Work has not yet started...
Work has not yet started...
"I've hired a company to carry out renovation work on the ground floor of my villa, at a cost of over CHF 100,000, according to the company's estimate. I've already paid half of this amount, but the work hasn't started although it was supposed to be finished by the end of May this year. The contractor told me yesterday that such delays were normal and that there was no need to rush him. So I don't want to have anything more to do with this bad-faith contractor; what should I do?
Marisa, Bernex
The Code of Obligations defines a contract of enterprise as "a contract by which one of the parties (the contractor) undertakes to carry out a work, in return for a price that the other party (the master) undertakes to pay him".
The contractor is obliged to deliver the completed work by the deadline agreed in the works contract. According to case law and the rules of the Swiss Society of Engineers and Architects (SIA), which are often referred to in works contracts, he must "do everything possible to meet this deadline".
If the contractor does not deliver the work by the agreed deadline, he owes the client compensation for late completion and is even liable for problems that may arise by chance, such as the destruction of the work by a third party.
In addition, in the event of a qualified default, i.e. when the contractor has not performed by the end of a grace period set by the master, the latter may cancel the contract and claim compensation for the damage resulting from the aborted contract. This period need not be set if it appears that the measure will have no effect. The choice to withdraw from the contract is exercised by a declaration of intent which must be made, at the latest, immediately at the end of the final period.
In such cases, the contractual obligations are extinguished and the parties may demand to be returned to the situation they would have been in had the contract not been concluded. In particular, they must return to each other any services already received.
Your contractor is clearly in default, since he has not delivered the work by the contractually agreed deadline. What's more, given his attitude, it's doubtful that setting a grace period will have any effect. You are therefore entitled to let him know immediately that you are terminating the contract and demanding repayment of the amount you paid as an advance plus the interest on the loan, or even the lost savings.
