Cal Weldon said:
Hi Cal,
I think my more than 4000 posts here proves that I'm able read the instructions on the bottle...
I use/have used Round Up for years. It kills everything (yes everything) that wants to grow between the patio stones.
I also used Weed and Feed for years - it is selective and only kills the "broad leaf" variety of plant. When the weeds first appear, I would spray that on and presto! they dead.
THIS is the loss I'm mourning
jacco vermeulen said:
There have been times...
Here's how it goes here (not always):
Contract value: ~$70000.00
Progress payments: ~$31000.00
Fictitious backcharges: ~$10000.00
When the BS backcharges come (sanctioned extortion IMO), the usual approach is to give a call to legal council Dewey, Fokkem and Howe at $450/hour to initiate a suit (construction lien is out of the picture by this time). With nearly $40000 left owing on the contract, this is the only course of action.
After a considerable delay (and legal expense), they then pay $30000, keeping the backcharge amount. It then becomes too small an amount owing to retain the lawyer and with the prospect of going to court (average court case cost of this type here is $30000-$40000 with the expectation, if you win, of recovering the amount owing plus ~50% of the legal fees).
It's either take it to small claims court or write it off. Unfortunately, it's the second option that is the most feasible most times.
If we had it a bit more like it is in the States, there would be less of this. The threat of litigation there carries more weight, plus the possibility of punitive damages. They get away with it here and we have to learn to deal with it, usually by inflating the quote in the first place to cover this potential problem. I wasn't able to do that in this case as the competition for the job was stiff.
Just another tire track across my back.
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