Scaffolders won't take it down!

phil24_7

RoNZ wrote: »

It's dangerous for us! It means we can't secure our back garden and we've had stuff stolen as a result. I've also caught a drunk student up on the scaff.

That's not dangerous for you. Inconvenient and insecure yes, dangerous no.

The time the scaffold has been there has nothing to do with drunk fools climbing it.

RoNZ

phil24_7 wrote: »

That's not dangerous for you. Inconvenient and insecure yes, dangerous no.

The time the scaffold has been there has nothing to do with drunk fools climbing it.

Not dangerous in HSE terms, I grant you. *resisting the temptation to get into an argument on semantics*

RoNZ

phil24_7 wrote: »

So it states how long it will be erected for or how long after it is off hired before they remove it? If so then you could prove a breach, if not then I stand by my comment.

Yes - a month. I'm finding your posts very useful in that you appear to be arguing the scaffolders point of view. Are you a scaffolder? Or do you think I'm being unreasonable? Your suggestion of how we get them to remove it (the letter) is roughly the approach I'm taking.

In NZ, there is a legally over-riding principle of 'reasonableness', and you can't contract out of that. Does the same thing apply here, does anyone know?

-taff

Get your son to take it down and take it away.

Then phone and tell them thank you for removing it.

lstar337

RoNZ wrote: »

Conveniently, my son works in the events industry where they are regularly erecting and dismantling scaffolding. He and his mates are all qualified and have all the gear. He will be in charge of the dismantling for me and make sure it's done safely, but I will have to pay them to do it. I'm letting the firm know that they will be liable for this cost as they have breached their contract to remove the scaffolding in a timely way.

Make sure you mention charging rent for how long you'll have to store it once it is taken down.

I'm guessing they won't be in a rush to come and collect it after you have taken it down.

DRP

-taff wrote: »

Get your son to take it down and take it away.

Then phone and tell them thank you for removing it.

IF i was in your situation and knew someone with the expertise to take it down safely, then it would be gone....!

RoNZ

OK, so an update: we continued to be unable to contact by phone, so we went and delivered a letter to the company owner directly at his home. The letter listed the problems it's causing for us (inability to do other work that we nee to do, lack of security etc) and gave him a week to take down and remove all the scaffolding. Then it said that if he didn't remove it within a week, we would arrange for it to be removed, at which point he could collect it and pay the removal costs. If he didn't do that, we would sell it and let him have the proceeds less the cost of removal.
He was OK about it - expressed surprise it was still there and said he'd told 'them' to do it last week. Not sure I believe that. Then said he'll be here 'first thing' this morning (about 9.30am) to take it down himself.
We will see...

I'm very aware that this could go legal, so I have wanted to make sure I have followed a proper process and not done anything illegal or unfair myself in case of that.

RoNZ

:TFor anyone in a similar position: this worked - the scaffolding is all down!

They came over yesterday and removed the whole lot. I was friendly, made them tea and so-on, and we even had an amicable chat at thew end of the day. So thanks for all the advice.

diesel_dog

Glad it's sorted out but it makes you wonder why they made so much hard work out of it for you in the first place.
You have the patience of an :A

missile

Well done. A tale with a happy ending.