Have you ever had an interior design project go wrong and wondered what kind of recourse was available to you? Maybe you weren’t happy with the way the work was done or how much you were charged for the service. Maybe the contractor took too long to do the work and messed up your plans for a perfect event at your home. Is there legal action you can take to deal with this kind of issue, and would it be worth your trouble to pursue that?
Changes Can Mean Contract Violations
If your interior designer creates a contract with you, then you expect that they will stick to that agreement. If there are any changes made without your knowledge and agreement, then the designer can be in violation of the contract. As the project progresses, the designer may decide that something in the original agreement simply will not work or needs to be changed. That is understandable, because these kinds of projects can be fluid, and it can be tough to predict what a particular house needs until well into the project,
But if the designer decides to make changes to the job without asking the client first of all, then they are breaking the contract. It may be inconvenient for the decorator to call up the client at every point where they want to make or suggest a change, so they may simply push ahead and make the changes, hoping the client will be pleased with them. However, contract violations are serious business, and if the client feels strongly enough about how the contract was broken, they have the right to sue.
That may be a last recourse in many instances, but it is one that the homeowner needs to be aware of. They have rights, and those rights should be upheld, and an Ontario lawyer will help homeowners ensure that their interior design contracts are honored when the homeowner cannot work things out civilly with the decorator.
Breaks in the Schedule Can Cause Trouble
Initially, the designer and the homeowner agreed that the work would start two weeks from the date they met and then would take about one week to complete. This was agreeable to both sides and worked with their schedules, but then something happened. The decorator got busy with another job that took her longer than expected. She had to push back the date on the new project and change the initial agreement.
This led the homeowner to miss the window of time in which the project would ideally be completed, and she had to change up her schedule to accommodate the new start date. She had to take time off from work and miss paid work in order to fit the new changes. She was upset and frustrated, understandably, and she ended up arguing with the decorator as a result.
Does the homeowner have any legal recourse in this situation? She may, and a lawyer could help her figure that out, filling her in on what her rights are and how she could use the law to make things right between her and the decorator. A broken agreement is a serious issue, even if the interior decorating is not a life or death kind of problem.
A Failure in Decorating
In another scenario, the decorating project is completed, and the designer tells the homeowner that they did the best they could under the circumstances. They had trouble finding the materials and were not able to complete the work according to the agreed upon specifications. The homeowner is entitled to be upset by this series of events and may want some of their money back that they paid for the project.
What should they do? Well, if the homeowner talks to the decorator and asks for a partial refund but the decorator refuses, then the homeowner may have to resort to a lawyer. This escalates the situation beyond just the two of them, but it could be necessary for the homeowner to get justice.
Now, the decorator may have had real problems to deal with in trying to fulfill the contract, and their efforts may have been valiant but ultimately unsuccessful. Still, they should have talked to the homeowner about the issues and sorted them out before the work was completed. That would be the honest and customer-friendly way to handle the situation, but if that is not what happened, then the homeowner may be entitled to compensation.
When to Bring in a Lawyer
There are certain factors to weigh when deciding whether to call a lawyer for help or whether to simply deal with the problem on one’s own. At which point does a homeowner contact a lawyer because the problem has become too great for them to handle themselves?
The most important factor to weigh here is likely the cost benefit. Does it make sense to hire a lawyer for a small sum of money in compensation from the decorator? For small projects, it would not be reasonable, but for a large scale project that took place over a week or several weeks, there is more money at stake.
The homeowner may weigh the cost of the lawyer against how much money they expect to get from the decorator. They may want to consider using a lawyer only as a consultant for a smaller fee rather than hiring the lawyer to represent them and do hours of legal work. In the space of an hour or so, the lawyer could provide advice that will set the homeowner on the right path forward and ensure that they know what their rights are in a given situation.
Hopefully, your home deporting project will go smoothly, but if it doesn’t and if the decorator breaks their contract with you, then you may have legal recourse. We hope this article sheds some light on that kind of situation for you and makes you more aware of what your options are.
