Kitchen fitter charging extra for agreed works and trying for force payment for work

carpy_uk

Hi everyone,


We've recently had a kitchen fitted, which was a bit of a pain. Even though we knew good plasterers and a plumber, we agreed to use the ones the carpenter ses so he could project manage the work - in his own words 'if something goes wrong with my guys, I'll sort it but if it goes wrong with yours, it'll be your problem and could delay everyting'. Fair enough.


It started ok, but when it got to the plastering, the guys he used didn't do the entire walls, instead doing up to the point they thought the cupboards would get to. Me, my wife and the elctricians who were there all said to the carpenter that they hadn't plastered enough but he insisted it was ok. So we waited for the walsl to dry and then painted the kitchen over the weekend to avoid doing it when the units ahd been fitted and risk getting paint al lover them.


The fitter installed some of the units and, low and behold, there were gaps round them. Another wall had really bad trowel marks and chips on it which were only obvious once it dried. So we told him to take them out and get the walls re-skimmed. This ended up setting everything back by over a week, as the re-skimming was delayed and drying time was longer as the weather was so cold. We repainted the kitchen, but advised we'd be deducting the cost of the extra paint off the bill as it wasn't our fault and he would need to sort this with the plasterers who caused the issue (it turned out he'd fallen out with his normal plasterer and had never used these ones before)


The rest of the kitchen is now finished, however some 'extras' have been added to the bill. Some are fine - we bought new sockets which we hadn't discussed previously so he charged extra for fitting them. Others are not so fine - we had some pipes boxed in and vents fitted (materials all supplied by us) which were discussed prior to giving him the work but not detailed on the initial quote. Also, we have upstands around our work surfaces. Again, we told him about these when discussing the work but he charged extra for them. And they have a shoddy finish - the ends are all chipped and he's used weird joints with gaps all round them which he claims is a 'decorating job' to fix and you can just fill in the chips with caulk...


As we've paid for some extras on top of the original bill, we've already paid more than the initial price (including for flooring which is damaged and he claims was damaged in the box, but he fitted it anyway so we have no redress against the supplier or manufacturer!), but have withheld payment for the fitting of the upstands (as this was agreed verbally and they've been done badly) and for the cost of the upstands which are damaged and need replacing. He is refusing to acknowledge any wrong doing and instead has added more extras including charging for going 2 miles down the road to the kitchen suppliers to pick up parts (even though we offered to go instead and he refused) and refitting door handles which we removed as they were all damaged and scratched (again, he fitted them anyway and probably caused half the damage himself).


I tried to discuss the issues with the upstands and floor with him, but he became abusive and stormed out the house, shouting at me as he went down the drive. I have this recorded.


Nowhe is threatening to go to small claims court for the extra money he wants. Where do we stand on these fronts?:


1. charging extra for verbally agreed works not detailed in the written quote
2. holding back payment for works we do not believe is done to a suitable standard
3. holding back payment equivalent to the cost of the extra paint we had to purchase, which I believe is called a 'consequential loss'
4. unreasonable extras such as charging for collecting parts, which have only been added since an issue was raised with him


Thanks very much

Ectophile

Point 1 you're going to struggle with. if you have a written quote, you are going to have a hard time persuading the judge that there are additional things that were included in it.

Points 2, 3 and 4 you could have an argument in your defence. You'd need to produce evidence to support any losses you're claiming, such as receipts or quotations to fix any bad work.

But ultimately, it's down to who the judge believes.