My Company was hired by the Sweeneys to complete their basement project. We had been working at their neighbors home at the time. The budget we were provided with was $50,000.00. We were unaware of the type of people we were dealing with initially. Mrs. Sweeney stole the planting material and plants from a common area and then told the builder to replace them. They were threatening to sue the builder for a number of things while we were on-site.
We were contracted to do a specific job, with plans the Sweeneys had drawn up themselves. From the beginning and throughout the course of this job, Mrs Sweeney made change after change that made it impossible to meet our original deadline. The Sweeneys also did not allow the job to be permitted in order to avoid paying taxes or allowing building inspectors to inspect the work throughout the course of the project. This would of allowed the "3 minor defeciences" to be corrected. This job was not to be permitted, and the Sweeneys made this clear to us several times.
When a change was requested, we informed Mrs. Sweeney of the costs involved and she would agree to them, unless the cost were too much. When we started the project, Mr. Sweeney told us that Mrs. Sweeney had COMPLETED AND TOTAL creative control over the project. Since Mrs. Sweeney had made several crucial decisions that had run the job over budget by $8,000.00, the Sweeneys then informed us that they did not have the money to pay us for all the work we performed under the contract.
Mrs Sweeney suggested that we pay the sub-contractors less than was agreed upon to help her meet the cost over-runs. We declined this practice because it is deceptive and wrong since we had a prior agreement with our sub-contractors.
Since this job, we now use written contracts with our sub-contractors and we still enjoy a working relationship with them. We have also tighten our contracts to include change order cost.
We later learned from Mrs. Sweeney that the money used was Drug money proceeds, derived directly from the sale of drugs when the Sweeneys sold their former house to a known drug-dealer. Mrs. Sweeney went on a slander campaign against me and my company after this project. Most of the work that did not pass inspection was work that was done on the Sweeney's home by their own builder.
Since this incident we have made changes with some of our policy to include better communication with the client and better documenting of changes so there is no questions at the end of the project.
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