BUILDER NOT FINISHED WORK, ISSUES ETC - IS IT WORTH GOING TO SMALL CLAIMS COURT?

danielle28_2

We had our bathrooms refurbished on 17th August 2020 - on the last day, the boss came asking for payment and said the job was finished they were just tidying up and he was off on holiday so could we settle up 1hr before finishing. As we had good working relationship, we agreed and paid. 10 minutes before leaving, the workers who were still here had a flood in the upstairs bathroom and said that it needed a part replacing and could they come back tomorrow with the part to finish. We agreed couldn't be helped and would see them tomorrow. Sat arrived and a call saying they were not coming as the part wasn't available for another week so would come the following Sat instead. At this point, the upstairs bathroom was leaking into the downstairs bathroom a questionable brown water that needed 3 containers changing every 3-4 hours - this went on until they arrived the following Tues (10 days after the job 'finished') - this fix lasted 3 days before both toilets stopped flushing and we resorted to manually flushing. A lot of calls not answered and messages unresponded to, they came back to fix and lo and behold within 4 days it happened again, again they came to fix after lots of non-shows, unanswered calls and messages and then it happened again after 3 days - this was 19th Oct and since then they have not returned any of my calls or messages and have promised they will call me that day and then never do. It is now 14th Nov and we have been throwing water down toilets ever since to flush. The bath has started coming away from the floor, sealant peeling around the sink area and a awful smell coming from the extractor fan.

I sent them a letter as advised by trading standards with the following 4 offers and explained I wanted a response within 7 days. The offers were:

1. 25% of the monies paid refunded (£2150) plus ALL the issues rectified within a reasonable time frame and the doors and skirting installed as initially requested.
2. 35% of the monies (£3010) paid refunded and ALL the issues rectified within a reasonable time frame.
3. 70% of the monies refunded (£6020), we part ways and I find another company to fix the work.
4. None of the above - (please note: immediate legal action for 100% of monies paid will be taken should you wish to take this offer)

The doors/skirting were extra jobs that had quoted separately but agreed to do before 17th Aug before cancelling and saying that would do it during the 2wks they were here and never did.

They came back to me today with a counter offer of £300 refund and they fix the work. I'm willing to give them a chance to fix the issue but I don't think this is enough - what are the chances of me getting one of my above offers is I pursue through small claims court?

Doozergirl

None? 

Your aim is to get the work fixed.  No one is going to give you free money.  I bet Trading Standards didn't tell you to write what you did.

The court will award you what it takes to get the bathroom done, not an arbitrary penalty laid out by you.  

The format of the letter under a commonly used contract Is to write giving them 14 days notice to FIX the work.  If they haven't
done it within that time or satisfactorily started with gusto then you go ahead, get three quotes for the work and sue them for the cost of the new contractor.  

You can only claim for actual costs incurred.  Have you not watched Judge Rinder? 😉

 

swajarbal

@danielle28_2 did you get anywhere with your builder? We are in a similar dilemma whether to try and get money back from our landscaper, who cancelled the job part way through, or take them to court.