Borderline Incompetant Kitchen Fitters - what docs do i need?

itsnotarace

We have recently had a complete kitchen revamp i.e old kitchen ripped out, ceiling and wall boards removed and new one put up with insulation etc

We got multiple quotes and each one said it was a 2 week job, inc the firm we went with. However, we didn't realise (and they didn't offer up the information) that the job was going to be done at weekends and evenings after their 9-5 shopfitting work. This wasn't what we wanted, but by the time we realised, they had done a weekends worth of work and so we felt we didn't have a leg to stand on. Anyway, the next 6 or so weeks dragged on until eventually the kitchen cabinets were in place at which point everything started to slow down further. However, as part of the works we had the kitchen completely rewired / new mains box installed, radiator replaced, and a gas cooker slightly moved (which required the gas supply to be extended.)

After installing the radiator, the heating and hot water wouldn't work anywhere in the house. We raised the issue the same night and were told "That's old houses for you, probably just a coincidence."
So we paid for a plumber to come out we know to be reliable and he sorted it for us and of course it wasn't a coincidence.
A few days later, that radiator started leaking as they had joined two different sizes of pipe together with a bad join. The water leaked onto brand new expensive wood flooring and warped it. We again raised it to get the leak stopped, and when they couldn't get a plumber to look at it, we again paid for a different guy to fix it.
The same radiator wasn't heating up after a week or so - again a refusal to fix it and we paid for someone else to come in who balanced the system.

However, the same guys also extended the gas pipe for the cooker. And though we haven't had an issues, the quality of these guys work elsewhere now fills me with dread. To be fair, the plumber doing the radiator got his dad to do the cooker as he is gas certified.

Anyway - it got to the stage where all work stopped for no reason, and they all disappeared for more than 6 weeks to go do other jobs and started ignoring our calls and texts. Eventually we had to tell them not to come back and we would find other people to finish the work. We had stupidly paid about 90- 95% of the money by then.

So finally a question.

I have asked them to supply - a VAT receipt for the works (we've paid more than £16,000 in bank transfers and not had any sort of receipt. - and a gas safety certificate.

Is there anything i need to ask for regarding the electrical rewire?
Do i need a gas safety certificate?
There is no mention of vat on the original quote, but they are a private limited company registered with Company House, and produced a professional looking quote, so i just assumed.

The joiners/plumbers/floorers we've had to pay to come in to either finish or fix his work have all been disgusted with the level of the work on display. I do realise that often the next guy in slags off the work of the last guy, but a lot of the work is very clearly sub par to an average non professional even.

I'm not out to get any money back from this guy, i just want to have assurances against anything going wrong in the future.
That being said, given the amount of stress this has put us under, being months behind schedule, i really dislike the guy now.

Browntoa

Part p sign off for the electrical work

Gas work should be signed off by gasafe engineer

Risteard

Browntoa wrote: »

Part p sign off for the electrical work

Gas work should be signed off by gasafe engineer

My understanding (and you are assuming that the work is in England or Wales) is that minor works are excluded. There is no evidence that any new circuits were installed.

Also not sure if this is mains gas or a tank or whether a cert is required for that.

itsnotarace

Yeah i should have said - this is Scotland, and the gas was off the main supply. Really it was a supply that already went to the cooker, but was extended by a few inches.

For the wiring, all the previous wiring was stripped out the kitchen and replaced with new wiring, sockets, light fittings etc and a new 20 way distribution board fitted to replace an old one.

Risteard

itsnotarace wrote: »

For the wiring, all the previous wiring was stripped out the kitchen and replaced with new wiring, sockets, light fittings etc and a new 20 way distribution board fitted to replace an old one.

"Part P - Electrical Safety" is not relevant in Scotland or Ireland. It is concerned only with the Building Regulations in England and Wales.

There is a system of Building Warrants in Scotland from what I understand, although I have no idea when exactly these are or aren't needed so couldn't help with that.

Browntoa

Risteard wrote: »

My understanding (and you are assuming that the work is in England or Wales) is that minor works are excluded. There is no evidence that any new circuits were installed.

Also not sure if this is mains gas or a tank or whether a cert is required for that.

They said complete rewire and consumer unit in the first post.

Move gas pipe

Risteard

Browntoa wrote: »

They said complete rewire and consumer unit in the first post.

No the OP most certainly did not. Kitchen rewiring was mentioned. The electrical installation was not rewired.

This does not necessarily mean any new circuits but could be alterations to existing circuits.

I missed the part about a new DB in the OP (assuming that it was in it) but this was mentioned in a recent post. This doesn't clear up whether the work is subject to a Building Warrant, though.

EDIT: I see the OP mentions "mains box" which may have been intended to be a reference to a DB by an incorrect name.

itsnotarace

Yeah sorry, i meant distribution box in my original post but wrote mains box before my brain fully booted up.

But yes, it was a complete rewire in the kitchen with no existing wiring being re-utilised in that room. This is an old farmhouse about 200 years old, and this job basically stripped the whole room back to the bare brick and wooden frame for new plasterboard to be fitted. So new electrics we're 'easy' to fit while it was in this state.