Owning your own business can come with its fair share of headaches, especially when you’re just starting out.

So, what would you do if a homeowner decided to disappear instead of paying you for a big job?

In today’s story, a wood floor installer finds himself in this very situation.

Here’s what he did.

homeowner refused to pay for his new wood floor.

Earlier in my profession as a wood floor installer, I had a nice side job set up with a homeowner.

He was building a new home and had some wood flooring that he needed installed.

I checked out the place and gave him a quote for his new 2-story home. He accepted my bid, and I told him three days it would take to install.

I set the day and time, and we both agree.

I get there with my crew and the wood is sitting in the garage. We begin work, and everything is going well on the first day.

At the end of the day, we clean up and bring all the scraps and boxes outside to the garbage pile out back.

Three days later, the work is done.

Second day the same, no issues and we clean up and throw out all the waste.

Third day I call the owner and tell him everything is going as planned and we will be done by the end of the day, and we expect payment then.

The third day comes, and we get going, and the whole crew is in a nice groove.

I run out and get lunch for everyone so we finish on a high note.

Rather than pay, he decides to disappear.

Come 4 pm, we are done, and everything looks great. I send the crew home and wait for the homeowner at 5 pm.

Come 545pm, no one shows up. I call and get no answer. Long story short, he never shows. I call and call no answer.

Days go by nothing. We are talking 8k back in the 90’s.

I end up having to put a lien on the home to get the homeowner to respond.

Fast forward, the homeowner ended up paying us our money, but for spite, he held $300 for what he called disposal of the garbage we left in his garbage pile out back.

The homeowner wanted a win but didn’t get one.

I told him those were his boxes of wood that we cleaned up and put it in his garbage pile.

He wanted a small victory, so I let him think he got it.

After he left, I was still in the house, so I made my way upstairs to the hall bathroom.

I went inside the sink cabinet and loosened some of the fittings so there would be a nice slow leak of water over the weekend.

Yikes! The homeowner probably cost himself more than the $300 he kept.

Let’s see how the fine folks over at Reddit responded to this situation.

The legal way seems to be the best way.

According to this person, his revenge is more than petty.

Here’s another person who always uses liens.

Good point. Hope this wasn’t the case.

The homeowner deserved this.

Next time, he should just pay his bill when it’s due.

If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.