Problem with tradesman what should I do?

SteveVy

Hi Folks,

I need some assistance, I'll try and keep this short and to the point.

I live in Sheffield and I am in the process of having a new kitchen fitted in a 2 bedroom apartment I own in Manchester.

The tradesman who did the work has messed me around a lot in essence this is what has happened.

1) Kitchen fitted 6 weeks late due to the kitchen not being ordered in time, wrong parts ordered, items not checked when delivered, tradesman not bothering to chase up the items.

2) Kitchen design wrong, despite me verbally telling the tradesman how I wanted the kitchen several cupboards are opening the wrong way and I am being told I will have to pay extra to fix these. I wasn't provided with a design but we spoke about how I wanted it to look and how the cupboards should open on several occasions. As the tradesman subcontracted the work I am guessing he didn't tell the guys who did the job.

3) Kitchen was installed with numerous faults, extractor fan in the wrong place and installed at an angle, oven not properly fitted and whole unit comes out when using it, Sink fitted at an angle. Multiple edges chipped, sink leaking, walls not repaired.

The tradesman literally begged me all of last week to let him finish the job and sort out all the above errors. I wasted 4 days last week going back and forth to Manchester being promised each day the kitchen would be finished. I am now at the point where I want to hire someone else to fix all these problems as I have no confidence he can actually sort these properly.  The last message I had from him was the kitchen is ready for customer hand-over, I've checked the kitchen and it's still not finished!

I've only paid for the materials so far and owe the tradesman £1,000 for fitting. I have the money available to pay but don't feel he deserves the full amount as he hasn't done a satisfactory job. I wanted to know how much do you think I should pay?

Here are my thoughts

Amount owed: £1000

Costs to minus from the above:

1) Cost to hire a 3rd party to resolve the outstanding issues with the kitchen.  I estimate to be around £300 - £400.

2) Fuel costs of going back and fourth to Manchester 4 times to sign off the work when it wasn't done (he could of easily told me he needed more time but didn't)

3) Cost to have new key fob made as he is refusing to return my key fob unless I meet him and sign off on the kitchen. I don't want to do this as I know he will beg me for another chance and I don't want to give him any more changes, I feel foolish for waiting an extra 6 weeks to get the work done and then it's done to such a low standard.

Does the above sound fair?

I've also incurred the following costs which I didn't include above as a gesture of goodwill.

I've lost money from a tenant who was ready to move into the property in the first week of July but as it wasn't finished they have now found somewhere else.  I will now have to pay to have the property re-advertised.

I've had to pay surcharges for cancelling other contractors such as carpet fitters etc ( I had to cancel with less than 24hr's notice so had to pay a charge. )

I was told the kitchen would be finished on a Friday so I paid extra to get items such as new lights / curtains etc  shipped to me via express delivery so the apartment would be ready for new photos by the weekend. As the apartment wasn't ready I could of had these items delivered using standard delivery instead. This cost me around £30 extra in delivery fees.

Please let me know your thoughts...first time I've ever been in this situation.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

As you rent out the flat this wouldn't be a consumer contract so you'd have to rely on any agreement you have with the fitter. 

I'd advise to take photos of the obvious defects, ensure you have proof the fitter has been given a change to rectify but has failed and then deduct the costs of repairing the defects and possibly the key fob.

If the fitter wants the money they'll have to take you to small claims.

As an aside if the fitter still has access to the flat I'd change the locks. 

pinkshoes

Who 'verbally' designs a kitchen? You have no leg to stand on about the cupboard doors opening the wrong way if you have no plan to compare this to. 

You can claim your ACTUAL costs? Have you sent him a "time is of the essence" letter? If not, WRITE to him giving him 14 days to fix the faults. List them clearly so they can be signed off when finished. State that if he is unable to finish the work, you will employ someone else to finish the work once his 14 day deadline is up, and deduct this amount from the final bill. Ask him to return the keys within the 14 days too.

If he doesn't do this within 14 days, get a couple of QUOTES to finish the work (not your estimates) then take the most reasonable quote and get the work done. Deduct this amount from the money owed. 

Ditto for the cost of changing the lock if he has a key and doesn't return it. 

You can't claim your fuel costs. Unless he had said to you "it is ready to sign off", then you should not have travelled. Not his fault you live so far away. 

SteveVy

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

As you rent out the flat this wouldn't be a consumer contract so you'd have to rely on any agreement you have with the fitter. 

I'd advise to take photos of the obvious defects, ensure you have proof the fitter has been given a change to rectify but has failed and then deduct the costs of repairing the defects and possibly the key fob.

If the fitter wants the money they'll have to take you to small claims.

As an aside if the fitter still has access to the flat I'd change the locks. 

I understand thanks for letting me know, I've got photos and video's of the defects. I have had the new company in this morning and they are of course shocked at the work that has been done and has said "it's one of the worst kitchen installs they have ever seen"