Client not paying bill..

Well there it is lol I guess i'll be giving the sheriff a call in the morning. Tried to be nice with the guy, but when I dont get my payments I can't just walk away.

 

That's good

 

haha yup.

 

Yea man. Don't wait for people to screw you. Get LEO involved.

 

wise words Dave!
To the OP sorry you are having to go through this. I wish you the best in getting paid properly.

 

More wise words ...you are two for two tonight

 

Called my buddy whose an officer in a different county. He basically said to call the sheriff's office and ask for a Civil Standby to retrieve the property. So that's what I'll be doing in the morning.

 

If I remember right my dad did a Claims, I know he wasn't very happy that he didn't get the correct payment that he was supposed to. He did say that it screws up the other persons credit or something. But the way this guy has been I doubt hes too worried about his credit. Also the job was deal about 60 yards from the house. The job is "connected" to the house, but only connected by the water line that goes from where the storage tanks were to the house.

 

If your county has a property appraiser website you can do a record search on the address and the home owners info will be listed.

 

ouch

 

Ive already tried to do that. Looks like I'd have to go in and ask them in person and request it. I've thought about asking the Human Health Services guy that comes and checks out our wells after we drill them, if he could get the information for me. But I'm not sure how much good it would be, I mean can you charge the property owner for something that the renter had put in?

 

yeah ouch, but if I read the courts.ca.gov website correctly a verbal contract is as good as a written and is valid up to 2 years. Not sure how easy it would be to prove other then the other people being around and the estimate I gave him.

 

Yeah, when my buddy told me to call the sheriffs office, I thought about just calling/sending a text to the client to say "hey either we do this and you let me come up and remove the equipment, you pay me the full amount, or I bring the sheriff with me" I doubt he wants a sheriff up there, but at this point I dont want to go up there alone, and A) I take the stuff back and some how get in trouble from it or B) Get shot at lol

 

That's all you can do.
Problem is, the judgement is only as good as your ability to enforce it.
You'll end up spending $5k on a collection service running asset searches and attempting to garnish accounts or wages (and it sounds like his "business" is primarily cash.)

If he's growing weed, and the house is a rental, rat him out to the owner and the Sheriff.

 

you are a contractor I assume? you should have a contract. and cash is always a red flag.

good luck, I hope it works out for you.

 

I own a few rental properties and tenants aren't allowed to do anything like that without my consent. As the home owner if something is not paid, or major damage caused by whatever they did i am responsible and in the end they wont get their deposit back.

If you get in contact with the homeowner tell them whats going on, and that its going to be taken out and put back the way it was. If they disagree tell them your going to take them and tenant to court and they will prob agre really quick for you to go take your stuff back.

 

Unfortunately cash is rarely a red flag for us. We do quite a bit of work for guys in his line of work. Whether we know it for a fact or have suspicion. If that's what they want to do that's their choice, they hire me to do the services, I do, it call it good, get paid....except for this time lol.. and go our seperate ways. A written contract is definitely being done from now on. Thank you, I hope it works out too.

 

No I don't plan on any allegations. While we were talking to him about this job, he had mentioned about drilling a well on a property he had up in the hills. Assuming thats where he does his outdoor work. Pot growers I work for are normally very nice, pay on time, and occasionally try to tip you in their product haha. I don't want word going around that we rat out growers, it'd definately hit us hard.

 

a contract does not guarantee payment...

it gives you the legal right to pursue payment.

and a verbal contract puts a heavy burden of proof on the party seeking payment for goods and/or services.

 

Is that line of work legal?