A contractor I hired to renovate my kitchen abandoned the job halfway — can I hire someone else and make the original contractor pay for it?

Substituted performance, at his cost

Article 1167 covers exactly this: If a person obliged to do something fails to do it, the same shall be executed at his cost. This same rule shall be observed if he does it in contravention of the tenor of the obligation. Furthermore, it may be decreed that what has been poorly done be undone. The law will not force a builder to pick up his tools, so it does the next best thing: someone else performs, and the defaulter pays. Note that what you recover is the cost of completion, which is not the same as the whole contract price — the aim is to put you where performance would have.

Put him in default first

Do not simply hire a replacement and send the bill. Article 1169 provides that those obliged to do something incur in delay from the time the creditor judicially or extrajudicially demands fulfilment, and Article 1170 makes those guilty of fraud, negligence or delay, or who contravene the tenor of the obligation, liable for damages. So the sequence matters: a dated written demand giving him a reasonable time to resume, then, if he does not, engagement of a replacement. That letter is what converts an absent contractor into a defaulting one, and makes the extra cost recoverable rather than merely regrettable.

Defective work, and the money already paid

Article 1715 deals with the work itself: the contractor must execute it with the qualities agreed and without defects that destroy or lessen its value or fitness, and if he fails or refuses to remove a defect or redo the work, the employer may have it removed or another work executed at the contractor's cost. Article 1727 makes him responsible for the work done by persons he employed, so subcontractor failures are his. Against that, count what you have already paid. If payments have run ahead of the work in place, the claim is for that difference plus the extra cost of finishing — not for the money twice.

Document the site before you touch it

Before the replacement starts, record the state of the works: dated photographs of every room, a written scope of what remains from the new contractor, and quotations showing the market cost of finishing. That record is the measure of your claim, and it cannot be reconstructed once the kitchen is done. Keep the original contract, the plans, the payment receipts and the messages in which the first contractor stopped answering. Article 1191 gives the further option of rescinding the contract with damages instead of pressing for performance, and which route suits you depends largely on how much was paid before he left.

Cases citing this provision

These Supreme Court decisions cite the provision above. We list them so you can read them yourself; the summaries of what each decided are not ours to give.

• Heirs of Ramon C. Gaite, et al. vs. The Plaza, Inc. and FGU Insurance Corporation, G.R. No. 177685, January 26, 2011 — read the decision on LawPhil →
• Continental Cement Corp., vs. Filipinas (PREFAB) Systems, Inc, G.R. No. 176917, August 4, 2009 — read the decision on LawPhil →
• Equatorial Realty, et al. vs. Mayfair Theater, G.R. No. 106063, November 21, 1996 — read the decision on LawPhil →
• Playinn, Inc. vs. Prudential Guarantee And Assurance, Inc, G.R. No. 254764, November 29, 2023 — read the decision on LawPhil →

Related provisions

• Civil Code, Article 1167 — Failure in Obligations to Do
• Civil Code, Article 1169 — Delay (Mora)
• Civil Code, Article 1170 — Liability for Fraud, Negligence, Delay
• Civil Code, Article 1715 — Quality of the Work; Remedies for Defects
• Civil Code, Article 1191 — Rescission of Reciprocal Obligations