Is our builder trying to con us?

MissPickle

Its like anything Vera, it only takes a few to set a precedent & they get brave.
The law is making changes to protect the trades people & it's been all over the media recently.
Quite right too, I've lived through the other side of the coin & the changes desperately needed to take place.
We just need to find a balance, as always.

sam_arnold

Thank you Miss Pickle,
I find your comments oddly reassuring. We have written receipts for all payments and, apart from a few "sob stories" and the last request to pay employee, the majority of communications have been via SMS. I still have all of them.
Really appreciate all the advice/opinions given. Will speak to our solicitor in the morning.

sam_arnold

I'm curious about Corny too. ???

Cornucopia

That would be me.

Thread moved to "In My Home" board.

fezster

Clifford_Pope wrote: »

I agree. You have very reasonably paid him as the work has progressed, occasionally slightly in advance. Now the work is nearly finished, but the agreement was that you paid the final installment on completion. It is not completed, so don't pay him.


The scaffolding and skips are his problem - he won't want to leave them there for long as they will be costing him money. If he really doesn't remove them then complain to the scaffolding company and tell them to remove their property or you will be billing them for storage and nuisance.

Scaffolding perhaps, but the skip won't be costing any extra. OP - ring the skip company to ensure it has been paid for in advance. If not, make sure it is paid for, as otherwise you'll be stuck with it until it has been. Even if it has been, ensure they are able to pick it up in a timely manner.

Doozergirl

It's quite fascinating what people will say about tradespeople on other boards that they might not say on the In My Home board!

I'm never quite sure that these threads are for this board either, as we can all advise in how to start the contract process and proceed with builders, but don't really have the experience of what happens when things go wrong.

There's certainly nobody here who would rip work out. I don't know anyone that's done it, nor do I know anyone it's happened to. It's hardly rife. Even if it were, it's a reaction to work done but not paid for, surely! The materials have little to no value once removed, so there's no benefit to the builder of undoing work - it would just be a case of trying to punish a cowboy customer.

People who haven't done the work don't have much to rip out.

OP, it sounds like you're nearly at the end of the process. You can do the whole Moneyclaim online thing, but I think the key here, if your builder has no cash flow, is to concentrate primarily on the actual skilled work that needs doing before worrying about the cleaning.

How much work is left, and how much money left to pay?

The skips costs the price of a skip and may not be moved until it's been paid for - depending on the relationship between provider and builder.

Scaffolding, if hired, is charged by the week, so it's in the builder's interest to get it removed. If it isn't hired, around someone's house is a handy way of storing it.

For reference, payments should be due on completion of elements of work, not just because a payment is dated. You are leading yourself down a dangerous road. It's fine to pay regularly, but you need to constantly reference %s of how far ahead the work is. For work lasting two weeks, any decent builder should be able to cope until the end, but at the worst, two weekly payments should have sufficed. One halfway, one at the end.

If you want to do this 'properly' then you should list what is left, formally write to the builder and give them 14 days to complete the work as they have not progressed diligently. Beyond then, you can warn them that you will invite other quotes to finish the work, and claim anything more than is currently owed to the builder through the courts.

It's important to maintain a paper trail.

I'm not always sure that's the best way to deal with it. Sometimes it's just a matter of soft skills and persuasion. Key here, I think, is the value of work left to the money you haven't paid over yet. If the builder is significantly in debt to the project, then perhaps the threat of court is the best way. If the job was only two weeks, it shouldn't be that high-value though.

VfM4meplse

MissPickle wrote: »

Its like anything Vera, it only takes a few to set a precedent & they get brave.
The law is making changes to protect the trades people & it's been all over the media recently.
Quite right too, I've lived through the other side of the coin & the changes desperately needed to take place.
We just need to find a balance, as always.

Point me in the right direction please?

stuart45

Having worked in the trade since leaving school, I have known people who have gone round and ripped out work, although it's not common practice and I'm pretty sure that it comes into the criminal damage area. I know of one gang that ordered a truck load of concrete and spread it over the front garden and up to the front door while the customers were out because of non payment.
I've never had any problems with payment myself, and in many cases there are often 2 sides to the story.
It also depends on what part of the country you live in. Where I live now is a smaller more rural community, and any cowboys would find it difficult to find any work, as the word travels fast in these parts.
In the South East there seemed to be more opportunity to people to get away with things.
However in my experience the majority of tradesmen generally do a good job at a reasonable rate.

Doozergirl

VfM4meplse wrote: »

Point me in the right direction please?

And me. I have no idea what they are talking about!

parkrunner

Mistral001 wrote: »

What would you say to them? You are not a customer. They do not have a contract with you. Their scaffolding and skip might be on your property, but if they remove it without receiving instructions from their customer, the builder, they could be held in breach of contract.

From what I've read so far I expect the builder could well be behind on rental payments for the scaffolding. If so he'd have breached the contract. OP get in touch with the company and let them decide.