Owner Termination of Construction Contract for Defective Performance

A building owner, having contracted for construction work, was sued by the contractor for payment after the work was deemed incomplete by the owner, who had proceeded to finish the work using a different company; the contractor argued that the owner had prevented full performance by wrongfully terminating the contract. The court held that the owner was justified in terminating the contract and completing the work due to the contractor's significant delays and unsatisfactory performance, thereby ruling that the owner was only liable for the value of the work actually completed, not the full contract price, and that the owner was entitled to deduct the costs incurred to finish the work from the contract price.