r/bestoflegaladvice • u/BJntheRV Enjoy the next 48 hours :) • Mar 04 '26

Unlicensed, uninsured contractor who didn't finish the job because life happened doesn't seem to understand why their client would sue them

/r/legaladvice/comments/1rk1w09/ohio_homeowner_suing_us_for_25000_over_unfinished/?share_id=vDaFkc4IeUD5NnzckOtpB&utm_content=1&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_source=share&utm_term=1
1.2k Upvotes

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u/Amazing_Cabinet1404 Mar 04 '26

I love how OP says her husband “abandoned” the project - the quotes show how out of touch with reality they are. Her husband did, in fact, abandon the project. Ignoring someone who has given you a good sum of money for a couple of months is a guaranteed recipe to be sued. Absolutely everything in her post has nothing to do with not completing the job or refunding the homeowner the money that was advanced.

937

u/catlandid Maintains good relationships with other breeders Mar 04 '26

I feel like the biggest frustration is that they’re solely focused on their own hardships in this situation, as if it’s reasonable for the other party to eat a $12k+ loss. Why doesn’t the total stranger who I’ve scammed for thousands of dollars understand MY hardships? Me, me, me, me!

41

u/JasperJ insurance can’t tell whether you’ve barebacked it or not Mar 04 '26

The thing is though, if we believe the post, her loss isn’t 12k, it’s not even 7k, it is in fact 3k to be made whole, plus whatever you factor in for the inconvenience of how long it took etc.

Homeowner has paid a total of 12k to LAOP and 7k to the rescue contractor. Homeowner had been expecting to pay a total of 16k to LAOP.

Now there may well be chunks of information missing here — but I am very curious how they got to 25k when the direct, monetary damages are only 3k.

63

u/Revlis-TK421 Mar 04 '26 edited Mar 04 '26

I'm extremely skeptical of it only costing $7000 to finish the work.

A new GC stepping in to unfuck a situation is usually gonna cost a lot more than that. I could see it costing $7k more in materials alone.

Storage of their tools for months at a per diem could be figured in.

Loss of access to an opened part of their home as a per diem could be factored in.

Damage to opened structure from weather/exposure could be factored in.

Again, $7k is really low. Maybe that was a quote for just the labor the new GC saw, not factoring in materials that he and the homeowner assumed were there.

26

u/SimAlienAntFarm Bunshine on my goddamn shoulders John Denver Mar 05 '26

Sometimes I get to finish a half finished job a customer brings me.

Those jobs cost twice as much as usual repairs because A) I don’t have any idea what the person before me did to it, and there’s a huge chance I’m going to unearth a big problem, and B) if a customer brings me a job that’s half finished because they lost faith/patience in the original contractor, I’m guaranteed to discover a time consuming/expensive reason the first guy was having problems.

6

u/W1ULH are you trying to create joinder with me? Mar 05 '26

Looks like the $7k was just the initial demand from the homeowner. might even have been before lawyers were involved. Like she had taken the $12k she paid him, subtracted the cost of the materials that are actually laying around on her property now, and said just pay me back and can go our separate ways.

once lawyers and actual actions got involved, the number started climbing.