[va] Contractor Started Our Porch Rebuild With No Permit, Then Billed Us For Redoing Their Own Code-failing Work As "change Orders." Do We Owe It?
Location: Virginia
We are having our back porch/deck rebuilt by a Class A contractor. We've had to fight them the whole project. They started without a permit, which we only discovered when I noticed the footings were ~11" deep when code requires 24". At nearly every stage they've had to redo work after I caught code/quality problems. They did stop work and get a permit from the county after I called this out.
They've added all of these corrections to the bill as change orders. Our signed contract was their Estimate #11 ($28,387). The billing document is Invoice #7, now at $37,783.84, and I never signed off on the change orders in writing — even though their own contract says change orders must be approved in writing.
We're approaching final payment and I don't want to pay for work they only did to correct their own mistakes. Can they charge me for corrective/rework to bring their defective, unpermitted work up to code? Does it matter that I never approved the change orders in writing as their contract requires? Does the unpermitted start affect what I owe?
From the contract:
"Change Orders: Any modifications, additions, deletions, or changes to the scope of work must be approved in writing and may result in additional costs and/or schedule adjustments. No additional work will be performed without written approval"
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