Contractor threatens legal action

[Cswanger]

Jurisdiction

Pennsylvania

We signed a proposal that said it was an estimate for services for a geo thermal system to be installed at our new home that we are the general contractors for building it. No money has been exchanged and no work has been done on site. We told the company that we were no longer interested in the geo thermal due to lack of space in our yard after we got the utilities in and felt their specs for the system would not fit. We received a letter from their lawyer demanding we respond within 10 days that we will move forward or pay for a system they suposingly built without any money down at their shop.

Would the geo thermal company have to obey the HICPA codes?

It's a new construction and they were just supplying the heating and AC. I am acting as the general contractor and owner of the property.

 

[mightymoose]

What does the document you signed say about payment and when the equipment is to be built? I'd bet your answers are in that document. If it isn't specifically stated then there is likely no obligation to pay.
Are you certain that the proposed equipment will not fit in the yard? Who was responsible for determining if there was enough space?

 

[army judge]

Would the geo thermal company have to obey the HICPA codes?

Be smart, retain a licensed PA lawyer to protect your interests.

 

[Cswanger]

What does the document you signed say about payment and when the equipment is to be built? I'd bet your answers are in that document. If it isn't specifically stated then there is likely no obligation to pay.
Are you certain that the proposed equipment will not fit in the yard? Who was responsible for determining if there was enough space?

It states payment is to be made as followed:
1/2 at ducting rough in and balance on completion. The company has not been on site to do any work and no money has been exchanged. They sent us different sketches when we first started having concerns and none of them fit. They are now trying to come up with something done out west in Minnesota or Montana?? where they place the loops close together where in the papers we received it is recommended the loops be 12' apart to work. Keep in mind there is 5 loops and we have 39'. We are in PA keep in mind. I don't want something that works in another states with different soils, weather, etc. It does not state anywhere in the proposal when the equipment is to be built and we have not given them a written timeline on when it is to be installed on the proposal. We may have verbally stated when we signed the contract early summer, but never gave a written date. Also, they have never been to the site that we were building on before construction started to look at it. We think they may have been poking around without our acknowledgement or us being present to show them the lines or utilities because they knew that the foundation was up and we did put in the two pipes for the system to go in.

 

[Cswanger]

Be smart, retain a licensed PA lawyer to protect your interests.

Thank you. We have contacted our attorney but he isn't in until Wednesday due to the holiday and are just trying to get a sense of the HICPA code and if it applies. If it does there is defiantly violation.

 

[mightymoose]

Based on the language of the proposal it seems payment is not due.
The burden is theirs to prove you owe them. If this is the only document then they apparently can't do that.