If a contractor damages things in your unit/apt..

1. Contractor pays for his damages.

2. Contractor pays. As per the building requirements for insured contractors damaging common areas and building.

Contractor always pays. Or at least fixes what they caused. There have been several instances where after demo the neighbors apartment had some cracking in either their ceiling or walls and we went in and fixed them. It happens

Contractor pays for damages. For messing up your walls, you will need to get submit few estimates from different painters and submit to your contractors.

For messing up carpets in your building common area, building will ask owner to pay for it. Owner will need to ask contractor to reimburse.

I'm not sure if you can just deduct damages from final bill. It may need to be done in two separate transactions.

Sounds like you have a lawsuit on your hands.

I would hold the payment.

Job is not done until it's done right.

Messing up carpet and walls is not done right.

About 8 months after my reno was completed the unit below me was flooded. It turned out that my contractor's guys had used 2 3/4" nails to tack up the baseboards and they pierced the copper radiator pipes in the walls. My walls needed to be opened , pipes replacesd and then closed up/painted, etc. The unit below needed the ceiling ripped out, replaced and painted. My contractor covered all plumbing and repair charges without a peep. He was very apologetic and embarrassed. I would still use this contractor again since he stepped up and made everything right.

What happens if the contractor doesn't pay?

Scenario #1 - Shareholder's contractor damages the building common area and refuses to remedy the damages. Is the shareholder responsible to reimburse the co-op and fight the contractor's insurance, or does the co-op need to fight to the contractor?

Scenario #2 - Contractor working on the co-op common areas damages an individual shareholder's unit (e.g., gashes a door, breaks a window) and refuses to remedy the damages. Does the co-op reimburse the shareholder and then fight with the contractor's insurance, or is the shareholder left going after the contractor's insurance.

Both of these came up at a recent board meeting, and no one in our small building seemed to know the answer, though we had educated guesses. In the end, the shareholder doing the renovation (Scenario 1) volunteered to put down an extra large security deposit, and the co-op board gave written assurance to the shareholders whose units need to be accessed for the common repair that it would reimburse the unit owners for all damages caused by the co-op's contractor, even if unable to collect from the contractor (Scenario 2).

the contractor has to provide his insurance in the alteration agreement naming the coop as the beneficiary. the contractor does not fix the problem, you contact the insurance company to have the issues resolved. his insurance goes sky high, he never does it again.

Ab,

You would call the insurance company if your contractor cause damage to the neighbors apartment. Let's say he was gutting your bathroom and the vibrations caused 3 of your neighbors tiles to pop off their bathroom wall. That happens. I have probably fixed 5 neighbors apartments through the years. All calling the insurance company does is in the long run cost you, the consumer more money

lad, so in scenario 2, basically all the owners are going to take the hit for the contractor's mistake if coop is "unable to collect from the contractor"?Does this also mean that the coop did not require the contractor to have insurance?

Sorry, I see that the contractor for the common areas was required to have insurance.

Primer, i'd expect a good contractor to remedy the situation. i think we're talking about one that refuses.

To clarify, the co-op absolutely requires all contractors to be insured. The question is "who has to chase after the contractor and his insurance" if there is a dispute about damages.

The co-op wants to make sure it isn't floating a large repair bill while trying to collect from a shareholder's contractor.

Conversely, the shareholders whose units will be accessed for the common repair want the co-op to provide a secondary guarantee that any damages will be promptly reimbursed by the co-op, regardless.