Page:North Dakota Reports (vol. 48).pdf/685

 tractor, but if such expense shall exceed such unpaid balance, the contractor shall pay the difference to the owner. The expense incurred by the owner as herein provided, either for furnishing materials or for finishing the work, and any damage incurred through such default, shall be audited and certified to by the architect, whose certificate thereof shall be conclusive upon the parties.”

‘The contract also provides for payment-of the contract price in current payments and a final payment upon the certificate of the architect. During the course of the work the plaintiff had a foreman on the job; the architect also had a superintendent. In September, 1917, the architect complained of unsatisfactory work, due to incompetent workmen, principally concerning plaster work, lintels, coping on the east and south walls, failure to waterproof cistern in accordance with specifications, and other particular items : also, in another letter in September, the architect complained of the work of the painter, subcontractors, of the ventilators not being installed according to specifications, and the omission of an angle. Again, on October 4, 1917, the architect in a letter advised the plaintiff that some of the work was unsatisfactory; that the ventilators on the roof were not pursuant to specifications; that the brickwork over the window in the lobby and a brick pier had not been reset. Again, on October 20, 1917, the architect advised the plaintiff that the temporary roof on the building had been cut up and roof boards were buckling, and the plaster was damaged, necessitating resetting the roof boards and removing damaged plaster; that the plaster work was irregular and crooked and had cracked; that some brickwork had not been relaid; that the lathing in the basement was not being done properly. On November 8, 1917, the architect wrote Parsons, an employee of the plaintiff, that the roof was not laid pursuant to plans and specifications and that part of the roof over the kitchen was leaking; that the painting of the fire escapes would not be accepted; and that attention should be given to the screens lying about. Again, on December 17, 1917, he wrote Parsons to advise the painter not to do any more work, for the reason that he noticed that the floors were cross-scraped in a number of places and left very rough and irregular. In January, 1918, the architect made a list of the defects in the construction of the building and mailed the same to the plaintiff. In the list 43 items were specified; summarizing the same, they may be stated as follows:

Coping on south and east wall to be removed and new coping