Construction company halts work despite overpayment

Ask your new lawyer what requirements you (or your cousin from [Dingsda], etc., if you want to avoid a sandwich constellation) would need to meet in order to offer yourself to the main contractor as an intermediate sub-contractor and to be involved as such in the financial processing of the rest of the completion work (attention: consider insolvency law issues as well).

The carpenter only invoices after the work is done.

What are you dreaming of at night? - that doesn’t apply in cases of questionable creditworthiness of the main contractor. I wouldn’t supply them anymore without a deposit either.

As I said, there will be no new lawyer. We are not going to take that financial risk again. But there is someone if things get really serious. The easiest thing for the BU would be to remedy the defects, submit the execution plan, ensure proper construction supervision, invoice after completion of the agreed sections, and maintain steady construction progress. That would satisfy us, he would get his money, and he could minimize his contractual penalty for the delay of the completion date. But no, he doesn't want to. I don't understand what's going on. What is he trying to achieve?

What is he aiming at?

Quite simple: Minimizing his costs or minimizing the financial loss he incurs with your project. How sure are you that a contractual penalty will even occur? Was it newly set compared to before? Is the date the old date?

Wouldn't minimizing his costs rather be associated with a quick completion? New completion date according to the agreement: 30.11.2019. After that, the contractual penalty from the construction contract expires, it is also stipulated this way. The earlier completion date was June 2019. For this delay he has already had to pay nearly €17,000. I try to find logic behind this behavior but fail. He is shooting himself in the foot.

Please do not skimp on a lawyer urgently in your situation. You absolutely need one...

Well, maybe he really lacks the means? If he is considered insolvent, his subcontractors will require advance payment from him, as 11ant already wrote. If he has already paid penalty clauses + court costs, then that's not a small amount...

The question is what you could do right now to advance the construction progress without jeopardizing the settlement, and doing so completely without legal advice is somewhat risky.

he is shooting himself in the foot.

Well, and if he then files for bankruptcy due to the penalty clauses, court costs, etc., what happens?