My Mom is building a house. Hardwood flooring is going to be delivered later this month and will set in the house for a few days to acclimate. GC claims he’s not responsible for it and hardwoord provider claims they are not responsible for it.
The GC built the house with the exception of a few things. My Mom’s contract stated that she would take care of the purchasing and arranging for installation of hardwood flooring (with coordination of GC).
The GC and the hardwood provider do not get along, so I assume that is playing into the situation here.
Who would typically be responsible for flooring sitting in a house before it is installed?
MERC
Replies
Usually the person who paid for the materials and arranged delivery for the materials would be responsible for the materials until they are installed
With the GC 'building the house', your Mom apparently paying for the flooring, and a third party installing it, it's a potential finger-pointing circle. Not just now, but in the future should there are any post-installation problems.
"You installed it wrong" sez Mom.
"You bought crappy flooring" sez the installer.
"I wasn't even involved, you two work it out" sez the GC.
Seems to me your Mom is. She put it in the contract that she would take care of the flooring. So that's what she needs to do.
The difference between what the most and the least learned people know is inexpressibly trivial in relation to that which is unknown. [Albert Einstein]
sounds simple...
your Mom.
cheaper and customer supplied materials come with the price tag of responsibility.
Jeff
Buck Construction Pittsburgh,PA
Fine Carpentery.....While U Waite
DJ
I'm trying to figure out why your concerned with the responsibility of the hardwood?
Are you concerned that someone will steal it or something to that effect.
Just curious
Doug
Your mom owns it. It is her house. Why would anyone else be responsible for it?
I can imagine a source for this conflict.
Timing!
The GC may not be ready to have it brought in yet and you Mom had made arrangement for whatever reason, to have it delivered anyway, so it will be in the way of some other process going on.
BTW, it should take from ten days to three weeks to "acclimate", not just a few days.
So - what's the rest of the story here? That can influence the answers.
Excellence is its own reward!
My Mom and I are 4 hours from the house. My Mom is worried that the HW flooring will walk away. The GC and some others will know the flooring is there, but the GC is not going to take any responsibility for it. The GC has taken advantage of us not being local before (saying X, doing Y).
I see everyone's point that my Mom bought it so it's hers. Unfortunately the flooring offered by the builder was total junk. They seem to just want to carpet the whole house. We were effectively forced to go outside to get decent HW flooring.
The other Catch-22 is that she doesn't own the house yet, so she can't just go live there with the flooring (which is what I would do). The CO will be issued next week, so the house is entirely done outside of the flooring. I guess I could suggest that she change the locks as soon as the HW is delivered and only she and the HW installer have the key. But that will require the approval of the GC and he's been a jerk a few times before. And it still won't assure the HW flooring won't walk away.
I know most of you here generally side with the GC because you are more on that side than the homeowner side. But the spirit of the contract was that the GC would cooperate with a HW installer of my Mom's choice. Just seems like he has been as uncooperative as he could.
Thanks for the responses and I'll let you know how it pans out. Most likely we'll just let the stuff sit there and hope it doesn't walk off.
For the most part, if was your mom's house, it's her flooring, it's her problem. And for most insurance policies, for houses under construciton, THEFT and VANDALISM are specifically excluded. Since she doesn't own the house yet, it's a good question. I'd take a gamble and not los any sleep.
Edited 10/21/2003 10:15:37 PM ET by Cairo
With that situation and that much mistrust, I would seriously consider delaying the shipment until after closing and then closing the GC out of the house.
As for siding with contractors against HOs, that may appear to happen often here but it is because of the facts of each case, and often having had sinmilar situations for a frame of reference while HOs more often base their conclusions on their imagination and wishfull thinking instead of facts. I - and I think many others here - base advice on experience and side with right against wrong more than side with a general class against another.
Excellence is its own reward!
I agree. I didn't mean to come off implying that most here just blindly agree with the trade side of the equation. I realize most here live on the facts and facts alone, and that's a good thing (and also why I'm here).
My initial question was to find out who is typically responsible for material delivered to a jobsite and the answer appears to be "whoever paid for it."
So as H Ross Perot would say "See...case closed".
Thanks -MERC
Well, back to that origin - typically, it should be the GC who buys it and is responsible. Your situation is unique.
The ref to a four hour drive for Mom reminds me that we have seen you before with another Q related to this job.
re this Q, there is a principle in law that any person is expected to exercise due diligence to use reasonable measures to care for any property or person left in his care. For instance, if a renter disappears leaving furniture and other personal possesions behind, the landlord is not normally allowed to simply take possesion of those items and distribute them as he sees fit.
The word reasonable does apply
If the stuff is nearly junk in a low rent place, it is possible that it might be reasonable to send most of it to the dump after a reasonable time.
If it is fine furniture from a swank apartment, it is reasonable that he put it instorage and make effort to find her or relatives who can deal with it. unlessa the rental contract specifically states otherwise, it is not reasonable for him to sell it and pocket the money, especially if it is worth many times the price of a few months rent.
So, is it reasonable to expect the GC to keep the house locked when he or his agents are not there and to keep a drop clothe over it when painting or doing other work?
More or less yes.
But it is also reasonable for him to expect that it would not be delivered into the site while it is still his house, unless there is specific contract language adressing this issue.
Thus, the wisest course is to avoid the conflict, wait dor closing, and then take delivery of HER goods into HER house instead of assuming that it is OK to store HER goods into HIS house without his permission. That might create a legal complication of adverse possesion in addition to whatever contract specifics apply..
Excellence is its own reward!
Piffin-
Thanks for the thoughtful response. I don't believe I have ever posted a question about my Mom's house before, but I might have. Maybe it was something about how the plumbing sprung a leak UNDER THE BASEMENT FLOOR during the pressure test. So they just jack hammered part of the nice monolithic concrete slab to do some work on it. Of course that section is around the toilet flange in a tiled bathroom. I'm worried about their concrete patch moving slightly relative to the rest of the floor and breaking the tile around the toilet. We shall see.
But back to the flooring...
The contract stipulates that the GC will take care of scheduling the flooring from a contractor of my Mom's choice. She made that choice and he was a pain in the butt in doing the scheduling. But ultimately HE is the one who requested delivery of the flooring next week. It has nothing to do with my Mom ordering the flooring to be delivered to his house. He's the one that made the call and said bring it on this date. He has also agreed to sign a bill of delivery, which seems to put him on the hook for taking "reasonable" precautions to make sure it's taken care of. That's all my Mom is really asking for. She doesn't expect him to roll out his cot and sleep on the stuff.
Thanks again -MERC
That does seem to place a reasonable burden of responsibility on him, regardless of his verbal disclaimer.
While leaks under a slab are not common, the method of getting to them to repair seems proper, depending on how well it was done..
Excellence is its own reward!
As an installer it is ultimately my responsibility to make sure that the flooring is properly cared for.....regardless of who purchased it......I'm the one who's gonna get called back in the winter when the floors shrink.
I always get to the site as soon as the flooring is delivered and check the moisture content of both the flooring and the sub floor. I'll make my recommendations to the contractor and homeowner as to what should be done. If my advice isn't heeded I walk.
Ditch