[proplumb1]

I have two different general contractors who owe me a fairly substantial amount of money on jobs that were a 100% complete and inspected. I had signed contrcts on all the jobs that were involved but they kept dragging it on so i put lein on their personal properties and then took them to court:furious:. I won both cases and they were due to start payments but before i recieved any $ i got letters in the mail from bankrupcy court saying that they were both awarded bankrupcy and i can no longer pursue them. I guess my question is can i go after the H.O. or their property. I have had such bad luck with lawyers that are not familiar with construction. P.S what hapened to honor?????

 

[ROCKSTARPLUMBER]

how did the banks close on the loans for the new homes, if you had liens on them?

 

[proplumb1]

these particular jobs were remodels and I believe the H.O financed the construction personally. I apologize for posting under intro still learning system.

 

[ROCKSTARPLUMBER]

NO NOC's, No NTO's?

 

[proplumb1]

noc's, nto's ? please clarify

 

[ToUtahNow]

Had you put a lien on the property you would have had a better chance of collecting your money.

Mark

 

[proplumb1]

Had you put a lien on the property you would have had a better chance of collecting your money.

Mark

yeah that would have been great if my lawyer at the time aproached it that way. but is it a closed case or is there still something i could do. Iknow its probably different state to state but any wisdom would be appreciated! The issue on one of the cases started when G.C. called for the finish and there was a payment for extras that i didn't want to float and i told him i would not start finish till all overdue balances were brought currant (big battle) HO got involved and assured me that if i complete job he would go to court on my behalf. He never needed to but does that make him somewhat liable?

 

[pcplumber]

Sounds to me like you went after the wrong people first.

I have two different general contractors who owe me a fairly substantial amount of money on jobs that were a 100% complete and inspected. I had signed contrcts on all the jobs that were involved but they kept dragging it on so i put lein on their personal properties and then took them to court:furious:. I won both cases and they were due to start payments but before i recieved any $ i got letters in the mail from bankrupcy court saying that they were both awarded bankrupcy and i can no longer pursue them. I guess my question is can i go after the H.O. or their property. I have had such bad luck with lawyers that are not familiar with construction. P.S what hapened to honor?????

You should have sued the homeowner before you sued the contractor. I never heard of putting a lien on a contractor's personal property. Something is not right. You can get a judgment against the contractor, but you did not work on his property. You can only get a judgment and exercise the judgment by going after his assets.

I would have filed a lien on the job site and sued the homeowner. Then, the homeowner would have sued the contractor. Now, you are over the statute of limitations for liening the job site and you are probably over the statute of limitations for going after the homeowner. Had you gone after the homeowner sooner, he could have done more for you.

In California, and probably most states, the homeowner is responsible for making sure all subs are paid. This is done with joint checks and by getting a lien release from you. As soon as you were not paid, you should have filed a lien on the homeowner's property. This get them jumping!

I think it is very sad that people are allowed to get out of paying by filing bankruptcy, but this is what people do all the time. I get about 1 to 3 bankruptcies every year, and many are filed after I file liens and get judgments. It is all a portion of the business we have to figure is inevitable.

How much money are we talking about and how long ago did all this happen.

 

[SPH]

You really should lien the property you worked on. In my area a lien is only valid for one year and is non-renewable. So you have to hope within that year the homeowner has to renew his mortgage, or financed the renovation through a bank.

Good Luck!

 

[Scott K]

A guy I work with used to own his own company for a few years with a buddy of his, and he told me every few monthes him and his business partner would just drive on down to small claims court, sit outside, and start calling clients that haven't paid and that they want to know if they should file a case or not. Every non-paying customer they called, if they had to leave a message which was mostly the case because often the client was often screening their calls, called right back and suddenly they had the $$$ right away. This worked like a charm apparently.

 

[para1]

I have two different general contractors who owe me a fairly substantial amount of money on jobs that were a 100% complete and inspected. I had signed contrcts on all the jobs that were involved but they kept dragging it on so i put lein on their personal properties and then took them to court:furious:. I won both cases and they were due to start payments but before i recieved any $ i got letters in the mail from bankrupcy court saying that they were both awarded bankrupcy and i can no longer pursue them. I guess my question is can i go after the H.O. or their property. I have had such bad luck with lawyers that are not familiar with construction. P.S what hapened to honor?????

HONOR? new construction, GC's:no:

 

[cajunplumberjoe]

go after the homeowner. they received the benefit of your work and material. the homeowner can then file against the gc. next time no final inspection until you are looking at a check when dealing w/ a gc you dont know.been ther done that .i feel for you. ive seen this happen several times around here-twice to me.

 

[Plumber Jim]

Around here a General can't file against a sub. He should put the money in escrow. If he files the courts won't let him drop what he owes the sub. you do need to file a lien though.