Section 75 and builders

MPH80

Thank you for the update - can you tell us what is actually being covered by S75? Is it being put right and that's the cost or is the original amount being refunded?

grumbler

As they cover the consequential losses as well, I am pretty sure they don't refund anything and cover all costs of 'putting things right' (finishing the job).

eddddy

More specifically, Section 75 makes the bank jointly liable for losses that result from a breach of contract (or misrepresentation).

So in the OP's case, the bank would have to put the OP in the position they would have been, if the builder had fulfilled the contract.

(e.g. if the builder had contracted to install a high-spec luxury bathroom for £1000, the bank should pay for the high-spec luxury bathroom to be installed, even if it cost £10,000.

But realistically, there would be a lot of negotiation/fighting in a scenario like that.)

mhmdking

Thank you for the update - can you tell us what is actually being covered by S75

Semple

Glad to hear the claim was successful.

But can i ask, why on earth did you pay the builder so much money up front? There are so many shows on TV which outline bad practices that dodgy builders follow, and they always tell you not to pay the builder up front, and to break it down into stages so you can at least assess the quality of his work before moving onto the next stage. If he fobs you off with excuses about needing money upfront for buying materials/tools this should already ring alarm bells. All good builders will either be able to work on a credit for purchasing things, or have a balance from a previous job that they can use to start the next job.

eddddy

Semple wrote: »

Glad to hear the claim was successful.

But can i ask, why on earth did you pay the builder so much money up front? There are so many shows on TV which outline bad practices that dodgy builders follow, and they always tell you not to pay the builder up front, and to break it down into stages so you can at least assess the quality of his work before moving onto the next stage. If he fobs you off with excuses about needing money upfront for buying materials/tools this should already ring alarm bells. All good builders will either be able to work on a credit for purchasing things, or have a balance from a previous job that they can use to start the next job.

To be realistic, I don't think most builders ask for part payment up front because they can't afford the materials. It's more about balancing risk.

You are worried that the builder will rip you off, by taking your money and doing nothing.

The builder is worried that you will rip them off, by getting them to buy stuff (and do work), then not paying them.


In my experience, builders that know me are much less concerned about up-front payments.

Semple

eddddy wrote: »

To be realistic, I don't think most builders ask for part payment up front because they can't afford the materials. It's more about balancing risk.

You are worried that the builder will rip you off, by taking your money and doing nothing.

The builder is worried that you will rip them off, by getting them to buy stuff (and do work), then not paying them.

I completely agree, it's all about keeping an equal risk between the two parties. In the OP's case however they paid 15k upfront of a 17k quote which leaves little risk to the builder and all risk to them.

pixiepie99

We didn't pay £15k upfront. We paid it in stages as the work progressed. The work is practically complete and on first appearance looks quite good. The problem with it is that the underlying work has not been done correctly (something it would have been almost impossible for us to tell at the time). As a result, everything needs to be stripped out and started again.

pixiepie99

I'm sensing a bit of tension from people here and it's probably because I wrote my original post in a rush and people have got the impression that we were not good clients and brought this on ourselves.

So, just to be clear, we felt we did everything in our powers to ensure a good job: we got several people around to quote for the work (we used MyBuilder and only chose people who had good feedback for doing bathroom work to quote), we spent a significant amount of time with the builder discussing the work and agreeing details before work started, we paid in stages (the first payment was about 2 weeks into the job), we asked questions as the work progressed etc etc. Before the job started, we had complete confidence in the builder as he seemed to know what he was doing based on the discussions we had about the work.

It just goes to show that some cowboy builders are very good at hiding the fact that they are cowboy builders. Since we ran into all the problems with him, reviews of him have popped up on various sites (including this forum) warning people about him. All have them have similar stories to us.