Paying in Full Upfront Leaves You With Nothing but Hope

Q: DEAR TIM: My kitchen cabinet remodel has turned into a disaster. I contracted the job through a national home-center chain, which demanded that I pay in advance for the entire job. There are numerous issues, and the granite top is sagging in the middle of my sink. My complaints are going unanswered. The installer will not come back, and my calls to the home center are getting me nowhere. Is it time to call a lawyer? Should I sue to get my money back? What went wrong? I trusted the large national company. -- Andy E., Lexington, Ky.

A: DEAR ANDY: Complaints regarding home building and remodeling are often on the top 10 list of consumer issues. Let's put on the rubber gloves and do an autopsy to discover what went wrong. It's important to find the cause so this never happens to you again.

You undoubtedly had lots of anxiety going into this project, as you indicated that your trust was on the line. My guess is that you did not know exactly what needed to be done, so you wanted to go with a large, brand-name company you thought would make life easy. This is a huge mistake. You always need to investigate what is involved, how things work and how to spot a pro. This way, you protect your interests at all times.

The actual cause of death was you making the payment in full at the beginning of the job. When you do this, the only leverage you have is hope to make sure your kitchen-remodel dreams come true. You hope that all goes well, and you hope you get what you paid for. Never pay the full amount in advance for any remodeling job. It is unnecessary, and it puts you in grave financial risk.

It is reasonable to pay some upfront money in some situations. A kitchen remodeling job is one of them. If the cabinets you ordered were custom ones that are not normally stocked by the home center, then it is reasonable for them to request a 50 percent deposit to order the cabinets. It is reasonable for them to ask for a similar 50 percent deposit for the granite top, as it will probably only fit in your kitchen. You should not, however, pay upfront for installation labor -- ever. You pay for labor only once it is complete and satisfactory.

When you hold the money you owe for labor, you have the power to get results. You can create a fair payment schedule that distributes a certain amount of money as the work progresses. If this means you have to make smaller payments every three or four days on smaller jobs, it is worth the inconvenience.

You said the home center demanded payment in full before the work began. I don't doubt that it demanded that, but, given how competitive the marketplace is, you might have negotiated special terms that allowed you to make staggered payments as the work progressed. Use the law of supply and demand whenever possible. There are many other, smaller-scale professional remodelers who would have agreed to take your money as the job progressed.

As for calling a lawyer, you can do that as a last resort. You will discover that you will have to pay legal fees no matter what happens. You may spend thousands of dollars to get the same results you would get on your own.

Start by contacting your local Better Business Bureau to see whether the home center is obligated to enter arbitration. Then contact the headquarters of the home center, fill out online complaint forms at its Web site, contact any consumer reporters at local media outlets and visit Web sites where consumer complaints are lodged. In other words, don't look like a doormat -- or you will become one.

Tim Carter can be contacted via his Web site ,http://www.askthebuilder.com/printer_Submit_Question.shtml.

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