Is the General Contractor liable for the unauthorized material orders of his house framer?
I acted as the General Contractor for a house built for my family three years ago. All of my subcontractors, EXCEPT the FRAMER, signed a contract stipulating they could not order materials, beyond what they quoted for their particular trade, without express permission from me. The framer felt his 33 years experience was all the contract I needed. We did however review the contract he refused to sign. I made special note of the provision he was not to order materials on my behalf without my permission. I had the lumber quoted personally by a local lumber company and entered into an agreement to purchase from them. They were the least expensive of the 3 quotes received. The framer was friends with the saleperson I used at the lumber company. Upon completion of the framing, I reviewed each invoice and matched up each item on the invoice to the item on the quote. They matched up. All invoices were paid. Three months later, I began to receive a number of extra invoices from the lumber compa
