landscaping, problem with contractor

beckyandjack

not sure if this is in the right place so please feel free to move if needed!!

writing on behalf of mil and just wonder if anyone can help me to help her sort this out.....

I employed a gardener to landscape my garden back in October, he provided me with a quote, £6k and phases for the development, payments and a timescale of 21 days. He started work on the 6th November. Last week after many discussions and promises, about when the work would be finished, i took back my key and told him that i did not want him to finish the work. I have now had another quote for nearly £3k to rectify the poor quality work and to finish the job. Can i take legal action to get back any of the money i have already spent in order to get the work finished?
If i can how do i go about this?

Thanks for any help that anyone could give me.

DVardysShadow

mil should have produced a list of shortcomings in writing and given a timescale for rectification. Without this, the contractor is mostly off the hook and probably has some grounds for a counterclaim over his losses.

mil can try the small claims court [I think £3000 is OK there], but her case in much weaker if she does not have a paper trail to show that the contractor had an opportunity to put things right.

iamcornholio

You will need to prove that the work is in fact sub-standard (get an independant report by an expert not another landscaper) and/or prove that the landscaper is in breach of contract (eg not done work as agreed or finished as agreed) and the breach has caused you financial loss

If you can't come to some arrangement with him, then you will have to sue in the Country Court. But be sure that you have good grounds to succeed before you do anything legal

ormus

how much work has been done, and how much dosh has actually been paid out to the contractor?

beckyandjack

most of the work has been started but not finished (i think the bits he just didn't fancy doing) she did give him a list of what was outstanding and he said he would be able to finish it in 5 days and this was 3 weeks ago and he has since done 2 hours work.

27col

If the weather has been anything at the op's has been anything like the weather down here in Hampshire then I am not surprised that a landscaper has had delays. I was rebuilding my front wall and I could not believe how many days I lost to the weather in the last couple of weeks.