Ohio Construction Legal Questions

By charging you more money to fix a problem they caused they are in breach of Ohio's consumer sales practices act (CSPA). This subjects them to the actual damages tripled plus reasonable attorney fees and costs. You should absolutely not pay them any more than the initial quoted amount. If they insist contact counsel to demand additional damages.... Read More

In general, this situation depends on the contract in question, and any warranties or exclusions contained in the contract. Cases like these are very fact specific, and very dependent on the contract. If the contractor is liable for the damage then your attorney could draft a demand letter to the contractor, and if that doesn't work you could pursue litigation or alternative dispute resolution against the contractor.... Read More

Depending on your contract and when you did your last work, you may still have a mechanic's lien right.  When you say "commercial customer" I am assuming that you did your work directly for the business, you weren't a subcontractor.  If you were a sub, there may be additinal hoops that you have to jump through.  FIling a mechanic's lien will secure your right to be paid by placing a lien on the property that you "improved" with your work.  There is a short time limit to file your lien, 75 days from your last real work on that project.   Whether you file a lien or not, you still have a contract right.  You can file a small claims complaint in your local small claims court (small claims division of the municipal court).  If your company is a corporation or LLC you can still file a small claims complaint for cases under $3,000.  Over that amount you must have an attorney.  If you are not a corporation or LLC, you can handle the case without an attorney.   There are a few options of which municipal court is appropriate if your company is located in one city, the work was done in another and the company is located in yet a third:  Where you did the work; the principal place of business of the defendant; where the contract was breached (this can include where payment was due--was payment to be mailed to you at your place of business?  If so, you can genearlly file suit there although you may get some pushback claiming that it the wrong venue).  This generally doesn't happen because, among other things, small claims defendants frequrently do not even show up for the hearing.  If they do, its a little like Judge Judy.  If not, you still have to appear and tell the judge (magistrate) your story. You may wnat to hire a lawyer to help you complete the small claims complaint, but generally, you can do that yourself.  You get a small claims complaint form at the municipal court.  Some courts that are on line let you download copies of the form.  One of the tricks is to tell enough of the relevant facts without saying too much.  The forms try to limit you to three or four lines of facts.... Read More

You have 2 primary issues, your contract and the trespass to your property. There are legal (court action) and practical remedies for your situation.  While a lawyer may be helpful to resolve your issues, I doubt that you will need to use a legal remedy.  Most often situations like this are resolved by a lawyer’s letter.  People are often persuaded by a lawyer’s letter, but not by a homeowner’s letter. First, the use of your yard;   Ryan may have reserved a "license" to use your property in your contract, check your contract.  More likely, they are just doing what is convenient and trespassing on your property (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trespass_to_land ).  Trespass by itself is a tort (a civil wrong resulting in legal liability).  It can be controlled by an injunction issued by a court or money damages for actual harm, such as damage to your grade, or loss of use because of their damage to your property to keep the landscaper from finishing the work, even the extra work/water to keep the soil moist enough for the grass seed to germinate and thrive. While they weren't promising to deliver a final grade until June 30, it seems unlikely that they delayed the delivery so long because they planned to continue using it, but more likely because they were reserving possible weather delays for their benefit.  It doesn't mean that you couldn't have done your work before that, but you would have had to do the final grade yourself and have it approved by the city. Your second issue, Ryan's failure to deliver a properly graded yard, will be covered by your contract and city building code.  The primary purpose of the final grade is to assure that surface drainage is directed away from the house and does not cause problems for or damage to neighbors' property.  Leaving ruts sounds like they haven’t completed a final grade.  Final grade may have been approved by the city, but later damaged.  The rocks, boulders and branches probably don't have anything to do with the final grade, but are likely controlled by your contract.  It sounds like they may have not completed the work in a "workmanlike" manner, which may give you rights under the statute http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/4722 .   Because you are running out of time to get your lawn planted (ask your landscaper), you should encourage Ryan to finish the work immediately (using a lawyer letter) and if they won't, check with the city, see if they have gotten approval on their final grade.  If there is a final approval, photo/video the problems, then get the work finished by your landscaper, having him or her document the charges for the additional work, then try to recover that from Ryan.  It's better than planting late, having a bad lawn merely because you waited for them to do the work. Contact your attorney now, have him or her review your contract and your photos/videos, then write a letter ASAP.  Then, with your attorney make a decision as to the next step if Ryan doesn't agree to resolve your issues immediately.... Read More

The short answer is yes it is possible for the builder to give you a reimbursement or extended warranty.  Because it is possible, doesn't mean that they will, especially the reimbursement part.  If they believe in their construction, they shouldn't have too much of an issue giving you an extended warranty, depending on how much extra time or what additional conditions you are hoping to get. You didn't mention if your basement is block or poured, how large the cracks actually are/were and whether you have or intend to finish your basement now.  Both block and poured basements crack.  Because you didn't mention joints between blocks, only the joint lines between the two walls, I will assume that it is a poured wall.  Estimate how wide the cracks are.  Can you stick a dime in the crack?  A pencil? Something larger or smaller?  Depending on the actual width of the crack, it may be within expected tolerances and epoxy might be the correct remedy.  If the cracks are wider, maybe not. If you are finishing the basement now or soon, you will have an additional measure of difficulty, that is proving that you have an issue behind the drywall, until you have a real issue.   If you would like to discuss it more, please feel free to contact me, we offer a free telephone consultation that might help ease your mind or determine if you need some additional assurances from your contractor.... Read More

When you say that his contract "expires" on March 21, I assume that you mean that the work was to be finished by that time.  I also assume that you have a written contract that spells out your remedies and that this shed is on your residential property. If you don't have a written contract, the contractor has other problems as that by itself if a violation of the Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act "OCSPA".  You should talk with a qualified attorney.  Have them read your contract and advise you of your rights under the contract,  the "OCSPA" and other Ohio statutes. If the contracts says that he is supposed to be finished by a certain date, he doesn't have more time, unless he was delayed beyond his control.  You have to read the contract to see how that works.  The fact that he didn't pull permits may or may not be an issue in your community as some do not require permits for that kind of work, especially if there are no utilities serving the shed.  If your community requires that contractors register with the community and are "licensed" they may also have required that he post a bond.  That may be of help to you. A letter from a lawyer may be all you need to get him to finish the work or make some reasonable settlement with you.... Read More

ALWAYS SERVE A NOTICE OF FURNISHING to get paid on time.  Even if you are late, serve your Notice of Furnishing NOW.  Do NOT count on the contractor or surety not noticing that you didn’t serve the NOF, they always notice.  Additionally, if you are paid anything on the project, you will likely be able to apply it to your earliest pay applications, the ones not covered by your late NOF, so the more that you are paid, the more that the problem with your late NOF is cured. I serve a lot of NOFs for clients and file a lot of Ohio Mechanic’s Liens and bond claims.  Serving your NOF after the 21-day time limit hurts you, because you won’t have full lien or bond rights, but at least you will have SOME lien and bond rights.  Even more, the contractor will always be concerned about liens being filed.  Even if your NOF is late, they will start asking the subcontractor that hired you for your lien waiver.  Of course, you are only giving your lien waiver in return for payment, so, problem solved. As a sub-subcontractor, you actually have to attach a copy of your NOF to your lien on a public project.  Without it, your lien will likely be rejected by the public authority.  Even if they don’t reject it, the contractor, or its attorneys, will catch the problem and demand that you release the lien immediately or sue you for damages caused by an improper filing. Rather than doing this yourself, especially as you don’t normally serve Notices of Furnishing, call your construction law attorney to be sure that you get this one done right and quickly.  An experienced Ohio attorney who represents construction subcontractors will likely be able to get it served for you the same day. SERVE NOTICES OF FURNISHING ON ALL OF YOUR PROEJCTS.  You are right about it not being NECESSARY for a first tier subcontractor on a PUBLIC project to serve an NOF.  Having said that, it is a good idea to serve your NOF and get a copy of the Notice of Commencement, it just doesn’t cost that much and it is good insurance to get you paid on time.  Serving the NOF will bring you to the attention of the person writing the checks.  When I serve NOFs for clients, I also serve the public authority, even though you don’t need to because it is just one more person looking out to be sure that you are paid or at least that they have your lien waiver.  You are more likely to get paid on time if you serve an NOF, even if you don’t need to.  At the same time you serve the NOF, ask for a copy of the NOC.  You will need it later if you want to file a lien or serve a bond claim because you have to send your lien to a specific person at the public authority to assure that it is a good lien and you have to know the name and address of the surety supplied the payment bond.  All of that information is in the NOC. A lot of your construction law questions can be answered on my website www.OhioConstructionLawyer.com in both the FAQ and Video sections.  In fact, there is a Notice of Furnishing video right on my Home page.... Read More

Starting at the end of your issues, the fact that he is not licensed may or may not be an issue, depending on the trade, as not all trades are "licensed."  Some communities also have a "licensing-type" requirement, which is mostly a tax on the contractor, but may also have a bond that the contractor had to post with the municipality for your protection.  It is worth calling your city hall to find out. From your description, it sounds like this is a residential project.  If so, Ohio has laws to protect homeowners who live in the property.  You may be entitled to additional damages by statute, along with the recovery of your attorneys fees from the contractor. The "lies" may or may not be enough to terminate your contract, but other issues, such as some of the statutory protections, may permit you to terminate and get all of your money back. Having said all of these things, reviewing your contract and getting legal advice would, depending on the attorney cost you in the range of $100 to several hundred dollars.  More important, however, is the action that you would want that attorney to take, as the attorney is much more likely to be able to get the contract terminated and get your money back than you are, so you are actually looking for more than just a contract review and advice.  Assuming that the contractor is financially solvent, the cost of the attorney may be irrelevant as a good attorney will at least try to settle your case quickly having you spend as little as possible or try to negotiate a resolution that recovers all of your money, plus, hopefully, some or all of the attorneys fees.  Short of a trial, the best thing about the attorneys fees provision is that it makes it expensive for the contractor to fight you, knowing that they may not only have to pay their attorney, but yours, too, if you go to trial.... Read More

Water in Virginia is considered a "natural enemy" and any property owner is entitled to "fight it", i.e, divert or control the flow of water off of his land, even to the point of diverting it on to adjoining property owners BUT, it cannot be done to the point where it cause damage. You use the term "flooding" so I'm assuming it's pretty extensive and sounds like it goes beyond the amount of diversion allowed.  If water is simply soaking into your lawn, the builder really isn't causing a problem, but anything more would likely cross the line.  (no pun intended)  All builders here as part of the development approval process must submit an approved sediment and erosion control plan, and I suspect Ohio has a similar requirement so before spending too much money, contact the local building inspection department and they may take action as it sound like the approved plan isn't being followed.    If that doesn't work, an Ohio attorney will need to advise as to whether the laws are the same there, but I would suspect they are. ... Read More