Chasing a contractor who never finishes: method and template

The scaffolding has gone, the finishing has not. Here is how a board documents and chases a project that drags on, without stepping into the manager shoes.

The scenario is depressingly ordinary: most of the work is done, the contractor has been paid in line with progress, and "three small things" remain — a joint, a patch of paint, a skirting board. Six months later, the three small things are still there.

The board is not the client and cannot give orders to the contractor: the manager carries out the decisions. But the board sees the building every day, so it is the board that must build the file without which nobody can demand anything.

Step 1 — Record precisely

Take the approved quote and list, line by line, what is done and what is not. A record framed in quote lines is far stronger than one framed in general impressions: "item 4.2 (expansion joint repairs, 1,800) has not been carried out" is not arguable.

Photograph each shortfall, wide and close, as for any defect. Carry each line into your works tracking table, in the snags column.

Step 2 — Write to the manager, not the contractor

This is the most frequent and most costly mistake: writing directly to the contractor. Not only does the board lack standing to do so, it also lets each party point at the other afterwards. Write to the manager, handing them a ready-made record.

The more usable your record, the faster the chase goes out: a manager who has to go and inspect the site themselves will take three weeks longer.

The template letter to the manager

1. Subject: works [name] — record of non-completion and request to chase — condo association [name].
2. Dear Sir or Madam, on [date] the board recorded the state of progress of the works [name], approved at the general meeting of [date], resolution no. [x].
3. The following items of the quote from [contractor] dated [date] have not been carried out or are defective: [item, amount, description, photo no.].
4. We ask you to serve formal notice on the contractor to complete these works within [duration], and to keep us informed of their reply.
5. We also ask you to withhold, in the meantime, payment of the balance relating to those items.
6. Dated photographic records are attached.
7. Yours faithfully, [Name], [role], [date].

An unfinished project is settled with quote lines and dates, never with irritation.

Step 3 — The leverage of the final payment

The only real pressure is financial: as long as the balance is unpaid, the contractor has a concrete reason to come back. Hence the importance of checking, before any chase, where payment stands — information only the manager holds, and which must be asked for explicitly.

It is also why acceptance of the works deserves to be taken seriously: snags written down and photographed at acceptance are worth far more than complaints voiced three months later.

Step 4 — If the silence continues

Document each chase with its date. After two with no effect, the subject becomes as much about the manager as the contractor: see the escalation method when the manager does not reply.

And put all of it in your annual report: an unfinished project reported four times in writing and left as is, is a fact the general meeting needs to know.

The record makes the difference

In this kind of file, whoever holds the dates and the photos wins. With CoproHarmony each observation becomes a timestamped issue with its photos, attached to the project concerned, and the whole thing exports to PDF for the manager, the contractor or the meeting. Create your space for free.

The most effective leverage sits at the very end of the project: handover and reservations.