[WSBARP] contractor dispute

[Rick Hoss]

Matthew,

The specific answer to your question about opportunity to cure is set out in
RCW Ch. 64.50. If the contractor gives this notice to the owner, then the
owner has to give the owner 45 days notice and opportunity to negotiate.

Every contractor should include this in every contract, and if they don't
then the 45 days notice isn't required.

 

Every contractor must also give every customer (with a few exceptions) the
RCW 18.27.114 notice to customer (I have a bond and this is my registration
number but my bond may not be sufficient to protect you). If the notice
isn't given then L&I can issue an infraction, and an infraction can lead to
a per se violation of Ch 19.86.  Plus without the notice the contractor
can't file or foreclose a lien.

L&I have compliance officers who, with enough prompting, issue citations for
18.27.114 non-compliance - and without this you don't get the 18.27.350 pot
of gold (triple damages).

 

Contractors who don't have someone experienced prepare their contracts miss
many, many opportunities.

The construction section has model cost plus and fixed price residential
contract forms on their website, and these include both sets of notices.

 

Owner strategies include getting building official inspection reports, code
experts, cost experts, etc. Getting these early gives the owner an idea of
costs to cure or complete and are useful for negotiations with the
contractor. 

 

Contractor strategies, even when they fail to give the 64.50 notice, is to
argue long and hard about mitigation of damages - common law still applies
when the statute isn't complied with. "Owner, I would have replaced that
code defect list for $2000, and I have reports from these subs to prove it.
Had you made a reasonable effort to mitigate your damages, and not enhance
them for litigation purposes, this would be a $2000 dispute." 

Rick

From: wsbarp-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com
[mailto:wsbarp-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com] On Behalf Of Matthew R. Johnson
Sent: Tuesday, April 26, 2016 5:46 PM
To: wsbarp at lists.wsbarppt.com
Subject: [WSBARP] contractor dispute

 

Hypo, 

 

Contractor performs sub-standard work, grossly over charges property owner
for the work, and the building inspector issues notices of correction for
the work before the job can continue. 

 

Property owner and contractor's relationship has already gone sour over
disputes about the charges. Property owner would prefer to have another
contractor correct the work and go after the substandard contractor for the
expense. 

 

Does the property owner need to give the contractor the opportunity to
correct the work, or at least a reasonable opportunity to do so? 

 

Matthew R. Johnson| Attorney at Law

Gravis Law, PLLC

P.O. Box 182 | 350 E. Main St. 

Dayton, WA 99328

509-382-2030 (office)
 <https://www.gravislaw.com/> Website - LinkedIn
<https://www.linkedin.com/pub/matthew-r-johnson/2b/997/87a> 

 

NOTICE:  This email (including any attachments) is covered by the Electronic
Communications Privacy Act (EPCA), 18 U.S.C., Sec. 2510 - 2522, is
confidential and privileged.  This email is solely for the personal and
confidential use of the recipient(s) named above.  Receipt by anyone other
than the individual recipient(s) is NOT a waiver of attorney-client
privilege.  Any violation of the ECPA is subject to the penalties stated
therein. If you have received this message in error, please notify me
immediately by reply e-mail to  <mailto:matt at gravislaw.com>
matt at gravislaw.com and immediately delete the original message.

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/wsbarp/attachments/20160427/fd9d83db/attachment.html>