Advice needed about poor plumbing work on new build

SophieDurrant_2

I am not sure if anyone will be able to help me here, but I am finding it difficult to find anything online that is of any use!


Basically what's happened is I bought a new build in 2014 and earlier this week the main water supply to the house came away from the stop tap and flooded the whole ground floor! I had a plumber out to fix it as the builders said there was nothing they could do to help me as the warranty is only two years.


So my plumber said that the compression joint connecting the mains pipe to the stop tap had not been done properly, and over time it's worked itself loose- he is certain that it's down to poor workmanship and has written a report explaining this and took a picture showing how he found it, you can clearly see that the olive (the little ring that's supposed to be crushed around the plastic mains pipe to seal the joint) has not been compressed. I forwarded this to the builders as proof that the water main failing is down to them but they're not having it.


I did write a letter to the builders and one of their directors called me this morning to say there isn't much he can do until the insurance claim has gone through, but because the insurance company has told me the excess will be deducted from the payout, I'm thinking I will have to replace what's damaged with things of a lower quality and it won't be the same as it was before, add to that the fact that this is going to take months to get sorted and my house won't be fully livable, so I end up getting stiffed because a plumber couldn't be bothered to do a proper job and I'm really struggling to see how this is fair.


I just don't know how to take this forwards or if there genuinely is nothing I can do to hold the builder accountable for what has happened and try to get my house put back to the way it was, if anything I think that if the builders are liable they should be groveling at my feet and offering to upgrade the things that have been wrecked, flooring, kitchen, etc. That's obviously not going to happen but I should at least be able to get it back to how it was, right?

anselld

The insurers should pay to put it back how it was. If they feel the builder is liable they will pursue the builder themselves but it is unlikely to be something they (or you) can prove after this period of time.

By the way it cannot be as black and white as your plumber suggests. If the olive had not been tightened it would have gushed straight away. So to survive 3 years without leak it must have been tightened, the question is how much? Then what wear and tear has it received in the course of the three years? Has it been knocked or otherwise disturbed? Have other maintenance tasks been done? Not to blame you, just pointing out there are a multitude of ways the builder can deflect liability.

G_M

If, once th insurers have settled their liability under your policy, you are out of pocket, you could pursue the builder for the balance. Do you have legal cover with your buildings policy? If so they might take on the case.

You'd need to

* clearly identify the additional costs you are claiming, eg the policy excess, any items not covered by the policy etc
* prove the builders liability 'on the balance of probabilities'. As anselld says, this might not be straightforward