Roofing work overcharged advice please

KarenC80

So we employed a local roofing company to fix a lot of loose tiles & check the gutter fixings which I had found in some places, where I could access them, were loose.

We got a verbal quote of £790, which was a lot more than we expected however we were told that it would take them a full day, we didn't set a day or time as they didn't need us to be in, we have some knowledge of the type of work but were given the impression specialist adhesive etc would be needed.

A few days later two men (not the boss who gave us the quote) turned up, we can't fault their attitude, work ethic or cleanliness but after 2 hours 30 they were finished and left saying the boss would send the invoice (which we assumed would reflect the significantly reduced time).

The boss turned up a couple of days later with the invoice for the full £790! obviously we argued our point that that was for the full day's work so the invoice should be adjusted accordingly, he wasn't rude but didn't agree, he said the amount was because his employees decided it would cost that much or some other such guff and went on about VAT, the only materials used were adhesive at £10 a tube (I asked him), he agreed after much persuasion to knock £90 off.

Having looked today I'm not convinced it's particularly specialist adhesive, and reckon at most, being generous they've used 10 tubes, that's only £100 in materials and 5 hours of labour. I also discovered a gutter bracket loose so now I'm going to have to try & check the others again and may have to employ someone else & i don't know if I can trust the rest of the work they carried out.

We're happy to pay a reasonable amount for a good job, you pay peanuts you get monkeys right, but feel this is excessive & having been self-employed myself I do understand the overheads & costs that many don't appreciate.

Is it really reasonable/normal practise to charge for approx 10hrs labour that wasn't needed?

Advice please?

Many thanks
Karen

bris

You agreed a price and got the job done, next time ask for an hourly rate + materials.


Not many work that way because the men probably were paid for the day despite only being there 2 and half hours. Being self employed you should know the way it works.

unholyangel

Have you paid him?

ETA: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/3134/regulation/10/made

And also: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/3134/regulation/12/made

Specifically:

Provision of copy or confirmation of off-premises contracts

12.—(1) In the case of an off-premises contract, the trader must give the consumer—

(a)a copy of the signed contract, or

(b)confirmation of the contract.

(2) The confirmation must include all the information referred to in Schedule 2 unless the trader has already provided that information to the consumer on a durable medium prior to the conclusion of the off-premises contract.

(3) The copy or confirmation must be provided on paper or, if the consumer agrees, on another durable medium.

(4) The copy or confirmation must be provided within a reasonable time after the conclusion of the contract, but in any event—

(a)not later than the time of the delivery of any goods supplied under the contract, and

(b)before performance begins of any service supplied under the contract.

lush_walrus

So they gave you a quote, carried out the work to the number of tiles required without hassle, you were happy with the workers. But as the resulting work took less than their time estimate you renegotiated and are still not happy?

Really I know this is money saving but that is not at all reasonable. From what you have said they did not offer you a worked at an hourly rate of X but a portion of work to be carried out for X. They have given you a discount and you still want more. Would you like to deal with someone who behaves as you have? I'll bet not.

arcon5

Get them back to have a look at it

Sounds very very expensive though!

neilmcl

KarenC80 wrote: »

Is it really reasonable/normal practise to charge for approx 10hrs labour that wasn't needed?

You didn't agree or pay for 10 hours labour, you paid for the job to be completed and were told it would take no longer than a day.

Apart from anything else, I don't see how you're getting 10 hours of unused hours from, particularly at this time of year when there's only about 8 hours of reasonable light anyway.

thriftylass

neilmcl wrote: »

Apart from anything else, I don't see how you're getting 10 hours of unused hours from, particularly at this time of year when there's only about 8 hours of reasonable light anyway.

Two guys times 5h each.

hollydays

Given the number of dodgy roofers around, and the number of people I've spoken to who have been ripped of , you may be wise to get the work checked.
But that's a different issue .
Of course that will cost. How well did you research them?

KarenC80

Many thanks to those who made positive contributions, for those who've misunderstood & to bring you up to date. We agreed to that price only because the boss told us it would take 2 men a full day ie 15hrs labour to complete the job plus specialist materials which is very different to just agreeing an amount. We had used the company many years ago with no problems so didn't get other quotes, we will in future.

I've since spoken to the consumer helpline via citizens advice and have a roofer of the federation of master builder (very useful website for finding lots of different tradesmen and probably a safer bet than many routes) in to check the work in his words it's a bodge job and they've just used cheap £3 silicon sealant not "a permanent adhesive that will never move" he quoted £300 for 2 men for a full day to lift all the tiles put a baton and fix properly and told us expecting to be paid for a full day when you've only done 2 1/2 hrs is not normal practise and we shouldn't pay the first company, we have another FMB roofer in on Monday.

Also as we have cctv I thought I'd watch them doing their 2 1/2 work, they certainly never stopped...walking around, making themselves look busy, I reckon the job they did could have been done in an hour or less, I can see they only used 3 tubes of silicon and they took the empty ones away even though they walked many many times past our bin, I've never known workmen take rubbish away if they don't have to, I guess they didn't want us to see exactly what they were using. They haven't been paid and they're not going to be, we've got the consumer rights act 2015 on our side and the solicitor primed if it comes to it.

One other thing which we find a huge coincidence is 10 days after they did the work we scared off 2 burglars with balaclavas from the back of our house, the next night they broke in through the roof to a garage 2 doors away which was very visible from our roof! We've told the police and provided footage, so far they seem typical useless.

Thanks again
Karen

Fat_Walt

hollydays wrote: »

Given the number of dodgy roofers around, and the number of people I've spoken to who have been ripped of , you may be wise to get the work checked.
But that's a different issue .
Of course that will cost. How well did you research them?

Work checked by who, another dodgy roofer?

lincroft1710

Being a member of FMB surprisingly does not guarantee the quality of work, it's very easy to become a member.