builder overcharging pensioners

hylas

Hello, please help.
My parents invited a builder round and he ... sold them more work, that they did not intend to do yet, they are 80 and 82, had no builders round for 10 years and have no realisation of actual prices, i was abroad at the time. he has done a bad job, passable but scruffy, and they agreed the price before he started. neither realised that its double the proper price. i had a proffesional round to check the work, and he believes 5 to 6 thousand for the work done. the agreed price was 13,000 there was no paperwork etc, just a hand shake. the builder has been back once due to faults, and there are still more to fix. i want to pay him the right money for the right job, where do i stand?
thank you

Keep_pedalling

You stand nowhere, the contract was between your parents and the builder. They may be elderly, but they are adults and it is their money.

Frankly you risk humiliating them, by telling them that they have been stupid in agreeing this price, so take a back seat on this one.

Pollycat

Recent similar thread here:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5813313

LadyDee

How I would deal with it is to ask the professional (chartered surveyor, building inspector, architect?) to provide a written report and ask your parents to invite the builder's comments.
If you are in attendance when he calls, and if he knows that there are serious questions being asked he may well have second thoughts about inflating his bill. See what happens then consider any future action.

Tom99

[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]You can only claim a deduction from the £13,000 if the standard of the work was not up to scratch and only then if the builder has not fixed the problem, having been given the chance.

[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]By all means get an independent assessment on the quality of the work to back you up but an independent report that say this work could have been done for £6,000 will only confirm your parents overpaid, it won't get you any money back.

[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Of course when the builder see your report they may choose to charge less but that would be entirely up to them[/FONT]