Builders Disputes

caninedep

The old acorn of builders demanding more money than they originally quoted for the work, rears it's ugly head once more.
Briefly, we were quoted for some building work unfortunately some of the plans were rejected by the council so some of the project was cancelled. So in fact there was less work than the original plans.
The builders commenced work and in the meantime we asked them to recalculate the quote. This written re quote never materialised, in the mean time some other minor adjustments were made to the project and again we asked for a requote, but we were verbally assured that the project would still come in under the quote, due to the work cancelled on the original plan. For some reason the builders then decided to alter part of the building work because they thought it better, but without advising us of the alteration or the increase in cost this would create.They are now demanding an increase of ab0ut another 50% in building costs and of course threatening to walk out if we don't agree. We have advised them no way are we prepared to pay this extra and we will not be held to ransom.Of course they are half way through the project and plan to leave us with half a roof on, no windows fitted, and the internal completely gutted.We have been paying installments, but we have also given them money for boilers etc, so they have had a considerable amount of money already and would certainly not be out of pocket, leaving us in a desperate situation.
We have tried talking to them but they appear unmovable.
Anyone got any suggestions for plan of attack and would we have a good case in employing another builder to complete the job and claim it back from the original builders?
Should we contact a solicitor as a priority, who deals with this type of work?
Any good advice will be gratefully received.

iamcornholio

Basically, you have a contract and the builder is obligated to complete the work

The issue about altered costs (or increased costs), is legallly, not something which the builders can use to pull off the job and not complete their obligations. If they do, they are in breach of contract and you can instruct others to complete the work and sue for your costs.

In this situation, if you can't agree, then you should offer to appoint an independant surveyor or suchlike to check the work and comment on the costs of extra work. This will not only ensure that the work was done to plan, to the original agreement, and correctly done (something which the builder may be wary about), but it also ensures that any extra work is not only fairly priced, but only paid for by you if it was expressly instructed, or absolutely necessary - which are standard contractual terms even if no formal contract exists

Don't pay any more money untill you sort this out. Put the above in writing to them - send recorded delivery, but give a copy on site if you like.

Highlight their contractual obligations, and state categorically that time is of the essence to complete the work and resolve this dispute, and if work is stopped, you will hold them in breach of contract and appoint another builder without delay to complete the work - and recover all your costs in the county court.

Demand that any items which you have paid up front for are delivered to site, or the money returned

How you play this is up to you. You can be concilatory and get the builder to remain and complete, or use it to get rid of a poor builder and get someone more amenable.

If you get someone else, use a written contract!

caninedep

That all seems like good advice. We have tried talking to the builders and exchanged a couple of e-mails, but I get the impression unless we agree to cough up the money to meet their demands, they are going to down tools, as they know we are in a vunerable position. I think this was pre-planned, as I now realise, although they have done a fair amount of work, they have not actually fully completed any one item. If i thought trying to reason with them and paying a little more money would work in getting the job done i would probably run with that. Unfortunately it looks like they want to try and screw us for far more and in any case how could we possibly trust them in the future.
I have refrained from any tough talking so far or making threats regarding solicitors or suing, hoping they would have second thoughts if we kept communicating with them, but making clear we won't be held to ransome. This just seems to have resulted in stalemate and I now feel like really ripping into them, but probably best to wait until they walk off the job. The trouble is with legal action, the final outcome never seems clear cut, further financial outlay and of course we still need to find reputable builders etc to complete the job.

iamcornholio

Legal action will not cost much - in fact you would be better off using the small claims track if possible and then you won't incur any Solicitors costs. Lots of advice on the web for doing it yourself and it really is easy and straight-forward.

If you engage other builderd, then there may be a slight premium in what they charge you, but it should not be much more than you would have paid the existing builders, and nowhere near what they are demanding if they continue

If you are considering claiming from the builders, then gather any records of converstions, instructions etc, and start keeping detailed records from now on - write everything down with dates and times in a diary format. Also you should consider engaing a professional to comment/report on the work and contract situation, and use this to support any claim you may make - costs of this will be added to your claim

But it does come down to damage limitation now and deciding what is best and at what cost. Be firm, but keep things friendly and offer compromises if need be - as you don't want to appear to be the ones not keeping to your side of the contract.