Problems with bathroom fitter

powerful_Rogue

Hi,
Just looking to gain some advice from you knowledgeable people.

We got a bathroom fitter around to give us a quote to strip and install a new bathroom. This is what we asked for:

Strip out old bathroom
Plaster walls and ceiling
Lay a granite floor
Install new sink and toilet
Build and install a new bath/shower
Install downlights

This is the bath/shower unit we purchased. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/200881630500

We showed this to the bathroom fitter and also gave him a copy of the instruction manual when he came to give us a quote. He looked through and saw that it required 2 x 13amp plug sockets and he said he would include this in the quote. He said he had built similar units in the past, so that made us sway towards booking him.

This is the quote he sent through to us:

Further to my recent visit I have pleasure in quoting as follows for the fitting of your bathroom.

You will strip out and de-tile the walls of the bathroom.
To fit all new plumbing and wastes to the required positions.
To make good the holes in the floor with new floorboards, and overboard the floor with 9mm plywood.
We will plaster the walls and the ceiling.
We will then allow a few days for the plaster to dry and for you to decorate.
To assemble and fit the new bath and connect to the services.
To tile the floor.
To fit a towel rail and connect to the heating system.
To fit WC and vanity unit and connect to the services.
To fit downlighters in the ceiling and connect to the lighting circuit.
All the Equipment and tiles to be supplied by yourselves as the waste to be cleared from site.

Price £xxxx

Yours faithfully

We agreed the quote and on Monday 23rd July he came round with his team and cleared the bathroom. On the same afternoon the plasterers arrived and plastered the walls and ceiling.

Due to the time it took for the plaster to dry and for us to mist coat and paint it, he then came back with his team on Thursday 3rd July.

Thursday morning the arrived and laid the granite floor, cut the holes in the ceiling for the new lights, installed the sink and toilet and began to build the bath/shower unit.

At about 1715hrs he said that they had sent the wrong screws to construct the very first part of the unit. We said to him that we would pop upto B&Q and get same screws and he said "I wouldnt bother now, were finished for the day. "We'll be back on Monday. As those screws were missing, we'll probably have more problems and may have to charge you extra days"

Before he left, he said that the toilet was leaking and he had to put paper towels down underneath. Said this was a quick fix and would sort it on Monday. He also said he mis calculated one of the ceiling lights and made a hole in the wrong place. He said he would also sort this on Monday.

He also hadnt tiled around this sink, when we mentioned this he said he hadnt brought any of the stuff with him to do this and would do it Monday.

After he left we checked the bathroom and not only was the toilet leaking, when you flushed it, it continued to flush until you took the top of and re-adjusted the stop !!!!.

Anyway, went to B&Q and got the screws and managed to build the part he was having problems with. Infact I didnt stop there, I built the entire unit over the course of two days and had the father in law round to help plumb it in. The FIL also sorted out the issue of the non stop flushing toilet.

The only thing we couldnt do properly was the waste - the way the fitter had put the waste pipe was too high, at too great an angle and would need some of the granite tiles taking for it all to be adjusted.

Fast forward to this morning - fitter turns up and charged an extra £55 for coming out to finish the work. Unfortunately im away for work, left this morning so wasnt able to assist. The missus told him we had been quoted for the bathroom to be fitted - not for a certain amount off days work. Its luckily I actually built the bath and plumbed it in, otherwise he would have charged at least another full days labour.

Im pretty shocked and quite cross by this!There was no way all this work would have been completed in a day. Cant believe he is charging extra on top of what he already quoted.

Ive asked the missus to email him asking for a full breakdown of the quote, ie what each part cost and what the £55 was for this morning.

Ive got a few solutions in mind, however just wondered if anyone knew where we stood.

powerful_Rogue

Heres a few pictures of the finished work.

Wall joining floor





Tiles around sink





Repair to the hole he cut in the wrong place on the new plastered/painted ceiling



Repair to original light fitting



He also forgot to cut down and put the bathroom door back.

Weve sent him an email with the list of defects and also asked for a breakdown in cost of the original quote. Just waiting to hear back.

stebiz

Have you paid him?

powerful_Rogue

stebiz wrote: »

Have you paid him?

We paid half upfront when he stripped everything out, then the missus paid the other half, along with his extra charges this morning.

If I was there it would have been different, but unfortunately I wasnt and she said she didnt feel comfortable withholding the extra - which I think is understandable.

stebiz

powerful_Rogue wrote: »

We paid half upfront when he stripped everything out, then the missus paid the other half, along with his extra charges this morning.

If I was there it would have been different, but unfortunately I wasnt and she said she didnt feel comfortable withholding the extra - which I think is understandable.

Big Mistake.:(You can send him a snag list. Give him the 14 days to get it done. If this fails get somebody to fix it and sue through the small claims court.

Much easier withholding the money until all snags are done. I'm still awaiting for two tradesmen to finish snags on a large job I had done. Never seen them since but I withheld £1,000.

powerful_Rogue

stebiz wrote: »

Big Mistake.:(You can send him a snag list. Give him the 14 days to get it done. If this fails get somebody to fix it and sue through the small claims court.

Much easier withholding the money until all snags are done. I'm still awaiting for two tradesmen to finish snags on a large job I had done. Never seen them since but I withheld £1,000.

Our plan so far is as follows:

Email with list of all the defects asking for them to be corrected
Email asking for a full breakdown of the original quote

If he fails to fix the defects, we'll get a few quotes and then go with the most reasonable one and make a claim against him.

Ask for the £55 back and also a sum of money back as he didnt have to build or plumb in the bath/shower unit. If he declines then we'll make a claim against him for that.

My logic for this, is that if he's not sticking to the quote and charged £55 to finish off the work he quoted for, had I not built and plumbed in the bath/shower unit, then he would have charged at least a days labour. As such, as he didnt do any of that, I personally think its reasonable to ask for it back - especially as that was the largest part of the job.

Does that sound ok/reasonable?

stebiz

powerful_Rogue wrote: »

Our plan so far is as follows:

Email with list of all the defects asking for them to be corrected
Email asking for a full breakdown of the original quote

If he fails to fix the defects, we'll get a few quotes and then go with the most reasonable one and make a claim against him.

Ask for the £55 back and also a sum of money back as he didnt have to build or plumb in the bath/shower unit. If he declines then we'll make a claim against him for that.

My logic for this, is that if he's not sticking to the quote and charged £55 to finish off the work he quoted for, had I not built and plumbed in the bath/shower unit, then he would have charged at least a days labour. As such, as he didnt do any of that, I personally think its reasonable to ask for it back - especially as that was the largest part of the job.

Does that sound ok/reasonable?

I agree with some. You can of course pursue the £55 and also get the snags fixed and pursue that too. However he could claim that he was going to include the other work in his bill and you got on with it prior to him being allowed to finish.

powerful_Rogue

stebiz wrote: »

I agree with some. You can of course pursue the £55 and also get the snags fixed and pursue that too. However he could claim that he was going to include the other work in his bill and you got on with it prior to him being allowed to finish.

Possibly,however if he charged us £55 today to repair the ceiling, fix the toilet and also tile the sink - which were all included in his original quote - on the balance of probabilities is it reasonable to say that he would have charged even more to build and connect the shower/bath unit had I not done so, even though that was also included in the quote?

stebiz

powerful_Rogue wrote: »

Possibly,however if he charged us £55 today to repair the ceiling, fix the toilet and also tile the sink - which were all included in his original quote - on the balance of probabilities is it reasonable to say that he would have charged even more to build and connect the shower/bath unit had I not done so, even though that was also included in the quote?

The court won't go on the balance of probabilities. You engaged in a contract for him to carry out the work. You'll be refunded the £55 no problem. You'll also be refunded reasonable costs in getting the snags fixed providing you have given him time to do so himself.

powerful_Rogue

stebiz wrote: »

The court won't go on the balance of probabilities. You engaged in a contract for him to carry out the work. You'll be refunded the £55 no problem. You'll also be refunded reasonable costs in getting the snags fixed providing you have given him time to do so himself.

Small claims court works on the balance of probabilities.

stebiz

powerful_Rogue wrote: »

Small claims court works on the balance of probabilities.

No. Although the judge will look at the balance of probabilities it is also upto you to provide a 'burden of proof' that he was not going to do that work which you carried out. The fact he turned up on Monday is not likely to help your argument.