Cancel a contract

[Thomas Vegas]

Good morning

We contracted a pool company 3 months ago.
They gave a price to re-done our pool (chip out, tiling and replastering).
At this point we noticed a big crack between the pool and the deck, we advised them, told us it can be fixed with "epoxy injections" (include on the initial budget)
They chipped out, and a few weeks after a tile guy came and said tiles shouldn't be installed because of this crack (epoxy injections will not be enough).
We figured it out we have to re-done completely the copping around the pool.
The company come back with an extra cost of 9000 (the initial one was 8000)
We don't have the budget and this lack of professionalism (extra delay), make me the will to cancel the contract.
I checked everywhere on the contract, nothing about cancellation or extra fees...
For now, we just pay the first 10%.
So can we cancel the contract without being in trouble?
Thank you in advance for your help.

 

[jblizzle]

Sorry, most of us are just pool owners, not lawyers, and can't offer legal advice.
Recommend you consult an attorney or at a minimum discuss this with your contractor.

 

[Thomas Vegas]

Thank you jblizzle, just curious if someone experience this kind of trouble. I plan to see my contractor tomorrow, but I would like to know my option first. Thank you.

 

[JamesW]

I'm not going to give you legal advice, but I will give my opinion .

First, you have to determine if you have good cause to cancel the contract. You would need to be able to justify the cause. Can you?

If you can't justify good cause, you would be liable for any expense that the other party incurred in good faith in pursuit of completing the contract.

Those expenses can be material, labor, design, administrative etc.

The expenses might even include costs of lost work if they turned down work because they were committed to your project.

 

[sktn77a]

They chipped out, and a few weeks after a tile guy came and said tiles shouldn't be installed because of this crack (epoxy injections will not be enough). We figured it out we have to re-done completely the copping around the pool. The company come back with an extra cost of 9000 (the initial one was 8000).

Well, who's to say the tile guy is correct - have you sat down with them to discuss, constructively, if he is correct? If by cancel the contract you mean pay them for what they've done so far and both parties walk away, what are you going to do with your pool?

 

[Dutiful Daughter]

Hi -- I can't give you formal legal advice -- but you are best off with a soft conversation because this doesn't sound like breach technically. From what you described, your contract may be based on incomplete or mis-information, but unless there is something called "fraud in the inducement" -- they knew they were giving you wrong advice just to get you to sign -- it would be hard for you to suggest the pool people breached. They aren't tile people -- so you took their opinion rather than bringing out the tile expert at the time you were contracting. This is a really tough place b/c it isn't "fair" -- but probably the pool guy thought it wasn't an issue and then it may be. So best to talk to everyone and see about a work around. I'm guessing that they are fulfilling the actual contract -- and your issue is the conversation that happened prior to contracting. I know this is really expensive and difficult. Once someone has started work BTW -- you have to pay them for substantial completion -- so most likely you are stuck finishing whatever the pool guys started. Sorry to bring tough news.

 

[Thomas Vegas]

Thank you all for your help. It was useful.
I will continue with the same company for the initial contract and hire another for the coping.
These kinds of legal questions, as a foreigner, are tricky, thank you for your help!