Case Name: J.R. SINNOTT CARPENTRY, INC., Plaintiff and Counterdefendant-Appellant, v. JAMES E. PHILLIPS et al., Defendants and Counterplaintiffs-Appellees
Court: Illinois Appellate Court
Jurisdiction: Illinois
Decision Date: 1982-11-18
Citations: 110 Ill. App. 3d 632
Docket Number: No. 4—82—0280
Parties: J.R. SINNOTT CARPENTRY, INC., Plaintiff and Counterdefendant-Appellant, v. JAMES E. PHILLIPS et al., Defendants and Counterplaintiffs-Appellees.
Judges: 
Reporter: Illinois Appellate Court Reports, Third Series
Volume: 110
Pages: 632–643

Head Matter:
J.R. SINNOTT CARPENTRY, INC., Plaintiff and Counterdefendant-Appellant, v. JAMES E. PHILLIPS et al., Defendants and Counterplaintiffs-Appellees.
Fourth District
No. 4—82—0280
Opinion filed November 18, 1982.
WEBBER, J., specially concurring.
John T. Phipps, of John T. Phipps Law Offices, P.C., of Champaign, for appellant.
Arnold E. Blockman, of Hatch, Blockman & McPheters, of Champaign, for appellees.

Opinion:
JUSTICE LEWIS
delivered the opinion of the court:
Roger Sinnott, on behalf of the plaintiff corporation J.R. Sinnott Carpentry, Inc., entered into a contract with defendants, James and Susan Phillips, for the construction of an addition to defendants' house in Urbana, Illinois. Plaintiff brought this suit to recover a sum allegedly due under the contract. Defendants' counterclaim alleged that (1) plaintiff breached the contract; (2) plaintiff was negligent in the construction of the addition; and (3) plaintiff breached a written warranty against defects and negligence.
The contract provided that defendants were to pay for all labor at the rate of $12.95 per hour, payable monthly, and to pay for all material at plaintiff's cost payable on the first day of each month. The contract provided that work was to be performed "in accordance with the plans and specifications attached hereto." However, no plans or specifications were attached to the contract. James Phillips testified that he did not want Sinnott "feeling trapped into a fixed type contract" and that they wanted Sinnott to have enough latitude to build what defendants wanted. Sinnott testified that he had made floor plans from sketches made by Susan Phillips and that defendants indicated they did not need any more detailed plans or specifications than what they had. Susan Phillips testified that she asked Sinnott if they would need an architect and he said it would not be necessary because he had enough plans to go ahead and build the addition.
Susan Phillips' sketches depicted floor plans for the addition. Susan testified that the sketches represented three livable floors and that the third floor was to have two rooms, a play room and a sewing room, and that there were to be dormer windows on the third floor. Sinnott made blueprints from the sketches and subsequently had a second set of blueprints made by Thompson Lumber Company.
The Thompson Lumber Company blueprints indicated dormer windows on the third floor. There was also a door on the third floor which was marked as six feet eight inches high and a wall which divided the third floor into two distinct areas. Sinnott testified that he represented to defendants he could build the structure shown in the Thompson Lumber Company blueprints. He also testified that he always believed he was going to build two floors with a storage attic and never envisioned a three-story project. He thought the third floor was for storage and possibly a play room.
Susan Phillips testified that she specifically told plaintiff that she wanted a third floor which was to consist of a play room and a sewing room and was to have dormer windows. James Phillips testified that before the contract was entered into he told Sinnott that they wanted three floors with livable space.
Defendants' expert, Richard Willms, a general contractor, testified that Sinnott's blueprints and the Thompson Lumber Company blueprints called for three stories of habitable space with dormer windows. The basis for his belief that three stories were called for was the six-foot eight-inch door on the third floor shown in the Thompson Lumber Company blueprints. He said defendants' addition was not in accordance with the plans because it did not have dormer windows or a third floor. He said the structure could not be repaired without tearing it down. He also testified that it is customary to provide vertical section drawings which give floor elevation and headroom and without such drawings one cannot tell whether the structure can be built.
Henry Spies, a staff member of the Small Homes Council and Building Research Council at the University of Illinois, testified in an evidentiary deposition that the plans called for three floors of habitable space and dormer windows and that the building was not in accordance with the plans. Spies testified that it was customary to provide section plans and that a competent contractor should have realized that a building could not have been built according to the Thompson Lumber Company blueprints.
Susan Phillips testified that she was not aware of a problem with the height of the third floor until the roof was put on the addition and the side of the house adjacent to the addition was broken into. She said she did not go up to the third floor earlier because it was only accessible by a ladder which she did not want to climb because she was "carrying around" a small baby. She testified that the height of the third floor is about five feet six inches in the center. A photograph of the attic shows exposed wooden rafters that slope downward from the center of the attic. Susan further testified that, after she discovered the low ceiling on the third floor, she told Sinnott there was no reason to install dormer windows on the third floor. She testified that Sinnott never told her there would not be three floors of habitable space.
At trial, defendants introduced evidence relating to alleged defects in material and workmanship. Susan Phillips testified that she wanted one-inch by eight-inch tongue-and-groove pine flooring. She said plaintiff installed tongue-and-groove flooring on the second floor, but installed common pine on the first floor. She testified that the boards on the first floor were pulling apart and splitting. Defendants also presented evidence of the following defects: a stairwell with insufficient headroom; a leak in the vestibule resulting from improper flanging on the roof; a stairway with a bottom step 10 inches high and all other steps six inches high; the walls of the building were only four inches thick, whereas defendants had asked for six-inch walls; one of the windows on the first floor was not thermopane although defendants. had requested that all windows be thermopane; and a problem with the threshold where the second floor of the addition met the second floor of the house.
Campbell Evans, a real estate appraiser, testified that the replacement cost of an addition similar to what defendants have now would be $73,246 and the fair market value of such an addition would be $43,948.80. He testified that the replacement cost of a three-floor addition would be $122,850 and the addition would have a fair market value of $73,710. Evans' figures for replacement costs were derived by multiplying the square footage of habitable floors by $60 per square foot. The figures for market values were obtained by multiplying the replacement cost by 0.6.
James Phillips testified that plaintiff originally estimated the cost of the project to be $40,000. Defendants have paid to plaintiff $84,216.63 under the contract.
Sinnott testified at trial that $17,455.91 was due under the contract for labor and materials. Defendants responded that they were billed twice in the amount of $1,233.31 for work done by a subcontractor. Defendants also disputed other charges but conceded that their balance was $14,543.47.
The trial court found that the contract provided for three floors of habitable space; that this provision was an essential part of the contract; and that plaintiff failed to substantially perform the contract by not building three floors of habitable space. Accordingly, the court held that plaintiff could not recover under the contract. The court also determined that, although plaintiff breached the contract and was negligent in failing to provide section drawings, defendants suffered no ascertainable economic loss other than the cost of repairing the defects in material and workmanship. Finally, the trial court found that defendants had been damaged by plaintiff's negligence in disconnecting an electric freezer which caused the loss of meat inside the freezer. The trial court awarded defendants $9,101.36 as the cost of repairing defects and $250 as damages resulting from plaintiff's negligence.
I
Plaintiff maintains that certain parts of the trial court's judgment were against the manifest weight of the evidence. For a judgment to be against the manifest weight of the evidence it must appear that the conclusions opposite to those reached by the trier of fact are clearly evident. Joray Mason Contractors, Inc. v. Four J's Construction Corp. (1978), 61 Ill. App. 3d 410, 378 N.E.2d 328.
First, plaintiff argues that the trial court's finding that the contract called for plaintiff to build a three-story addition was against the manifest weight of the evidence.
Susan Phillips testified that she specifically told plaintiff that she wanted "[a] three-story addition with livable space on all three floors" with dormer windows and that the third floor was to be a play room and a sewing room. James Phillips testified that he told plaintiff he wanted three floors of livable space. The Thompson Lumber Company blueprints procured by plaintiff indicate that the third floor was to have dormer windows, a dividing wall, and a door six feet eight inches high. The dormer windows, the wall, and the height of the door indicate that the third floor was to be used for something other than storage. Defendants' two experts testified that the plans indicated three floors of habitable space. Finally, Sinnott even testified that he thought the third floor was to be for storage and a play room.
Plaintiff's only evidence indicating that the addition was not to be for three floors of habitable space was Sinnott's testimony that the contract was for a two-story addition with an attic and that he never envisioned a three-story project. Plaintiff also noted that the blue prints and Susan Phillips' sketches labeled the third floor plans as "attic plans." However, the word "attic" does not necessarily mean a space only usable for storage. Furthermore, we reiterate, that the Thompson Lumber Company blueprints, drawn pursuant to Roger Sinnott's directions, indicate a dividing wall and a six-foot eight-inch door on the third floor. This suggests that Sinnott, at one time, envisioned something other than what he built.
Plaintiff's conclusion that the parties contracted for only two floors and a storage attic is not clearly evident. Therefore, we hold that the trial court's finding that the contract required three habitable floors was not against the manifest weight of the evidence.
Second, plaintiff argues that the trial court's finding that plaintiff failed to substantially perform the contract was against the manifest weight of the evidence. The general rule is that a builder is not required to perform perfectly, but rather is held only to a duty of substantial performance in a workmanlike manner. (Brewer v. Custom Builders Corp. (1976), 42 Ill. App. 3d 668, 356 N.E.2d 565; Watson Lumber Co. v. Guennewig (1967), 79 Ill. App. 2d 377, 226 N.E.2d 270.) The question of whether substantial performance has been given depends on the facts of each case. (Joray; Brewer.) In Watson Lumber Co. v. Mouser (1975), 30 Ill. App. 3d 100, 333 N.E.2d 19, the court stated that the "pristine qualities" of the doctrine of substantial performance were substantial performance of the work required by the contract and a good faith performance of the essential points of the contract. In the present case, the trial court found that the requirement of three habitable floors was an "essential point" of the contract and, consequently, plaintiff failed to substantially perform the contract by not building a third habitable floor.
Defendants' expert witness, Campbell Evans, testified that the fair market value of a three-story addition was $73,710 whereas the fair market value of an addition similar to what plaintiff built would be $43,948. This evidence shows that there is a substantial difference between what defendants contracted for and what they received. Plaintiff presented no evidence to rebut Evans' testimony. Furthermore, plaintiff made no argument to the trial court or to this court that the addition it built was in substantial performance of a contract which required three habitable floors.
The trial court's conclusion that plaintiff failed to substantially perform the contract by not building three habitable floors was not against the manifest weight of the evidence.
Finally, plaintiff argues that the finding of negligence on its part was not supported by the record. The trial court awarded $250 to defendants for the loss of meat resulting from plaintiff's alleged negligence in disconnecting electricity to a freezer. Defendants do not address the issue of whether the trial court's finding of plaintiff's negligence involving the disconnection of the freezer was against the manifest weight of the evidence and, therefore, have waived the issue. See Supreme Court Rule 341(e)(7), (f) (87 Ill. 2d R. 341(e)(7), (f)).
Even absent defendants' waiver, the evidence does not support the trial court's finding that plaintiff was negligent. The only evidence concerning the disconnected freezer was testimony by James Phillips. He said one of the workmen disconnected the freezer but he did not know whether the workman was employed by plaintiff or a subcontractor. An employer is generally not liable for the acts of an independent contractor. (Pasko v. Commonwealth Edison Co. (1973), 14 Ill. App. 3d 481, 302 N.E.2d 642.) Consequently, although the evidence showed that plaintiff might have been negligent, the evidence was equally compatible with the fact that someone other than plaintiff was negligent. Defendants were required to show by a preponderance of the evidence that plaintiff breached a duty owed to defendants by a negligent act. (See Wallace v. Weinrich (1980), 87 Ill. App. 3d 868, 409 N.E.2d 336.) Defendants failed to sustain this burden of proof.
The portions of the judgment finding plaintiff negligent in disconnecting the freezer and awarding defendants $250 as a result of that negligence are vacated.
II
Plaintiff argues that the trial court's award of damages was improper. In Brewer, the trial court stated that a contractor whose work amounts to less than substantial performance has no right to the contract price. In such a case, the builder's right is under a theory of quantum meruit and he is entitled to recover only reasonable compensation for value received by the purchaser over and above the injuries suffered by the builder's breach. In the present case, the only testimony of the value of the addition was defendants' expert who testified that the fair market value of an addition similar to what plaintiff built was $43,948. It was undisputed that defendants have paid plaintiff $84,216.63. Consequently, plaintiff has received compensation far in excess of the value received by defendants and, therefore, has no damages under a quantum meruit theory.
The court in Brewer also stated that "[a]s a general rule, the measure of damages, or the credit due the purchaser, when performance by the builder has been less than full performance, is the cost of correcting the defects *." (42 Ill. App. 3d 668, 674, 356 N.E.2d 565, 570.) The trial court awarded damages to defendants based on the cost of repairing defects in material and workmanship. The award was calculated as follows:
1. Stairway between second and third levels
2. Second level threshold
3. First level flooring
4. First level non-thermopane window
5. Vestibule roof leak
TOTAL
$2,250.00
64.60
6,304.26
102.00
380.50
$9,101.36
Defendants were entitled, at least, to the cost of repairing these defects. Furthermore, plaintiff has not challenged this part of the judgment on appeal. We find no cause for reversal of the trial court's judgment with respect to the foregoing damages.
Ill
Plaintiff argues that in awarding damages to defendants, the trial court erred because defendants' failure to pay an installment was a material breach of the contract which barred any recovery. Plaintiff did not raise this issue in the trial court. Matters not presented to or ruled upon by the trial court may not be argued as error on appeal. (Gentile v. Gentile (1980), 87 Ill. App. 3d 311, 409 N.E.2d 52; McCoy v. Board of Fire & Police Commissioners (1979), 79 Ill. App. 3d 742, 398 N.E.2d 1020.) Consequently, plaintiff has waived this issue.
Even if plaintiff did not waive the issue, the court in Brewer stated that the purchasers' refusal to pay is not a breach of contract when the builder's work amounts to less than substantial performance. Therefore, as a result of plaintiff's failure to substantially perform the contract, defendants' failure to pay the installment was not a breach of the contract and they were entitled to recover the cost of repair for defects.
IV
Plaintiff, citing Brewer, argues that it is entitled to recover on the contract because defendants "accepted" plaintiff's less than substantial performance. In Brewer, the court determined that, as a result of numerous defects, the builder breached his contractual duty to perform the work in the "best workmanlike manner." The court found the builder's performance to be less than substantial, but never theless, allowed him to recover on the contract because the purchaser's "activities in correcting many of the claimed defects and in proposing to correct many others, amount[ed] to acceptance and use of the structure of such a character as to recognize that [the builder's] performance [was] substantial." 42 Ill. App. 3d 668, 674, 356 N.E.2d 565, 571.
Brewer is distinguishable from the present case. Here, plaintiff's less than substantial performance was a result of his failure to perform an essential part of the contract rather than merely a result of numerous defects. Furthermore, defendants have made no attempt to correct the "defect" of the lack of a third floor. On the facts of this case, there was no "acceptance" by defendants that would permit plaintiff to recover under the contract.
The trial court's judgment is affirmed except for the finding that plaintiff was negligent in disconnecting defendants' freezer and the award to defendants of $250 for damage resulting from that negligence. The judgment is to be modified to conform with this opinion.
Affirmed in part, vacated in part and remanded.
LONDRIGAN, J., concurs.