Builder abandoned site - hire new builders or separate electrician, plumber & labour?

qy206

Hi all,

I'll try to be as concise as possible...

Our builder walked off site on 1st July after we had paid him >80% of the project costs (roughly £40k). Admittedly we'd approached our property refurbishment very naively and paid him a lot of the money upfront which is a huge regret in hindsight but there was 1 point where he threatened to walk out so we just paid up. He ended up walking out anyway and now we're speaking to new builders to provide quotes for the remaining work. It seems to mostly just be decorative work left (painting, flooring, hanging doors etc) but the electrics (which we were having fully rewired) aren't complete. The plumbing looks to be complete but it's hard to tell what the situation is with waterproofing as, for example, the shower tray has already been sealed.

Obviously given the situation, whoever takes on the project will have to certificate the electrics and plumbing and this is quite a big problem as they'll have to check and test everything.

Given that when you contract a builder, they generally sub-contract the plumbing and electrical works, would it be easier for us just to hire an electrician and plumber separately? And then hire people to do all the painting and decorating later? This way at least we're assured of availability i.e. immediately upon hiring and we can check the reputability of the electrician/plumber?

Alternatively, is it just easier to go with the generalist builder who can manage it all?

If anyone has any advice it would be VERY VERY much appreciated as we have barely eaten or slept for 3 days with all the worry.

Thanks to everyone in advance!

wallbash

Hiring a builder to oversee has the advantage that the specialist tradesmen can be coordinated. But you have passed that stage.
Personally would now be thinking , take it one step at a time, you have had unfortunately your fingers burnt.
Be upfront with the new lot, tell them what has happened.

qy206

Thanks wallbash. We've been completely honest with everyone we've met so far. It's just incredibly difficult to find people you can trust these days. We were almost going to go with this other company (who we'd been liaising with previously before hiring the company that abandoned us) only to find today (after a quick google) that there are about 100 negative reviews on this company claiming they're massive scammers!

What to do...:(

So no advantage to hiring an electrician upfront?

wallbash

It's just incredibly difficult to find people you can trust these days.

Its back to personal recommendation. If you trust a friend , who has had work done, go with his advice.

100 negative reviews on this company

Again you are using a 'company' .....who will then sub contract.
Cut out the middle man ( who is of course making his cut) .

qy206

So then get individual electrician, plumber and decorators to cut out the middle man?

Doozergirl

wallbash wrote: »

Its back to personal recommendation. If you trust a friend , who has had work done, go with his advice.



Again you are using a 'company' .....who will then sub contract.
Cut out the middle man ( who is of course making his cut) .

And then how many trades does one need to vet and manage?

It's down to recommendation again. One person that can co-ordinate the rest, or separate trades. Whichever is easier to find, I should think.

qy206

Yes, agreed...

Don't know anyone with good recommendations though...

*sigh*

wallbash

qy206 wrote: »

Yes, agreed...

Don't know anyone with good recommendations though...

*sigh*

Ask a neighbour?

qy206

Great idea! Thanks!

We haven't moved in so don't know our neighbours but should be able to get some names off planning portal

Doozergirl

Where are you? We have a local facebook page where people specifically ask for recommendations. Sometimes people recommend themselves(!) but often people will pop up to say that 'x' has just done something for them.

I found us an aerial guy that way - after our old one moved away.

qy206

I'm in NW London. How do I find the fb page?

Oh, and thanks Doozergirl!