I hired a major painting company to do a big job on my house for $11,000, which included some minor soffit repair that I was told would be done by a third-party. They painted my house beautifully, but on the last day, a ladder slipped and broke one of my large double-paned windows. The painters ended up doing the soffit work themselves instead of the third party, but honestly, it looked terrible—really amateurish.
The project manager promised to fix the window and the soffit work, which I was fine with. It's been almost three months since then, and I've heard absolutely nothing from them. No request for payment, no updates on repairs. I'm wondering if they just decided to walk away from the job completely. If they do reach out now, would I be justified in refusing to pay since they didn't complete the repairs? Has anyone else experienced this kind of situation?
3 Answers
Definitely give them a call or send a certified letter. Let them know they have 30 days to complete the repairs, or you’ll have to pay someone else and deduct that from your final payment. It might push them into action.
Right? Not paying for a job done well just because of one unfinished repair could make things tricky in court if they ever decided to take you there. But since they’re the ones who messed up, holding off on payment feels fair.
Honestly, if they haven't even contacted you for payment after all this time, they might just be hoping you'll get fed up and pay for the repairs yourself. It might be a sign that they’re poorly managed—it's really odd for a contractor to leave a job half-finished.
I’d suggest just paying for the repairs yourself and keeping the receipts. You can then deduct that amount from what you owe them. It’s a smart way to ensure you’re not stuck with the bill for their mistakes.
But isn't it a bit crazy that you’d have to do that after they broke your window and admitted they’d fix it? It’s totally reasonable to withhold payment until it's done right.