Location: South West Virginia
I'm building my own house, and hiring out the things that I'm not comfortable doing, or haven't done enough. Two weeks ago, I hired a Mason. Very good guy. The job was basically two parts, building a chimney, and then 10 pillars to hold the porches/decks. Him and his crew finished the chimney last Thursday. They had another job for a regular contractor to do Friday/Monday, but he said he would be back out Tuesday (Today) or Wednesday. So when he didn't show up today, I did not worry.
About 5 PM, one of his crew pulled into the driveway and didn't look very happy. Turns out Darren (the owner of the Mason company) had a very good reason for not showing up today, he died yesterday (Monday). No cause of death yet, his crewman said he went to his house yesterday morning to go out to their job, and Darren said he was not feeling well and was going to the doctor. The crew guy said Darren did not answer his phone all day, and when he went back to check on him, he found him. He was 47.
Now, Besides being beyond shocked, some practical matters have come to mind. He was paid in full for the first part of the job (chimney), so I do not owe him any money at this point. The pillars have been started, but are maybe 5% done. The crew member if I wanted him and his two co-workers to finish the job. I said yes, of course I did. He said he would let me know what was going on and when they can get back out here.
Darren left a lot of scaffolding, boards, etc up, but did take a lot of stuff for his next job. My main questions are these:
Has anyone ever went through this before and how did you handle it?
A little research tells me that the equipment now belongs to his estate, which as far as I know his uncle is handling the details at this point. No idea if he has a will or what. He was not married, but does have a minor daughter. Should I release the equipment to his crew when they finish?
How should I pay the crew from here on? The contract was verbal between Darren and I, but I did hire him.
Do I contact the county and tell them the situation and see what their advice is?
I don't want someone to come in and say they can take the equipment, and it turns out they do not have the right to do so.
Thank you in advance for all comments.