I'm guessing "no"?

I don't know. And I know that's not particularly helpful. But you could always take the person to small claims court, present your case and let a judge decide. I don't think it costs that much to file.

If someone is paying for a remodel, even if the contract is silent about cleanup, it would seem that cleanup is required to complete the remodel. Let me give you an analogy. Suppose I hire you to fix a sprinkler pipe, and you dig up the yard, fix the pipe, and leave a hole. Even though the contract never said you must fill in the hole, the expectation was that the finished product would be identical to the start except with a working pipe. Thus, you are probably in breach for not cleaning. If the contract requires payment only after the work is done, then the customer could have withheld more than the $500.

I can only say that we had a number of contractors do work at different times. It seems very common that they finish the work and are very anxious to get out and go to the next job and try to do a quickie cleanup in about 10 minutes and hurry away. We have never withheld money, but we have learned to make it very clear what is expected before contract work begins what is expected as far as cleanup. We have also used a different contractor for the next similar project in the worst of cases. If I were a contractor I would make it a point to be certain the homeowner was satisfied with everything before I left the job. I think this would be a big selling point and result in great advertisement by word of mouth, and repeat business from the customer.

I am also guessing no.

A contract is a contract and binding on both parties. Short-changing the stated contract, by $500, could cost you a lot more, if you are sued. This could be a costly approach, on your part. You have another option. if the clean-up is not satisfactory, why not complain and see what happens? You never know, until you ask.

I would think not, unless specifically in the contract was a clause that included clean-up. Still, you indicate the mess was cleaned the next day, which is completion of the job. If the place was cleaned up, even after a complaint, then the person has no reason to withhold money. More importantly, he would have to prove that it would cost someone else $500 to perform that same clean-up, which I'm guessing is impossible. He cannot withhold payment as punishment or to make a point. He signed a binding contract. If the contract was for the work and work only, he owes the money. If the money is being withheld, I would file a small claims suit. This sounds a lot like someone trying to get something for nothing.

It is probably legal to short pay the contractor if the contractor has not met the terms of the agreement. The contractor can sue for the balance and the customer will have to explain to the judge why he didn't pay. I think it is going to be difficult to convince the judge that he doesn't want to pay the $500 if he is satisfied with the work. If there isn't any specific thing in the contract that the contractor hasn't done the customer is probably going to lose. The contract probably doesn't say the customer has to be "satisfied" with the cleanup. $500 for cleanup seems excessive-that is 10% of the total job. The risk to the customer is that the judge may enter a judgment against him which doesn't look good on a credit rating. Judgments are not that difficult to obtain. I have several against tenants. The contractor probably has a lot more experience in court than the customer. The contactor may just file a Mechanics Lien against the property and the customer won’t even know it until he tries to refinance the house or sell it. Then he has to find the contractor and pay it off—that can be difficult if the contractor is no longer in business or has left the area. I suggest the customer be careful and have a very supportable reason for not paying!!

Its not as simple as that, he would entitled to you cleaning up everything adequately. If he did not request this from you before he cleaned it up then (Weather he did it himself or paid $500 for someone to do) then a court will be far less likely to give him any payment for the clean up. If he did then he would only be entitled to suitable pay, which im sure the 500$ is over priced. So you should take him to small claims court :)

This is a grey area and could go either way. There is a "reasonable" expectation that the remodel would also encompass clean-up to a "reasonable" extent. A judge would look at the amount of the mess left and the "reasonable" cost of clean-up to determine your penalty if the mess was PROVEN to be "unreasonable". You have a good case, however you have to balance the opportunity cost of your time and effort in pursuing action. To prevent this from happening again, go to http://www.net-ARB.com and become a consumer confidence member for free. If you do good and honest work a dispute resolution clause in your contract will protect you against people who look for reasons to not pay.

I'm not sure on the legality of it, but I think if my beef was strong enough, I'd risk small claims court in order to prove my point, and keep the $500 to defray the cost to you in time and materials in cleaning up or having someone clean up for you.

I am a contractor and I deal with al sorts of these messes. If the contract has been signed by both parties and there was no mention of cleanup in the contract then No, he is not legally alowed to hold this money back.....but it all depends on what you mean by "clean up". Do you mean that you left a pile of debris properly placed at drive way or side of home or in garage....or do you mean a completion clean up of the interior of the home. My point is only valid if you have removed all debris from work area (inside the home) and have properly placed all debris outsideor in garage etc... If you left the interior fit up a mess, then legally he is allowed to contract a cleaning crew to clean the interior premisses due to the fact that he/she must live there and are entitiled to a clean and healthy living space. So in conclusion it all depends on what exacly you mean by clean up.