Builder not fulfulling contract

charfield_2

Hello, we are currently in dispute with our builder who is building our extension. To cut a long story short, his work has not been up to scratch, there is still a snagging list as long as my arm and he is not agreeing to do part of the work- saying it is an 'extra', when it is clearly in the plans. In addition to this, he is now almost 2 months over the completion date. He has not been to do any work on-site for 4 weeks. We received a letter asking for the final amount up to the cost of the original estimate and that we could pay the 'extras' (some of which we agree with, several of which we don't and have had professional advice which support us- including the architect who did our drawings). We have already paid him two thirds of the money we owe- there is one third left to pay (not incl. the 'extras') and no more than 2 weeks left of work to complete the job. We are due to have a meeting with the builder and the architect to get this thing on the go again. However, I am very worried about handing over any more money until he completes the job. He has already asked for the final amount but has not responded to our letter (we asked for a response within 7 days) where we explained that we were not happy to pay any of his sub-contractors until they'd finished their work and that there were many unfinished areas and unsatisfactory finishes.
What I need to know is whether I can legally say that I will only pay the rest of the balance when the project is completed. We have had no official 'stage payment' paperwork, but up til now have always paid as we've gone along. My grounds for saying this is that I have no faith in the builder, he hasn't been here for 4 weeks and his work is of poor quality- as are his project management skills. There have been many mistakes made between the sub-contractors he has had working here simply because he has not been here to communicate with them. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

gordikin

Split it into paragraphs and correct the spelling in the title.

Muffinmaker

Charfield. I'm sorry to say that don't expect any help off others on this forum because most seem to want to offload their nastiness.

I don't think there is anything wrong with your post.

And if you're not happy don't hand him any more money whatever you do! Because you'll only have to try and claw it back in the small claims court. Let him try and take you to court and see how far he gets if he has done shoddy work.

4743hudsonj

Op get yourself down to CAB they will be able to help you.

Id also be inclined to contact trading standards and ask if they get many complaints about him, if they do they dont hand him a single penny, hes probably a rouge, if not, then continue to bash it out with him and the architect.

Zandoni

Excuse gordikin, he was probably bullied at school. I'd imagine he was the type of child that keeps squealing on his classmates trying to get them in trouble.

I'd be inclined to get a quote from another builder to finish the job. Then you can hold back that amount of money safe in the knowledge that you can get the job completed.

Tell your original builder that you are doing this, that might make him get his finger out.

Hintza

I am so glad we went t the additional cot of QS and architec project managaing on our self build so we have staged payments.

I learnt the hard way 20 years ago after the builder gave me the sob storyand I paid him in full towards the end of the job in full.

OP if I were you I wouldn't be paying him. But you need to be seen a reasonable. So at least 5% of the contract total should be retained for all snagging then you can figure out whether you can give him a little by way of a goodwill gesture to keep things moving. Be careful though.

Techhead_2

Surely, this is one of those situations where its impossible to give accurate advice without knowing the full details, examining paperwork and visiting the site.
People can only form a vague opinion based on the first post and their own experiences.
Really, your first port of call should be professional independent advice.

pinkshoes

If you got a quote for another builder to finish the job, would the money owed cover this?

If it was agreed that the final 1/3 would be paid on completion, then this is what was agreed, and to be honest is completely normal! By all means agree to pay anything you see as "extra" (and agree a price to be paid on completion, and put it in writing), but anything on the original list should be completed.

suited-aces

gordikin wrote: »

Split it into paragraphs and correct the spelling in the title.

the paragraph request I understand, but tell me how the spelling in the title is material?

charfield_2

Oh for goodness' sake- spelling and grammar is not really what I was asking for help with and is certainly not my top priority right now! This comment is very unhelpful- particularly for my fianc! and I who have been very anxious about this issue for sometime now. As I always say to my students- 'if you have nothing useful to say, then say nothing'. (I am aware of the grammar issues with that last statement!)

charfield_2

oh and the accented 'E' on fiance didn't appear on here!