Scaffolder demanding extra money

adam_m15

So I asked a scaffolder to erect scaffolding on my property which he did. I told him I needed it for 4 weeks. 4 weeks had passed and he hadn't taken it down. It's now been just over 2 months and it's an eyesore so I rang him and asked him to remove it. He told me that because I failed to tell him after the 4 weeks was up I owe an extra £200. Is this normal practice or is he trying to pull a fast one?

maninthestreet

Any written contract?
You could just refuse to pay the extra £200 - what will he do? If he leaves the scaffold in situ, he can't hire it out to anyone else.

adam_m15

No written contract. It isn't a sophisticated company in that way. Only contact I've had with him is by telephone/speaking in person

comeandgo

It's up to you to off hire an item. You should have told him you were finished with it.

Doozergirl

Work usually over runs and so they do expect you to tell them when you've finished and you want it down. When you do that, they will off hire it. Even if they can't make it to you to remove straight away, they stop charging.

£200 sounds like nothing for two months. I'm paying twice that a week! :eek: It focusses the mind!

adam_m15

I paid £900 for 4 weeks. He's charging an extra £200 for the additional 4 weeks.

TheCyclingProgrammer

Have you really waited 4 weeks to contact them? Why wouldn't you have contacted them sooner? If it was me I would have been on the phone the following day if it wasn't collected when I'd been expecting it to. It sounds like the scaffolder is doing you a favour by only charging £200 instead of another £900.

You could refuse to pay. They will want their scaffolding back at some point. They'd have to take you to small claims court to get the money. I have no idea whether their claim would be successful given the lack of any signed agreement or written business terms.

stator

Without any terms and conditions either explicit or available (via a website you used) then you haven't agreed to pay extra so I would refuse.
He might take you to small claims court, he might win, you might win. If he does then you'll have to pay £200 + the small claims court fee. Worth the gamble if you ask me

Furts

Forget the legalities for a moment and be genuine. Did you really need and use the scaffolding for the four weeks? Or did you finish the job in two weeks, or overun and take six weeks? The scaffolder will sense the score here, and have you weighed up. So somewhere there will have to be a compromise.

I have overrun on scaffolding, I have played the system here and have been tardy. However the crux with any item on hire is to off hire the item as some as possible. You should have notified the scaffolder as soon as you were finished with the scaffolding - whenever that was.

casper_g

As a novice hirer of scaffolding, I can understand the OP assuming that an agreement to hire it for four weeks was just that. Unless it was explicitly stated that he needed to tell the scaffolder to remove it and would incur charges if he didn't, how would he know? That's not a situation that applies in many other businesses I can think of.

I can also understand him not immediately chasing for it to be removed. The last few times I've hired scaffolding I've agreed the removal can be at the scaffolder's convenience in exchange for a slight discount, and I've waited a week or two for it to be removed as a result.

Davesnave

You were in the wrong, but businesses ought to have basic documentation, for HMRC, if nothing else.

I'd offer them £100 and expect a Britsh compromise.