.

 

[LogHauler]

These type of scenerios always make me wonder; how did the customer go about choosing their contractor?

Did they simply choose the lowest bid? Did they ask questions about specific costs? Were potential change orders discussed in advance? Did the contractor point out possible problem areas, (that might get uncovered), during work?

I'm not a contractor but I do some DIY stuff. Every time I take on a DIY home project, something else comes up that needs attention BEFORE I finish. EVERY TIME! It's best to expect problems and have a game plan for how they will be handled in advance. If you wait until after, your contractor has you by the balls.

I'm not saying that you didn't do these things. I'm just giving my 2 cents

 

[JBerry]

Sorry to hear Mr. Doof! Good luck with the process and hopefully the cslb can help you out.
If you have a lawyer friend, wouldn't hurt to reach out as everysurfr suggests, I'd second that. Unfortunately there are so many bad 'contractors' out there as this is not the first bad story I've heard. Referrals are the way to go!

And good luck with getting your project finished, I'd offer to come paint but we're booked well into May!!
Please keep us posted as I am interested to hear what the CSLB says and does.

 

[Chee-to]

Yes, but in a totally different context. They can pressure people who have something to lose. Not sure if you situation involves the right elements...

Like Ocean, I have gotten the CSLB involved in a totally different context. They decided not to bother doing anything about our commercial construction fraud complaint because there was an active lawsuit, which they took to mean they didn't need to bother finding any facts through the administrative process. Waste of our time.

...if you're in $140K at this point, it's probably lawyer time.

 

[Leaverite]

If it goes to court, sounds like it might. It all ends up on who presents the best case. Right or wrong.

Who sways the jury. Have you retained a good lawyer at this point? This can be the make it or break it.


Yes it can be costly. But you need to weigh the cost factor of retaining an attorney to what you you would spend to pick up the pieces left behind by your current contractor. And a good attorney could get you a settlement from your current contractor. A whole new, evil world.

 

[everysurfer]

The current contractor would need to have assets for you to recover.

Worst case is you spend $50,000 to the lawyer, to win a $20,000 judgement to omly collect on the contractors $7,000 bond.

 

[Mr Doof]

The current contractor would need to have assets for you to recover.

Worst case is you spend $50,000 to the lawyer, to win a $20,000 judgement to omly collect on the contractors $7,000 bond.

Exactly.

Right now, they've been reported. We let that play out before we do anything next. Lawyers are last resort (I am a fan of escalation rather just start out with thermonuclear bombs).

They continue to do work, but the thing is, it looks like they are repeating work already done.

What I mean by that is, for example, the contract stated 5/8" plywood on outer wall.

When they put in the plywood, I got out the measuring tape one morning when the company heads were there and showed then that 1/2 was installed. Then they said they'd put 1/2" on the inside wall, and I looked at them wonderingly...how can two 1/2" pieces being cheaper than one 5/8" and the plans and permit say just one 5/8" is required? A week later they put in the 1/2" plywood on the inside wall to compliment the 1/2" on the outside wall. I figure that is now 1" plywood on both sides of teh studs, so that should be better than just one sheet of 5/8" on the outside, right?

Then yesterday I came home to find that the 1/2" plywood on the inside is now gone completely.

It was dumping rain at the time so i didn't check if they put 5/8 up on the outside.

Also, it appears they removed/replaced a new vertical support beam they put in last week...this week old one was laying next to the scaffolding when I came home last night. The new one looks better and sits flush where the other one was poorly installed.

The project really needs their foreman onsite to watch the workers rather than just give them 1/2 hr instructions then take off so work is not repeated....do it right and do it once.

 

[Mr Doof]

These type of scenerios always make me wonder; how did the customer go about choosing their contractor?

Did they simply choose the lowest bid? Did they ask questions about specific costs? Were potential change orders discussed in advance? Did the contractor point out possible problem areas, (that might get uncovered), during work?

I'm not a contractor but I do some DIY stuff. Every time I take on a DIY home project, something else comes up that needs attention BEFORE I finish. EVERY TIME! It's best to expect problems and have a game plan for how they will be handled in advance. If you wait until after, your contractor has you by the balls.

I'm not saying that you didn't do these things. I'm just giving my 2 cents

We did not go with the cheapest bid nor did we pay another contractor $5000 just to get a bid (this fee would go towards the project if we choose them).

We looked 3 yrs for a good contractor...the licensed and bonded ones were all busy doing soft story retrofits and says to get back to them in a year, and when we did call of few of those back, they told us to call back in another year.....

We got a number of referrals, but most of them were unlicensed 'handyman", so nope, and the others never called back or wouldn't provide a fixed start and end date or wouldn't pull permits ("It is just a govt scam that costs you more.")

It appears there is a few reasons why Home Depot exists and right now, in my current frame of mine, it is because no one cares more about your home and doing a good job at a fair price than the owner of said home.

Oh, and I had figured in a cost overrun of 25% above original contract and an extra month of time from the get go. Over both.....