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Aaron Mechanical, Inc., Issue No. 2  

January 2000

The Contractors Critic
Aaron Mechanical
Reporting on Safety, Productivity, and Honesty in the Construction Industry.

AARON MECHANICAL FILES TEN LIENS IN A SINGLE MICHIGAN COUNTY

Some contractors are genuinely attempting to "partner" with their clients and fellow contractors. They try to settle contract disputes informally and if that fails, the parties can resort to a mutually agreed upon arbitrator.

But some contractors are still playing hardball. They submit lowball bids, and then insist on change orders. When the customer or another contractor is late with payments, some contractors promptly slap a lien on the customer's properties, 

 and ask the courts to begin foreclosures and to have the sheriff auction the property.

One clue to a contractor's approach is to review their record on filing liens against the construction customer, even when the actual dispute is with another contractor. All too often filing of a lien means that a court suit will swiftly follow.

For example, Aaron Mechanical has resorted to filing at least ten liens against customer/contractors in just a single jurisdiction, Oakland County, Michigan.

AARON LIENS A CHURCH IN FARMINGTON HILL, MICHIGAN

Aaron has filed many liens in other Michigan jurisdictions, also. In one instance, Aaron decided that collecting $5,250 was more important than risking eternal problems in the afterlife. Aaron filed a lien against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the Mormon Church), regarding a construction project in Farmington Hill, Michigan, in Livingston County.

 MANY MORE LIVINGSTON COUNTY LIENS BY AARON

The Mormon Church was not the only company to suffer from an Aaron lien in Livingston Co. Aaron also filed a lien for $2,952 against the Cedar Isle project in Union Lake. The Greenery Healthcare Center in Clarkston, Michigan was liened twice by Aaron, for $4,245. The A & W Project in the Oakland Mall in Troy, Michigan was liened by Aaron for $10,535.

Critic Up Next

If you are a major construction customer, you should be aware of the safety history of the contractors you use. If an employee of an unsafe contractor is injured or killed while working at your facility, your company could be dragged into court as a result of lawsuits from injured workers or their families. One method of judging a contractors safety program is to review their OSHA and MSHA citation history.