How would you pursue this debacle

[poncho72]

I'll start from the beginning. Last January my brother in law came down to our house, he's a self employed carpenter/handy man who was out of work because of the winter time slowdown. One night we were all sitting around and the topic of re siding our house comes up, at the end of the conversation the wife and I agreed that we would hire BIL to do the job, a day later he had a bid drawn up, we go to the bank and get the $, that night I told him it was a go. I said, " we'll hold onto the $ for now, I'm sure it's too cold to be working outside " he says " eh, that cold doesn't bother me, I'll start right away " so like a fucking retard I hand him the $. The guy stayed at our house for the next month, picked up a few other jobs for some people in the area, never making an attempt to start on our place. I said something to him and he would always say " yeah, I need to get that stuff ordered " and it would pass, he did buy our insulated doors and had them installed within a month, but then the work subsided and he was always fucking off doing other stuff. FINALLY in March he ordered the siding, stripped the house down, re insulated and by April 3rd he had 3 out of 4 sides of my house completed. Since April 3 he has been gone, meanwhile his ladders, scaffolding and materials are laying in my backyard. I call him he won't answer, leave messages and he won't return them.

Yesterday my wife was turning onto our street and finds a truck/trailer backed into our driveway, it's my BIL's hired help coming to get the ladders and scaffolding because they are getting ready to start a new job, she told them they weren't taking anything until our house is done, they left empty handed. I know we can't hold his tools hostage, but we aren't going to make it easy, the fucking coward couldn't even face his own sister and pick up his stuff.
I've gone online and searched looking for some kind of legal recourse I can take with this dick and what I'm finding is since we didn't draw up a contract we are pretty much fucked. #1 I know we were dumb fucks for paying up front, he's family and we never would have dreamed he would have done this to us, so lesson learned there. Anyone out there ever have this happen to them and how did it end or does anyone know if there is any legal action I can take to recoup some of the $ lost since I don't think he's coming back. I've thought about sending him a certified letter demanding that he return 25% of the $ to us so we can buy materials and hire help to finish the job, I just don't know if it would hold water. Nothing like being nut punched by your own family!

[thejesus]

That's weak sauce.

[poncho72]

Yeah, I come from a pretty tight knit family and up until know I've never seen anything like it. unfucking real.

[NOTTHOR]

I'M NOT YOUR LAWYER - GET A LAWYER IF YOU NEED ONE - NOT LEGAL ADVICE

Think about whether or not you have an oral contract with this dude. If the amount is under the threshhold in your state, you might want to consider small claims court. Watch Judge Judy, half the cases on there are over oral contracts. What a fucker.

[NotMyKid]

I would guess his sister would know where he lives if he doesn't answer your call go to his house. You don't have to be an asshole about it just say you were in the area and wanted to stop by and since you hadn't talked to him in awhile wanted to know when he was going to finish up your house. Get that answer in writing.

And yes your BIL is a douche.

Do you ever see him at family functions?

[lpcalihawk]

I've watched enough People's Court to win this case in small claims. A verbal contract can be just as binding as a written contract. You need to send him emails on a daily basis and try to get him to confirm that you did indeed pay him the money. Then, take pictures/video of the unfinished work and go to small claims.

[poncho72]

Since this whole thing started he has avoided all family members. In fact we all attended his Nieces graduation party, he didn't show up. He missed my daughters dance recital, that's all besides the point, we all know he's avoiding us because he knows he shit on us and he doesn't want to face the music. the whole fucking family knows about this.

We have a paper trail of some sorts, we have invoices of purchases for the material, we have the bid, also the bank statement showing that he cashed the check we wrote to him. We have already taken 50+ pictures of the project from start to where we sit today.

We will be getting what is due to us one way or the other, he's not going to get away with it.

He had keys to our house, last night I changed the locks. He also had clothes hanging in our spare bedroom closet, I threw them in a garbage bag and tossed them on the pile of construction equipment that he has sitting in our backyard, I thought it was a nice touch....

[Gumbyhawk]

May 19, 2010 18:24:13 GMT -6 poncho72 said:

Since this whole thing started he has avoided all family members. In fact we all attended his Nieces graduation party, he didn't show up. He missed my daughters dance recital, that's all besides the point, we all know he's avoiding us because he knows he shit on us and he doesn't want to face the music. the whole fucking family knows about this.

We have a paper trail of some sorts, we have invoices of purchases for the material, we have the bid, also the bank statement showing that he cashed the check we wrote to him. We have already taken 50+ pictures of the project from start to where we sit today.

We will be getting what is due to us one way or the other, he's not going to get away with it.

He had keys to our house, last night I changed the locks. He also had clothes hanging in our spare bedroom closet, I threw them in a garbage bag and tossed them on the pile of construction equipment that he has sitting in our backyard, I thought it was a nice touch....

Personally, I think you are handling all of this very well all in all.


I'm a bit more direct and would just go to his house and confront him. But it sounds like you are doing the right things so far.

[The Bluzmn]

Also not legal advice, but it seems to me that you have plenty of ammunition to win in small claims court. What you recover with a victory may be another story. I am just enough of an asshole to sell his shit on eBay or in the classifieds and use the money to hire another contractor to finish the job. But maybe that's just me.

[thunderhawk]

May 19, 2010 12:54:38 GMT -6 NOTTHOR said:

I'M NOT YOUR LAWYER - GET A LAWYER IF YOU NEED ONE - NOT LEGAL ADVICE

Think about whether or not you have an oral contract with this dude. If the amount is under the threshhold in your state, you might want to consider small claims court. Watch Judge Judy, half the cases on there are over oral contracts. What a fucker.

Reiterating the legal disclaimer...there is clearly every indication of an oral contract here. BIL didn't just show up and side 3/4 of the house for the hell of it. I assume you've got some record of payment to him as well (cashed check). Any reasonable person would expect the siding work to, you know, include the entire house.

Probably a small claims situation as BTR indicated. I'd check online for the small claims jurisdictional requirements in your state. I think your probability of prevailing is pretty high.

[poncho72]

Thanks for all the advice fellas. We are going to do our best to try to work this out as civilized as we can, the last thing my wife wants to do is take my her brother to small claims court, in fact my she has stated that she doesn't know if that's even an option for her, as for me, I want to burn him at the fucking stake. Our plan right now is to constantly call him, literally bug the piss out of him until A) he mans up to the situation and at least gives us a call or B) changes his phone #.

We can't easily go to his place, it's 100 miles away, when he's actually up there his home is a work in progress cabin in North Buena Vista ( just north of Dubuque ) and we are in Washington. Since it's a work in progress, sometimes he stays there when the weather is nice, when it's cold he crashes w/ friends. When he is down here working he stays with what friends he has left. When he doesn't answer his phone it's hard to pinpoint his location. And we don't know who all of his friends are. I'll keep you posted w/ updates as things progress, hopefully soon.

Thanks again.

[Master Blaster]

I'd file in court, then sell his gear on ebay when the court rules in your favor. Meanwhile, I'd hire someone to finish the job, then hold that cost against him as well.
Finally, I am sure you already have, but I would make it perfectly clear he was no longer welcome on your doorstep.

[Gumbyhawk]

Any chance he has a drug problem?


The reason is that there seems to be a cash flow problem. Any real contractor can do a job BEFORE getting paid in full. You paid him in full at the start. Where did the money go?


Just a hunch that he has a habit to support.

[poncho72]

I know for a fact he isn't doing any drugs, he's had opportunities to do drugs around me and didn't partake ( maybe he didn't want me to know, but I don't think he does ), what I do think is before he came down in January he was drinking hard, his cabin that he is building is seriously less than 20 feet from the town bar. It was very easy to get wrapped up into the town pastime of drinking all day when times are slow. When he came down he explained that he wanted to get away from all of that. What I think happened is he got himself into financial trouble last summer and used us to clean up his bad debts up there, in fact I'm 100% positive of this, the reason why is because he borrowed some serious cabbage from his brother this spring to pay off the lumber yard up there so he could actually buy stuff from them ( and he paid him back, WTF! ), of course we didn't find this out until AFTER he left our job.. Both his sister and brother bailed him out and he's shitting on us, that's a pretty hard pill to swallow, we aren't a fucking charity, we are actually pretty much screwed if he doesn't finish, I could probably borrow more money to finish the job, but I can't bring myself to ask for more, I don't want to sink my own ship. I've already borrowed twice and I'm not going to do it a third time, I'll pay as I go out of pocket if I have too just to get the exterior wall covered. Just a shitty deal. What I hate the most is the Mrs. and I have had some pretty heated debate over handling this, it has caused some serious friction between us two, but it's got better in the past month, as long as his name doesn't come up in conversation I'm doing pretty good, otherwise I have to go out to the shed and self medicate.

[lpcalihawk]

May 20, 2010 18:57:35 GMT -6 poncho72 said:

I know for a fact he isn't doing any drugs, he's had opportunities to do drugs around me and didn't partake ( maybe he didn't want me to know, but I don't think he does ), what I do think is before he came down in January he was drinking hard, his cabin that he is building is seriously less than 20 feet from the town bar. It was very easy to get wrapped up into the town pastime of drinking all day when times are slow. When he came down he explained that he wanted to get away from all of that. What I think happened is he got himself into financial trouble last summer and used us to clean up his bad debts up there, in fact I'm 100% positive of this, the reason why is because he borrowed some serious cabbage from his brother this spring to pay off the lumber yard up there so he could actually buy stuff from them ( and he paid him back, WTF! ), of course we didn't find this out until AFTER he left our job.. Both his sister and brother bailed him out and he's shitting on us, that's a pretty hard pill to swallow, we aren't a fucking charity, we are actually pretty much screwed if he doesn't finish, I could probably borrow more money to finish the job, but I can't bring myself to ask for more, I don't want to sink my own ship. I've already borrowed twice and I'm not going to do it a third time, I'll pay as I go out of pocket if I have too just to get the exterior wall covered. Just a shitty deal. What I hate the most is the Mrs. and I have had some pretty heated debate over handling this, it has caused some serious friction between us two, but it's got better in the past month, as long as his name doesn't come up in conversation I'm doing pretty good, otherwise I have to go out to the shed and self medicate.

You live in Washington, Iowa?

[poncho72]

yep

[lpcalihawk]

May 21, 2010 8:40:54 GMT -6 poncho72 said:

yep

My family farm is just east of Brighton near Coppock

Ever been to the Eagle's Nest?

[poncho72]

Hells yes!

[lpcalihawk]

May 21, 2010 10:59:55 GMT -6 poncho72 said:

Hells yes!

Sweet. The first time I went to the Eagle's Nest I was 5 years old. My grandpa took me in for a bottle of soda. They used to have tractor seats for bar stools. Great stuff.

Have a lot of great memories about Jefferson/Washington county. My grandma used to buy me clothes at the Pamida and Goodwill store on the square in Washington all the time.

[poncho72]

I've lived in Washington my whole life. besides all the small town Cliques, it's a great place to be.