[WSBARP] contractor dispute

[Craig Gourley]

Just as an academic question, at what point does the owner have the right to stop a complete buffoon from continuing to waste time and material in their attempt to fix problems they are only making worse?   Seems owner's duty to mitigate may run afoul of the contractor's right to cure.

Gourley Law Group
Snohomish Escrow
The Exchange Connection

1002 10th Street / PO Box 1091
Snohomish, WA 98291

360.568.5065
360.568.8092  fax
Craig at glgmail.com<mailto:Craig at glgmail.com>

From: wsbarp-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com [mailto:wsbarp-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com] On Behalf Of Rick Hoss
Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2016 9:57 AM
To: 'WSBA Real Property Listserv' <wsbarp at lists.wsbarppt.com>
Subject: Re: [WSBARP] contractor dispute

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> [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<mailto: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)
Website <https://www.gravislaw.com/> - LinkedIn<https://www.linkedin.com/pub/matthew-r-johnson/2b/997/87a>

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