I can’t believe what some laws in this state allow and enable. There is a possibility of getting a construction lien put against our house and here’s how it happened.
We had some water damage at the house due to broken valve in the waterline going to our fridge. As a result, a small part of the hardwood floor downstairs under the fridge had to be replaced and the whole floor sanded and refinished to it match evenly. Luckily, our insurance covers this and we only had to pay for the deductible. The insurance company, Farmers in this case, has a flooring program to handle cases like this. CCA Global Partners is part of that program and was hired for the project. They in turn contracted JB Factory Carpets for the job, who then subcontracted Newport Floors to do the actual work.
The guys at Newport Floors were nice and professional, and worked their asses off to complete this labor intensive project. Farmers paid JB Factory Carpets and all is good, right? Not exactly, apparently JB Factory Carpets closed their doors and went out of business, and did not pay Newport Floors a dime. In fact, they owe Newport Floors for 10 different jobs that went unpaid. The only option for Newport Floors is to put a construction lien against our house in order to try to recover from the situation and get paid, because the state of Washington law allows that. I understand what the intention of the law here is but seems a bit odd that our family as the end customer and a hard working small family company (Newport Floors) have to suffer from this and try to resolve the situation. Also, despite the fact that we had very little to do of who got hired to do the job.
“Under Washington law, those who furnish labor, professional services, materials, or equipment for the repair, remodel, or alteration of your owner-occupied principal residence and who are not paid, have a right to enforce their claim for payment against your property. This claim is known as a construction lien.”
“A common method to avoid construction lien: Dual paychecks (payment to all parties including the prime contractor & subcontractors).”
Luckily, it seems Farmers is taking responsibility and is trying to sort this out. Hopefully they will take care of this and also make sure the guys at Newport Floors will get paid, they’ve certainly earned their money.
Go figure. All in safe hands? Maybe not.
