Countering a contractor's "final offer"?

[Anonymous]

A contractor messed up. DCRA got involved. The investigator reported that the contractor had messed up. He has to re-do the work. Then, he offers $$$ instead, just to be done with the matter. I get estimates that demonstrate how much more is needed. Time passes. I follow up and send additional estimates. They contact the contractor. He offers less than the initial amount and concludes that this is his final offer. DCRA can make him re-do the work, they have no standing in pressuring him to offer more to cover the work.

What would you do? How would you counter the "final offer"?

It falls short and this work is not something that could be ignored. If he came up a bit, I would settle for the compromise. I am also interested in being done with this. The DCUM community is comprised of a lot of take-no-shit folks. I'm hoping to hear from you!

[Anonymous]

I would be scared of having an angry, inept contractor back in my house.

[Anonymous]

I also would not want him back in my house to do the work. I guess I'd take it.

[Anonymous]

I would not allow him to do the work but I would hold him responsible for either refunding all my money or paying for the repairs.

[Anonymous]

I would not take a loss, but I would stipulate that I would want to have an inspector of my choice evaluate the work done prior to signing off to ensure that all work was completed at a reasonable level of satisfaction. I would also ensure that the contractor was not left unattended in my home. Then I would hire an inspector to review the work both before and after the contractor was readmitted to the property.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would not allow him to do the work but I would hold him responsible for either refunding all my money or paying for the repairs.

You didn't read OP. She has an adjudication from DCRA. They can enforce the contractor redo the work to her satisfaction. She is trying to get a separate settlement to avoid having them back on the premises (and to just put the behind her) but the contractor is offering a dollar settlement that is less than the cost of the repair. DCRA has no standing to force a monetary settlement, that is a separately negoatiated settlement. She can have DCRA force the contractor redo the work or accept the lower dollar amount of the independent "settlement." There is no way to force the contractor to refund all of her money nor to pay for the repairs. Your options are unenforceable options and will get her nowhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would not take a loss, but I would stipulate that I would want to have an inspector of my choice evaluate the work done prior to signing off to ensure that all work was completed at a reasonable level of satisfaction. I would also ensure that the contractor was not left unattended in my home. Then I would hire an inspector to review the work both before and after the contractor was readmitted to the property.

This sounds like your best bet. If you lay out these terms for the rework, maybe he'll consider offering more not to have to deal with it.

[Anonymous]

I"d let DCRA force him to do the work. If it needs further inspections, it's not like he can get away with any shenanigans.

[Anonymous]

So, the general consensus is that I can't counter?

I thought to negotiate the settlement in some way, hoping that my options weren't limited to: 1. take the insufficient money, or 2. accept him back into my home to do the work, risking further nonsense.

Is there anything I can respond with that would be convincing in any way? This really is a low-ball. He's just got to come up a bit.

Can anyone help with a response? What should I say?

TIA

[Anonymous]

Say something like:

"That amount isn't sufficient. If you can't pay at least $XX, then I'll have to go with the DCRA option and have you fix the work. If we go this route, I'll be having an inspector of my choice evaluate the work (before and after repairs) to ensure that all work is completed at a reasonable level of satisfaction."

[Anonymous]

Since being done with this is a goal this might not be your preference, but should you file suit against the contractor? Perhaps including your intention to do so might get their offer up a bit?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

So, the general consensus is that I can't counter?

I thought to negotiate the settlement in some way, hoping that my options weren't limited to: 1. take the insufficient money, or 2. accept him back into my home to do the work, risking further nonsense.

Is there anything I can respond with that would be convincing in any way? This really is a low-ball. He's just got to come up a bit.

Can anyone help with a response? What should I say?

TIA

You can certainly threaten bringing a lawyer into the picture if your only goal is to get him to up his price. Say you've consulted with other contractors, and based on the other estimates, you believe he needs to give you $X - and that your lawyer believes that you have a strong case to justify it.

[Anonymous]

Thank you all so much for the feedback. It was a bad experience the first time, and this feels like an extension of the bullying that occurred then.

I really appreciate it.