Contractor, Homeowner Feud Over Money in Walls

[JanetElaine]

About the money...the homeowner! My husband is an "evil contractor" as contractors tend to be called and even he said the money belongs to the homeowner. He obviously didn't get the memo that he needs to be greedy and evil to be a contractor!

*gasp* Guys! We found him! The one honest contractor in the entire country! We'll have to lock him up in a cage now so he can be on display... sorry about that, Pixies.

 

[GlitchWizard]

*gasp* Guys! We found him! The one honest contractor in the entire country! We'll have to lock him up in a cage now so he can be on display... sorry about that, Pixies.

We can let him out when we need contractor work, though, right? As long as we take shifts feeding him?

 

[JanetElaine]

We can let him out when we need contractor work, though, right? As long as we take shifts feeding him?

Yeah but only when there are at least two people with him... now that we've got him, we can't afford to have him escape!

 

[pixies]

*gasp* Guys! We found him! The one honest contractor in the entire country! We'll have to lock him up in a cage now so he can be on display... sorry about that, Pixies.

haha! You guys have made his day! Thank you!
I am very blessed to have a great husband.

 

[absinthe]

Why did she leave her wedding ring lying around the living room anyways??

Pixies, I am also totally curious about the religious stuff! If it's from the 1920's, I bet it's all cool and antiquey.

 

[philamena]

Just think how sorry that contractor probably is for ever saying anything to the homeowner. It could have been all his without anything ever being known about it. Who was it that once said Honesty Pays?? lol j/k

:dance: I bet the contractor wishes he'd never opened his mouth. lol

 

[southcitymom]

I think the decent thing to do would be to split it 50/50. The homeowner wouldn't have found the money without him doing the work and the contractor certainly could have kept his mouth shut and kept it all for himself. I don't know what the legal precedent would be but I think they should do anyway.

This is a tough one, but I'm going to agree with you, beakiebean. On the surface, I originally thought it should definitely go to the homeowne with maybe a 10% thank you too the contractor.

However, but for the efforts of this contractor, the homewoner would have no idea at all that this money existed (and the "finders keepers" laws seem to lean that way as well). Plus the contractor and homeowner were friends. Therefore, a 50/50 split seems most equitable.

I'll bet money that after attorneys and court costs, they'll each end up with less than they both could have had by working it out on their own!

The homewoner would do well to remeber the old adage that pigs get fat but hogs get slaughtered. Fire the attorneys and head to the bank with your buddy and you'll both come out better than before the walls were torn down. That's win-win in my book.

 

[JanetElaine]

This is a tough one, but I'm going to agree with you, beakiebean. On the surface, I originally thought it should definitely go to the homeowne with maybe a 10% thank you too the contractor.

However, but for the efforts of this contractor, the homewoner would have no idea at all that this money existed (and the "finders keepers" laws seem to lean that way as well). Plus the contractor and homeowner were friends. Therefore, a 50/50 split seems most equitable.

But for the efforts of the contractor... who was doing what he was hired by the homeowner for... and got paid for it too.
If the homeowner had never hired him, he wouldn't even have gotten the 10% and he could have been sitting around listening to another contractor telling him he got 10% of some money he found in a wall. More or less , but still - it's not like the contractor was there out of the goodness of his heart or by coincidence. He got hired by the homeowner. Had he found a dead body, he'd have wanted nothing to do with it and there would be no question at all.

 

[JanetElaine]

haha! You guys have made his day! Thank you!
I am very blessed to have a great husband.

You're welcome Pixies. Let us know what his favorite food is, so it's a bit easier to keep him calm.

 

[southcitymom]

But for the efforts of the contractor... who was doing what he was hired by the homeowner for... and got paid for it too.
If the homeowner had never hired him, he wouldn't even have gotten the 10% and he could have been sitting around listening to another contractor telling him he got 10% of some money he found in a wall. More or less , but still - it's not like the contractor was there out of the goodness of his heart or by coincidence. He got hired by the homeowner. Had he found a dead body, he'd have wanted nothing to do with it and there would be no question at all.

True - but the contractor still found something of value that was lost - even to the homeowner. But for his efforts, the homeowner and the contractor would be none the wiser. I still vote 50-50.

 

[JanetElaine]

But for his efforts, the homeowner and the contractor would be none the wiser.

That's where I keep tripping over, though... LOL... his efforts... that wouldn't have been done if the homeowner hadn't made the effort first. I just can't get past that.... What if my daughter hides my (non-existent ) jewelry and years later we hire some guy to sweep the chimney and he finds it in there... then I'd have to give him half?? Heck no. (Hope you know that I'm just discussing this lightheartedly ).

 

[golfmom]

That's where I keep tripping over, though... LOL... his efforts... that wouldn't have been done if the homeowner hadn't made the effort first. I just can't get past that.... What if my daughter hides my (non-existent ) jewelry and years later we hire some guy to sweep the chimney and he finds it in there... then I'd have to give him half?? Heck no. (Hope you know that I'm just discussing this lightheartedly ).

Exactly. He was a paid contractor. If my employee lands/finds a big account for my company, I don't turn over half the proceeds to her ... I give her a bonus.

 

[southcitymom]

That's where I keep tripping over, though... LOL... his efforts... that wouldn't have been done if the homeowner hadn't made the effort first. I just can't get past that.... What if my daughter hides my (non-existent ) jewelry and years later we hire some guy to sweep the chimney and he finds it in there... then I'd have to give him half?? Heck no. (Hope you know that I'm just discussing this lightheartedly ).

Yes - your jewelry is yours. The lost treasure the contractor found didn't belong to the contractor or the homewoner. It was literally a lost treasure.

But for the homeowner's effots, the contractor would never have been in the wall. Bur for the contractor's efforts, the lost treasure would not have been found. 50-50 efforts. Plus - they were friends and the contractor told the homeowner about the treasure - which he surely did not have to do.

 

[golfmom]

I voted for Dunne or his heirs. If there aren't any or they can't be found, then it's the homeowners. Giving the contractor an extra bonus or something would be cool.

No way is it the contractors, IMO.

She already offered him 10% ... that's $50,000 and he rejected it as not enough!

Dunne died without any heirs.

 

[JanetElaine]

Yes - your jewelry is yours. The lost treasure the contractor found didn't belong to the contractor or the homewoner. It was literally a lost treasure.

But, the chimney sweeper doesn't know the jewelry is mine. The contractor didn't know the money wasn't the homeowners. It could have been the homeowner's, for all he knew. He told the homeowner about the find (I guess that's commendable these days, I think of it as normal). The homeowner could have said it was his. ()

(I don't know why the 'friends' thing keeps coming up btw... they were classmates in high school. If that was my husband, it would be everyone in this town that's his age that was his classmate in high school. They don't all do eachother favors based on that, that's for sure).

 

[Buzz Mills]

She already offered him 10% ... that's $50,000 and he rejected it as not enough!

Dunne died without any heirs.

You keep trying to forget about me, the long lost missing nephew of Mr. Dunne; I.M. Dunne here.

 

[southcitymom]

But, the chimney sweeper doesn't know the jewelry is mine. The contractor didn't know the money wasn't the homeowners. It could have been the homeowner's, for all he knew. He told the homeowner about the find (I guess that's commendable these days, I think of it as normal). The homeowner could have said it was his. ()

(I don't know why the 'friends' thing keeps coming up btw... they were classmates in high school. If that was my husband, it would be everyone in this town that's his age that was his classmate in high school. They don't all do eachother favors based on that, that's for sure).

Yes - both parties could have acted poorly and pretended the money was theirs.

I thought they were closer than just former classmates - I think the article made it sound like they had been friends since school.

In any event, if I were the homeowner, I'd go 50-50 with the contracror and be delighted that a found teasure could be split and make two people wealthy. I sure as heck wouldn't spend any of it in Court and let a Judge ir jury decide what to do, any pay a goodly portion to attorneys and wait several years to even have my case heard.

Of course, in my house, my husband is always the one ripping open walls, so if he ever found 1/2 million in a wall, it would, of course, be all mine!!

 

[golfmom]

Southcitymom, what would you do if you were the contractor? Would the 10% finders fee of up to $50K be enough? or would you drag your former classmate to court alleging that the entire find was yours?

 

[T-Rex]

What if he uncovered a stained-glass window? Or a tile fresco?
That's one of the things that comes with an old home--unexpected surprises. Good and bad.

 

[Ang50]

This kind of treasure most often goes to the "owner of locus in quo". The owner of the location in question. Especially in the case of a house, the homeowner bought all four walls and everything in between. $$ to the homeowner. The contractor doesn't have much of a case - he's there being paid by the homeowner and working under their instruction.

This type of case is always fun to find out what facts would turn the case. i.e.

1. If a guest came to your house to visit, and found an old ring (lost by previous owners) in the window sash, is it theirs or yours?

2. If a friend was helping you sweep your recently purchased farm for old nails with a metal detector and found a buried cache of coins?

3. If a government surveyor was on your land and stumbled over a valuable meteorite?