Looking to get a unbiased opinion on a personal business situation

[Odinvalknir]

So I am not a residential contractor in the general sense. I work in the chemical plants as a electrician, instrumentation technician. Just a little bit of background.


I I have been out of work for about a month and decided I would pick up some side work doing General Contracting out in the public world as an electrician. A guy that I met through a job site on Facebook put me on to a job at a house that he has done some work in before. The guy had no work of his own skill or craft at the house he just knew these people needed something done and that I wanted to work. We do not have any business agreements documented or verbal. To me it just seems like he was playing the middleman, and got $100 for his effort. He wanted to charge the landlord or the tenants 30% on top of my bid for the work even though he was not going to be doing any of the work himself. The landlord and tenants had my phone number and called to ask me if I was willing and able to do the work not under any agreements with the original contractor. To which I said yes because as I stated there is no agreements between me and the other guy saying that I am his subcontractor or that I have to pay him any percentage or that the landlord has to pay him any percentage of my work. The contractor caught wind of this as you would expect and is now mad at me for taking on the work and at least in his mind cutting him out of the equation. Am I in the wrong from taking on the work not being his subcontractor but going at it under my own name?


Tl:dr got put on a job through somebody that I do not know personally and he believes I am cutting him out of the equation because the homeowner did not want to pay him 30% on top of my work even though there are no agreements between myself and the person who directed me to the job

[ELB]

Legally (IANAL) I don't think you owe the middle guy anything. Did he get $100 from you for lining up the job? I didn't understand what you meant by "for his effort."

Commercially speaking, you can certainly expect no more leads for work from middle guy, and I can see why he might be miffed. 30% seems high if he was doing nothing other than introducing two parties, but if he was offering you as a subcontractor and has to do some overhead paperwork to document this, I can see where it would be pricy.

[WTR]

Are you a licensed as a Master electrician and have you taken out a permit? If you are working on existing building, do you carry builder risk insurance in addition to a General Liability policy?

[flechero]

If you are not under contract or agreement to him and the homeowner isn't either- I don't believe you/they are obligated to pay him.



WTR- he may not be working inside city limits and may not need permits (or an ele license) depending on the job and location.

[WTR]

He still needs a State license and even out of City limits many Counties require permits and have agreements with the closest City to provide inspection services. Many Counties require electricians license, permit, proof of insurance and a local license to work in the County. If the contractor thinks you are cutting him out, he may turn you in.

[Odinvalknir]

Legally (IANAL) I don't think you owe the middle guy anything. Did he get $100 from you for lining up the job? I didn't understand what you meant by "for his effort"

Just as you said. What I meant by that was yes he put together me with the tenants of the home. Basically played middleman to put a skilled worker with somebody that needed work done. He got I believe over $100 from the landlord for introducing me or however he put it to the landlord. Bottom line he got money for that part of the job. There was no other agreements or contracts or anything between him and I over this job.

Are you a licensed as a Master electrician and have you taken out a permit? If you are working on existing building, do you carry builder risk insurance in addition to a General Liability policy?

While none of that has anything to do with the question that I ask. Yes I am licensed, yes I am insured and no I do not need a permit where I am currently working

[Odinvalknir]

No I'm not a master electrician. I am a journeyman license electrician but I have a master electrician Whose license I can tie to my work and do all of my license work under his license yes. And no the guy that I am dealing with is not my master electrician.

[WTR]

Does he also cover you under his insurance? Does he take out permits ( where required).

[puma guy]

If the conditions are not contained within the four corners and edges of a piece of paper he has no standing to demand anything. You didn't mention whether you were aware of the $100 fee he collected from the landlord. It appears he's playing both ends after the fact. I have encountered people who do this sort of thing. I was offered some free appliances that I was going to repair and donate, then when I went to get them all of a sudden they wanted money for them. I walked away. Unless this is a really great and close friend I'd politely tell him to take a walk. He has no scruples if he makes up conditions after the fact and he's probably done similar things to folks he does work for. ie adding costs and fees to finish the work. Which brings up the matter of his reviews and feed back on his jobs. That could give you some idea of who you're dealing with. Have you checked those out? Good luck on your work and employment efforts.

[RPBrown]

I deal with this type of situation quite often. One of my GC's will introduce me to a homeowner or business owner and they will contact me direct. I personally will not bid direct to the individual in this circumstance unless my GC gives his blessing on it because the GC gives me a LOT of work.
It is not illegal to do so unless you are under contract, however, it is unethical.

[flechero]

I deal with this type of situation quite often. One of my GC's will introduce me to a homeowner or business owner and they will contact me direct. I personally will not bid direct to the individual in this circumstance unless my GC gives his blessing on it because the GC gives me a LOT of work.
It is not illegal to do so unless you are under contract, however, it is unethical.

I think your situation is apples to oranges

I think the original intro was purely a referral and he got paid... This guy isn't his GC and isn't someone he worked with before or since. IMO, one intro is not a license to charge 30% for life and all subsequent work, unrelated to the first job for which a fee was paid.

[jerry_r60]

It sounds like you had no written or oral agreement with this guy. Him coming up with terms after the fact is a non-starter. You should invoice your customer for your fee, let them know you had no written or verbal agreement with this guy before hand and therefore they owe your invoice. If they had some agreement with the other guy, that's between them and he can invoice them.

[WTR]

I apologize for straying from your original question. I have often referred one of my electrical or mechanical subs for a project which had nothing to do with my skills. I never asked or expected a finders fee. They would do the same for me if they came across a project more suited to me. I’d say he is out of line.

[Odinvalknir]

Does he also cover you under his insurance? Does he take out permits ( where required).

No, and no. He was purely an introduction to the client.

[Odinvalknir]

I deal with this type of situation quite often. One of my GC's will introduce me to a homeowner or business owner and they will contact me direct. I personally will not bid direct to the individual in this circumstance unless my GC gives his blessing on it because the GC gives me a LOT of work.
It is not illegal to do so unless you are under contract, however, it is unethical.

I think your situation is apples to oranges

I think the original intro was purely a referral and he got paid... This guy isn't his GC and isn't someone he worked with before or since. IMO, one intro is not a license to charge 30% for life and all subsequent work, unrelated to the first job for which a fee was paid.

This was my thinking. If up front he had told me I was going to be a subcontractor for him doing electrical work and showed me some kind of agreement on paper I would have gone along with that and never given my phone number out or offered my services outside of the realm of his company name. But because he was charging so much extra on top of what I had already quoted the homeowner and landlord agreed to just call me and go around him.