Bummer, you have to take them to small claims court.Be advised, whoever signs the paperwork must be the one who shows up in court. Any signatures on contracts and estimates will be the evidence you ll wish to show.
it s hard to say without more details. Depending on the type of work you may be able to file a lien against their property (for example if you did roofing work on their house and they don t pay you). And as the previous answer stated, depending on the amount, you may have to go to small claims court to get a judgement. A lot really depends on the amount, type of work you did and the state you live in. Depending the amount, you may want to consult an attorney (or hire a collection agency to go after them)
I live in Ca. also and here bad PR will get the doors closed I use to collect for a company when I was a linebacker in college and I would do a couple of things, My favorite was to just go there and sit in their lobby with the unpaid invoice and the signature for work done on a clipboard. I waited and talking to everyone that came in, everyone walked by, or even pulled up. I would ask them questions like I was doing some survey especially asking what people thought about companies that don t pay their bills on time. If they didn t have a lobby I would stand out front I waved to cars driving by and would be holding a sign that said they owed me money for work completed. (again with the signed completion note and the over due invoice on my clipboard) Honestly I don t remember ever waiting longer than twenty five minutes and I was collecting small amounts even under a hundred bucks.
You ll have to prove that the work was done. Preferably, the other party have signed for the work as completed, but that s not strictly necesary, just makes it easier for you to win. If they did not sign, you ll need material provided, log of hours worked, photo or proof of end result (before / after photos?) and so on, as well as copy of original order signed by the person who placed the order. EDIT: Contact your state contractor s board on how to file a mechanic s lien on the property is a great idea. I wish I thought of that first. ---Kasey C, PC guru since Apple II daysHard work has a future payoff. Laziness pays off now.
Quick answer, put a contractors lien on anything they own outright. Then start proceedings in small claims court if is under the maximum limit allowed. If you made a deal with the person to do work you had a contract, that is the requirement for a contractors lien.
