Personal Injury Law

Construction Site Safety: Being your own contractor can be a tough way to save money.

By Steve Lombardi

Disgruntled drywaller kills over how much he was to be paid

In front of co-workers a drywaller shot and killed the homeowner following a dispute as to how much he was to be paid. The homeowner was only 43-years of age. The Jackson County, Missouri man then held up in his pick-up truck and held police off for several hours while negotiations ensued. It’s unclear what they were negotiating but the man asked to speak to his family and was thrown a phone.

Building a house and acting as your own contractor can be very difficult. Vendors in the construction trade will often times underbid the project to get the job hoping they can later increase the amount charged for worked added by the homeowner-contractor or latent defects that cause additional work. It’s frustrating to deal with these issues and with angry vendors. Everyone senses they are being played and in the end tempers can flare. Using a written contract is a one way of resolving disputes. All contracts should be bid and all bids should include a break down of time and materials along with a firm completion date.

Getting so mad that violence erupts is never the answer.

Full post as published by Des Moines Personal Injury Lawyer on January 12, 2009 (boomark / email).