Builder dispute - advice please!

SassyP

Firstly, apologies for the super long post - these things are never straightforward but I hope you’ll stick with me!

So we appointed a builder at the beginning of the year to undertake an extension on our home which included reconfiguring the entire downstairs into open plan. We agreed a part cash/part bacs transfer payment schedule which was split over the 12 week build.

Original completion date was end March, this was then extended to mid April due to engineering issues/weather delays. Understandable to a point.

This date has been and gone and we’ve entered a long period of very little progress, for days on end no one turns up. We’ll get a tradesman for a few hours then they disappear for another few weeks. None of the work completed in the last 4 weeks has made any real strides towards us being able to move back in downstairs.

We’re now 9 weeks passed the original completion date and rapidly running out of patience. We have a small balance outstanding but not enough to cover all the outstanding jobs. We have also paid upfront for flooring materials which are yet to appear. Numerous calls, texts and attempts to reset deadlines and get us back on track have been unsuccessful. New deadlines are set then very little happens, they lapse without apology or explanation and we end up back at square one wondering what went wrong.

I’m exhausted at fighting the fight and would love to hear from anyone who has any idea how to get us back on track!

tacpot12

You need to follow your builder to all the jobs he is going to, and then make it clear to him that you will tell all of his current customers how he is going to let them down, unless he prioritises you over them.

Give him one last chance, then send him a letter before action at the point he doesn't keep to the agreed schedule, and take him to the county court to get some of your money back. You need to have as much written evidence of the price agree, the work that was agreed and how much of it have been completed, and how much remains outstanding (e.g. materials not even delivered).

If you are happy with the individual tradespeople and their work,. try to get a mobile number from them and see if they will complete the work if you pay them to. They probably haven't been paid to do work on your house yet, which is why you never see them.