Discussions

Is it difficult to sue a contractor in Manitoba  
 
I hired a contractor to replace my shingles in June of this year for a house in northern Manitoba. He did the work and then in October there was a few inches of snow and then it warmed up to +6°C. When the snow melted it dripped through my living room ceiling light fixture. Since then there has been a couple feet of snowfall but this week it warmed up to +1°C and the dripping started again.

when the work was done? it sounds like he didn't put paper down or possibly put the new shingles over the old ones. You may be able to get a refund but you would have to get someone else to re-shingle the roof and you would have to take pictures of what was found and done wrong. To anyone getting roof work done, always be there and make sure the job is done right. It's too easy to rip people off when they are not there!

Maybe a build up of frost and it melts off when it warms up outside. Do you have cast pipe as your stack. I have found a few leaks over the years that the cast has cracked or the mg clamps are leaking.  
Just a couple things that I can think of that can cause the ceiling to get wet before blaming whoever did the shingles.

Does he know of the leak?, and has refused to honour his work, or are u asking about suing him just in case? I sure he steps up to the plate and fixes this for you. I don’t agree that you should have stayed with the contractor. There is a code of ethics that he should be following. Who stands on their roof and watches it being done?

Contact him, if he doesnt step up and fix it promptly you need to hire someone to prevent the damage from spreading. Once fixed you can sue him for the repair bill to fix the original issue with the shingles and you may possibly go after him for the extra damage that occured to your drywall and insulation. If extra damage occurs from you also ignoring the problem for longer then you should of (half a year to a year) this may potentially be partially your bill as well. Either way keep all communications with him, pull up contract or invoices and have it ready to provide to judge at small claims court. Also FYI even if small claims court gives a ruling in your favor you most likely wont see a cent, it will be up to you to collect from him and if he is a fly by night contractor or some guy you paid cash under the table for you may as well just stop thinking about sueing, its going to go no where, just pay someone to fix it and move on.

This happened to me a few years ago. I called the company back when I noticed it was leaking (it wasn't leaking before they redid the roof). They came to look at it and couldn't figure out where the leak was coming from. This went on for a year or two. By then they would not return my calls. I called them one more time and said I would be in touch with the Better Business Bureau... they were here within the hour! and they finally fixed it.