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We are in the final stages of house construction. We have paid everything to the contractor as per the agreed amount. The contractor is suddenly asking us extra amount running to 2-3 lakhs which was not part of the agreement. He is resorting to threats and hooliganism sending us bad plumbers/ workers and yelling at elders in the house. He has not produced any receipts/bills for the entire amount we have paid so far and is also refusing to give receipts for the extra cost he is claiming.
His work has turned out to be very bad and we have had to pay extra amount to get things repaired. The gas piping he did is leaking and I sought a professional help on this and the opinion was the house is sitting on a time bomb due to the gas pipe leak all around the house.

Could you please suggest what can be done on this. Going to police and lawyers is the last option which we are avoiding to the best extent. Could anyone help us please?

Thanks

Tej,

Sad to hear the above. I too had faced a similar situation earlier. I also resorted to police , lawyer, court but it was of no use. If you have an architect and a contract with the Contractor, please use it. Ensure that you get the architect or a middle man to settle things with you. Else just dump the contractor. Even police will not be able to help saying it is a civil matter but they can take action if you report that he is threatening you. You still loose here as the contractor will do a much shabbier job.

Afterall, its a hard earned money, for a contractor it will be the nth house he is building but for you and me it will be the first or second house.

Hope I was able to help.

cheers
-Bidds

@Tej

I completed constructing my house recently. Towards the end, my contractor did not complete the works properly. I am very pissed off with this profession. No ethics or principles. Most of them times they lie. Gives hundreds of excuses.

These guys dont need our references, all they want to make is super normal profits. They do not undergo any vocational training and are not capable of doing a good job.

well gas piping to an indian house is surely a timebomb better goto norway ways of living.

I think this where labor contract works out well. You need to be patient till main structure gets completed, then the owner is free from selectinting and executing things out.

The disadvantage of labor contract is time.

-Venky

@Tej,

Its always better to look for a contractor through a known source and has good track record.

Anyway as you are in the final stages, you need to take a hard decision, either to continue with him
or to look for a new one. Here on wards, there is no guarantee that he will do a better quality work
for the rest of the works with a strained relation. Getting a new contractor at this stage is also a challenge.

One way is to have an arbitrator who can mediate between both of you.

If you want to pursue legal option, Police is not the right choice, unless you want to lodge a case with
the Crime Branch for which you need to have a good influence on them to work on your case.

Alternately you can look for filing a "deficiency of service case" at the consumer Court against the contractor.
For similar kind of instances, many people have won against the builders and contractors, as in almost all
cases they can't justify their demands with documentary proof/with contracts.

do a thorough ground work before taking your decision.

Final stages are crucial and the most painful stages. If you have got involved a bit with the project, developed contacts and some confidence about executing yourself, then terminating the services of contractor at this stage is easier. As the project comes closer to the finish line, the pending profit the contractor can get becomes smaller compared to the pending work. He is probably busy with new projects anyways. It can be a win-win to terminate.

Thanks for your inputs. We completed the final stage on our own.But the trouble with the contractor continues as he is claiming some materials are extra and therefore we need to pay him more. He has no records/ receipts and documents to prove things are extra. We have decided to approach a third party mediator in our next discussion .

Thanks

I had faced Similar Experience with my Contractor. He proclaims himself to be an Engineer but does not even have a Single Mason or any other worker at his disposal. Just goes around and picks his men and works around. I did a good riddance of him. Sharing his name and no so that no more gullible victims form a part of his vicious trap. Rudrasamy - 9535133220. He stays in Rajaji Nagar and operates around RJ Nagar,Vijayanagar etc.

Kindly confirm if you had entered into an agreement with your contractor. If you do not have an agreement with the contractor, you need not worry and there is no way where he can make you pay. Viceversa also applies over here. Coming to the Strong Arm tactics, do not fear and be bold. God Bless.

Satish

I am completely disappointed with the entire building industry unprofessionals. This gentleman will just change his area of operation and his mobile number. He will become Rudrakumar and repeat the same in another area and go completely scot free. Thats the way to become rich...