Terry Prince Contracting

In the fall of 2012, we contracted Terry Prince Contracting, LLC to build us a retirement home in Allegany County, NY. We told Terry Prince from the very beginning this was to be a turnkey project with all painting/staining done so it would be move-in ready.



Terry Prince tried to convince us a building permit was not needed. At our insistence he did get a permit but told us because he listed the structure as a "cabin" on the building permit, housing codes did not apply to it and our property tax would be less. Of course, this is incorrect.



Through the spring of 2013, most of the construction seemed to move along well. A few issues came up along the way but we attributed most of them to Prince trying to remember everything rather than writing things down. Wrong doors, windows, and screens arrived on site than what we had requested. These were corrected and we moved on. It wasn’t until the last few weeks of the project in late May and early June that a variety of quality issues began to surface (outlined below) and at the same time, Prince and his electrical subcontractor began demanding direct payments from us. Mind you, this project was being done under a bank approved construction loan, which had been making progress payments along the way. We were down to the final payment, which would only be released by the bank upon completion of the project and a Certificate of Occupancy issued by the local building inspector. As it turned out, Terry Prince did not pay the electrician he hired for all the basic materials and installation labor of light fixtures, switches, receptacles, smoke detectors, even the power panel and grounding rods. Claimed these were "extra" electrical items, therefore we were responsible for payment. In an affidavit signed by the electrician, Prince only paid him for roughing in the electrical work. Our contract with Prince included installation of ALL electrical items. We had directly purchased nearly all of the light and fan fixtures to be installed.



Near the end of the third week of June, Prince walked off the job without notice. He later stated that he did not think we had the funds to finish the project. On June 29, 2013 we met with Terry Prince to straighten out what would be owed to him through the end of the project less the final bank payment. We paid him $15,000 that day for legitimate extras he completed. With this payment, he agreed to return to work immediately after the July 4th holiday. He didn’t return. We met with him again on July 17 and he signed a note stating he would be done by July 31. Within a couple days, he sent an email saying he would not return without being pre-paid for the rest of the work. The amount he claimed was $3820. He also demanded that his electrical subcontractor be paid in full for unfinished work. Live wires were still sticking out at this point. Prince never returned to complete the project. In August, we got our attorney involved and despite further efforts, Prince refused to return. We terminated his contract for Breach of Contract among other reasons. He then placed a Mechanic's Lien on the property for about twice what would have been owed IF he had finished the job. After nearly a year of Prince changing lawyers a few times and missing court dates, the lien was vacated in State of New York Supreme Court, County of Erie. The order granted June 13, 2014 declared the lien "willfully exaggerated" in violation of the lien law.