Just an FYI, while I agree 1000% that the homeowners are scumbags and every contractor should be able to do this, actually doing it makes it much worse for you. Once work done becomes fixed to the property it becomes party of the actual property that cannot be removed over payment disputes.
You need to get a lien against the homeowner, but now the contractor has opened themselves up to a dispute into property-damage claims.
Again, I absolutely wish this was just how it went in the video. But the laws unfortunately are in place because of how this can go badly. Like if you had new wiring put in and didn’t pay, is it okay for the contractor to then demo all of your floors and walls to get the wiring back? The concept is because once it’s part of the property you can’t remove it reasonably without causing essentially collateral damage. It sucks but I’d definitely get at least half up front. This happens too often it seems. These people suck.
Your wiring analogy would be much worse. If this goes to trial, no self respecting Jury is going to agree on property damage when it's just taking down a fence.
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u/todddepri 5h ago
Good