u/Inside-Enthusiasm666

I am seeking legal advice regarding a dispute with a contractor who completed chip-seal work on our driveway and then presented us with paperwork showing a $35,000 charge. We never received or approved a quote for that amount, and we did not sign a contract.

Here is our account of what occurred:

1. The contractor told us he had material left over from a nearby job. He offered to chip seal as much of our driveway as the remaining material would cover for $5,500. We agreed to that work. No square footage was discussed.
2. We asked whether the remainder of the driveway could also be completed and told him that we wanted a quote. He said he could obtain additional material and quoted a rate of $2.75 per square foot. However, he did not provide the proposed square footage, the additional cost, or a total project price.
3. Although we acknowledged the per-square-foot rate, we did not tell him to proceed with the additional work and never knowingly authorized a project totaling $35,000. We were not given a written or verbal estimate of the total cost before the work was completed.
4. The contractor completed the work on October 6, 2026. We did not know the claimed square footage or total price while the work was being performed.
5. On October 7, after the work was already completed, the contractor gave us a document marked “Contract.” It listed the work as chip sealing with CRS-2P and included a one-year warranty. The document stated a price of $2.75 per square foot, an area of 12,749 square feet, and a balance of $35,000. “Pd in full” was handwritten near the balance.
6. The document was presented before any measurement of the driveway had been taken or communicated to us. The figure of 12,749 square feet and the $35,000 total were never provided to us before the work was performed.
7. The paperwork lists a $0 down payment. The payment due dates are crossed out, there are no start or completion dates, the job-address field is blank, and no contractor registration number appears on the document.
8. The contractor signed the document, but the owner and witness signature lines are blank on our copy. We did not sign it.
9. The document also refers to a three-business-day right to cancel and an attached Notice of Cancellation, even though it was not provided until after the work had already been completed.

We would appreciate your advice regarding the following questions:

• Can this after-the-fact document be treated as an enforceable contract when we never signed it or approved the square footage or total price?
• Did agreeing that $2.75 per square foot could be the rate, without being told the square footage or total cost, authorize the contractor to proceed with $35,000 of work?
• What amount, if any, might we legally owe beyond the original $5,500 agreement?
• Did the contractor violate any Washington contractor-registration, disclosure, written-contract, or consumer-protection requirements?
• Could the contractor file a construction lien against our property, and what should we do now to protect ourselves?
• Should we dispute the amount in writing immediately, and should we avoid making any payment or signing anything until the dispute is resolved?