The predicaments homeowners run into, and how to get out of them

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Most problems between homeowners and contractors fall into a handful of shapes. Recognising which one you are in makes the response much clearer.

The contractor has stopped showing up

First, establish whether this is abandonment or normal multi-job scheduling. Many contractors legitimately run several jobs, and a few days elsewhere while waiting on an inspection is not desertion.

Contact them in writing and ask for a specific return date. Writing matters: it creates a record and tends to produce a more considered answer than a phone call.

If there is no response or the date passes, send a written notice referencing the contract, stating what has not been done and by when you require a response. Do not release further payment for work not completed. If they hold your money and have stopped work, you may have a claim against their bond and grounds for a CSLB complaint.

The price has gone up mid-project

Separate two very different situations. A genuine change order, where something unforeseen was found or you asked for something extra, is normal and should have been agreed in writing with a price before the work happened. An unexplained increase is a different matter.

Ask for the increase in writing, itemised, with a reason. Compare it against the original scope and its exclusions. If the item was excluded in the quote, the additional charge is probably legitimate even if unwelcome. If it was included, say so, in writing, and reference the document.

The work is not what you expected

Distinguish defective work from work that is fine but not what you pictured. Both are real problems and they have different remedies.

Defective work — not to code, not to industry standard, failing — should be corrected at the contractor's cost. Raise it immediately, in writing, with photographs, before more work covers it up.

Work that is technically fine but not what you imagined is harder, and usually traces back to a scope that was not specific enough. You may still be able to negotiate, but you are asking rather than requiring.

They want more money before they will continue

Check the contract's payment schedule. If payment is due on a milestone that has been reached, pay it. If they are asking ahead of schedule, that usually signals a cash flow problem, and paying ahead makes you an unsecured creditor of a struggling business.

Offer to pay on the agreed schedule and ask what has changed. If a business is genuinely in trouble, you want to know now rather than after another payment.

Nobody pulled a permit

If work requiring a permit was done without one, it can surface when you sell, when you claim on insurance, or when a neighbour complains. Unpermitted work can have to be opened up for inspection or removed.

Raise it immediately. A licensed contractor should pull permits for work they perform. If you were asked to pull it yourself, be aware that the permit holder carries responsibility for the work meeting code.

The contractor was not licensed

If you discover this mid-project, stop and consider your exposure before continuing. An unlicensed contractor may have no insurance, meaning an injury on your property could become your liability, and there is no bond to claim against.

In California, unlicensed contracting above the threshold is a violation, and homeowners have remedies. The CSLB accepts complaints.

You are not sure whether you are being unreasonable

This is common and rarely discussed. You are living in a construction site, tired of it, and no longer confident whether the thing bothering you is a real defect or fatigue.

Two questions help. Would this bother me in a year, or only because I am worn down right now? And: is this a deviation from what was written, or from what I imagined? The first question separates real issues from exhaustion. The second tells you whether you are owed a fix or asking for a favour.

The order that usually works

• Raise it directly with the contractor, in writing, with photographs and dates.
• Give a specific opportunity to fix it, with a deadline.
• Stop further payments for work not completed, but do not withhold money already earned.
• Escalate to mediation or dispute resolution.
• File with the CSLB for licence-law violations, or claim against the bond.
• Legal action, last, because it is slow and expensive for both sides.

Most disputes end at the first or second step, and the ones that do have something in common: the homeowner wrote things down as they happened.