• Disputes over construction, renovation, landscaping or other such work are the most common cases in the Small Claims Court. Undoubtedly, their success very much depends on proper actions at the very early stages of the conflict.
• Our practice shows that a homeowner is often somewhat at a loss when she or he faces contractor work problems. They may be issues of work quality or project incompletion, etc. When such problems arise, the question becomes what a homeowner should do. More accurately, how she can make a contractor fix a problem or complete the work or, at the very least, secure evidence and legal grounds to get compensation through the Small Claims Court.
• We created these instructions to guide you in addressing contractor issues and collecting evidence for future litigation.

Step 1: Understand the issue.

• Examine the work and create a simple and accurate description of the issues which, in your opinion, need fixing and work your contractor did not complete.
• Communicate these issues to the contractor and ask him to come and fix them.
• Do this in writing. Use registered mail, fax, email or even text message that you could easily document and prove notification delivery.
• This can help because the contractor may address your concerns. If he or she does not, you can use the notification to prove that you allowed your contractor an opportunity to fix the problem. In 90 percent of cases, contractors claim that they did not know about the issues. Also, they often claim that they were not allowed to come and fix it. Having the notification ready will help you to prevent that.

Step 2: Have the work inspected

• If the contractor did not respond or refused to admit and fix the issue, engage another professional (expert) with knowledge in the area.
• Ask the expert to examine any poor or incomplete work. Request her or him to provide you with a credible report that you can use as evidence in the court.
• The expert may be a professional engineer in cases of serious structural issues. You may get just another well-experienced and qualified contractor if the issues are less serious. In all cases, you should get the report in writing.
• The report must include the following:
  • a precise list and description of all defects,
  • an explanation of the defects with references to the respective rules and regulations (Building Code, Electrical Safety Code, etc.), and
  • a recommendation about fixing each defect.

There are some companies in Toronto and the GTA specializing in inspections of construction and renovation work.

Step 3: Get an estimate. 

• Invite another contractor to provide you with an estimate. You need to know how much it would cost to fulfill the inspection recommendations.
• If your inspector is a contractor, not an engineer, it’s better to get the report and estimate from different individuals. The court may be skeptical if the inspector and new contractor are the same.  A contractor may have an interest in being retained to repair the inspected work.
• It is better yet to have two or more estimates from different contractors.  A common cause for dispute during the Small Claims Court trial is that the estimate is unreasonably high.

Step 4: Contact the contractor.

• Contact your original contractor once again. This time, provide him with a copy of the inspection report and the estimate.  Furthermore, offer him once again to come and fix the issue. In addition, mention that if he refuses, you will have no other choice but to commence litigation to recover the cost of fixing the issue through the Small Claims Court procedure.
• Give him a fair amount of time to respond.
• As always, there should be solid proof of such communication: communicate in writing and with proof of delivery.

Step 5: Start a claim in Small Claims Court.

• If the previous four steps did not work and the contractor is still refusing to repair poor workmanship, and the project is still not completed to your satisfaction, the final step to resolve the dispute is to commence legal action in the Small Claims Court (where the disputed amount of work is $35,000 or less).
• Before taking this step, you must evaluate it from a financial point of view: consider the cost and time required for litigation and the amount you can recover through the Small Claims Court and then actually collect from the contractor.
• Keep in mind that other considerations may become relevant as the small claim progresses. For example, a frequent question is whether you should get another contractor and fix the poor or incomplete work before, after or simultaneously with the Small Claims Court action.

These five steps are key to dealing with a contractor problem. They may lead to a resolution of this problem or put you in a better legal position should you decide to commence a lawsuit in Small Claims Court.

Read more about how to deal with a difficult contractor here and here.

Should you find yourself in a situation where you must deal with a contractor’s poor workmanship or similar issues, please do not hesitate to contact us for a free case assessment.