Landscaper issues and small claims help please

JohnSmith456

Hi everyone,
Newbie here and actually have never had issues with Consumer Rights until now.
In January 2021 we obtained some quotes for some landscaping work to be completed on our garden.
However, since February when the job started, the landscapers have only come for 4 hours at a time and then don’t return for days/weeks.
When we contact him for an update, he just says there is a material shortage due to COVID so the job is delayed.
There were a few occasions when he asked us for extra money for the labourer he had that day or for materials or for a skip etc, which when we added it up now comes to more than half of the total.
After 7-8 weeks from starting the job, he is not even halfway and now has not returned or contacted us.
We have tried to call and text him, but he ignores us now.
The last text he sent was to say he would be back to complete the job which was 3 weeks ago.
We have since contacted CAB who suggested we write to him outlining the whole situation and asking him to return to complete the job.
He replied to say he would be back by the end of the week to finish it, this has now passed.
We have also looked at the workmanship and there are cracks and gaps in the work they have done and some areas haven’t even started yet.
We have worked out we have paid him more than he has completed, based on the original quote he gave us which was broken down into sections.
In the meantime, we have started obtaining quotes to finish the job and the first quote has said the workmanship is so poor that he will need to redo everything again.
Obviously all landscapers are all busy at the moment, so any quotes won’t be completed until late Summer now which is so frustrating as this has been a waste of time.

My question is originally I was going to ask him for my money back but now it looks like I may have to ask him for money on top of what I have paid to fix the job.
Is this accurate?
Am I right in thinking I can claim for what I have paid him so far and the money to fix the job by someone else?
This guy has been very unreliable and also keeps asking us for small amounts at a time, so I wonder how likely this will be.
We are fed up of waiting, as this has been going on for 8 weeks when this job was due to be completed in 7 days!

Thank you in advance, any help gratefully received as we are very stressed and upset with the whole situation.

Sandtree

JohnSmith456 said:

Am I right in thinking I can claim for what I have paid him so far and the money to fix the job by someone else?

If you went to a shop and bought a new TV but when you got it home you found it had a crack in the screen would you expect the shop to both refund your money AND give you another TV?

JohnSmith456

Sandtree said:

JohnSmith456 said:

Am I right in thinking I can claim for what I have paid him so far and the money to fix the job by someone else?

If you went to a shop and bought a new TV but when you got it home you found it had a crack in the screen would you expect the shop to both refund your money AND give you another TV?

Sorry I think I did not word that correctly...
If the original job was £5k and I had paid the cowboy £1k, leaves £4k outstanding to pay.
Due to the poor quality of work and failure to return to finish the job, I now obtained new quotes to fix the job which is £8k. 
If I take the cowboy to court, would I be eligible to claim for £5k?  The extra cost needed to fix and complete the job is now at £4k (8k minus 4k) plus the original £1k that I had pay him.
Does this make sense? 

Sandtree

Why is the quote £8k -v- the £5k of the original? Is it that the work done to date is effectively going to cost £3k to undo or is it these guys are simply more expensive? Have you had just one quote for the rework or multiple?

Aylesbury_Duck

If I were you I'd be extremely wary of the new quote you've had.  You risk being done over again.  As Sandtree asks, have you had other quotes yet?  It's very easy for any tradesperson to come along, tut-tut a bit at another tradesperson's work and suggest it all needs re-doing.  A nice little earner.

I find it hard to believe that the price has gone up from £5k to £8k, when your first contractor used a skip and bought materials.  Ground can only be dug out once, trees/shrubs felled once, etc. so for a start the skip and associated labour won't be needed, surely?  Where are the materials you paid for first time round?  Are they all scrap and need re-purchasing?

You can see why I'm sceptical about the big increase in cost, when you say that quite a bit of work has been done already.  Of course it could be that your first contractor is a complete cowboy and was too cheap and/or you were paying cash-in-hand to save money and now you're getting realistic quotes from reputable traders, but just be careful.  Where did you find the first person and where are these new quotes coming from?

JohnSmith456

So we have had 2 quotes and getting another 2 quotes this week.
Essentially, the first contractor quoted us for skip and materials etc but in reality, he did not use a skip and ordered a grab lorry and most of the materials never even turned up so we are only left with some cement, one slab and some mot. 
At the time of obtaining quotes for the first contractor, we did get a few quotes then and he was the cheapest by a little, which in hindsight was our stupidity and we are kicking ourselves now as it is nothing but stress and hassle that could have been prevented. 
But looking at the other original quotes and the recent ones, they are actually not too dissimilar which makes me think this is fairly realistic costs.
The new quotes are from recommendations from a friend and also from others who have used them in the past, but of course I am very wary of anyone now!

Sandtree

So as its just a quote to start again from the beginning and not actually any aspect of extra cost to unpick the original work would you be happy with simply getting the £1k back so you are at square one and then just choosing a different provider of your choice (like the cracked tv screen if you decide you want to switch brand having lost faith).

JohnSmith456

Sandtree said:

So as its just a quote to start again from the beginning and not actually any aspect of extra cost to unpick the original work would you be happy with simply getting the £1k back so you are at square one and then just choosing a different provider of your choice (like the cracked tv screen if you decide you want to switch brand having lost faith).

So although its a quote to start again from the beginning, the new contractors would have to redo all the work that was originally done as it turns out the slabs are uneven, not levelled out and some cracks in them not to mention the same colour. So we have a raft of issues with the work they have done, as well as the work not actually started too. 
Ideally, I would be happy with them paying the difference of their quote and the new quote as well as refunding me the money I have already paid them and putting it towards the new contractors. Essentially, I don't want to be out of pocket - the price they quoted me should be all I pay, anything more should be covered by the cowboys to rectify their work and complete the unfinished stuff too.

Aylesbury_Duck

JohnSmith456 said:

Sandtree said:

So as its just a quote to start again from the beginning and not actually any aspect of extra cost to unpick the original work would you be happy with simply getting the £1k back so you are at square one and then just choosing a different provider of your choice (like the cracked tv screen if you decide you want to switch brand having lost faith).

So although its a quote to start again from the beginning, the new contractors would have to redo all the work that was originally done as it turns out the slabs are uneven, not levelled out and some cracks in them not to mention the same colour. So we have a raft of issues with the work they have done, as well as the work not actually started too. 
Ideally, I would be happy with them paying the difference of their quote and the new quote as well as refunding me the money I have already paid them and putting it towards the new contractors. Essentially, I don't want to be out of pocket - the price they quoted me should be all I pay, anything more should be covered by the cowboys to rectify their work and complete the unfinished stuff too.

If I've understood you correctly, you're saying that the new contractor would have - with a clean slate, i.e. your garden in its original state - quoted £5k as well.  They're saying that it will cost £3k to undo the work of the first contractor then a further £5k to do the landscaping work?  And consequently, you want the £1k back from the original contractor, and to sue them for another £3k with which to pay the new contractor to undo their work? 

Sandtree

JohnSmith456 said:

Sandtree said:

So as its just a quote to start again from the beginning and not actually any aspect of extra cost to unpick the original work would you be happy with simply getting the £1k back so you are at square one and then just choosing a different provider of your choice (like the cracked tv screen if you decide you want to switch brand having lost faith).

So although its a quote to start again from the beginning, the new contractors would have to redo all the work that was originally done as it turns out the slabs are uneven, not levelled out and some cracks in them not to mention the same colour. So we have a raft of issues with the work they have done, as well as the work not actually started too. 
Ideally, I would be happy with them paying the difference of their quote and the new quote as well as refunding me the money I have already paid them and putting it towards the new contractors. Essentially, I don't want to be out of pocket - the price they quoted me should be all I pay, anything more should be covered by the cowboys to rectify their work and complete the unfinished stuff too.

But this is why I asked if there is some explicit cost in relation to undoing the work done before... even if the slabs are uneven its likely its cheaper to level a nearly level bed than to start with an uneven lawn whereas if they've been set on an uneven concrete slab then its more expensive.

Your previous answer was that there is no cost explicitly to undo the work hence the £1k refund works.  

JohnSmith456

Sandtree said:

JohnSmith456 said:

Sandtree said:

So as its just a quote to start again from the beginning and not actually any aspect of extra cost to unpick the original work would you be happy with simply getting the £1k back so you are at square one and then just choosing a different provider of your choice (like the cracked tv screen if you decide you want to switch brand having lost faith).

So although its a quote to start again from the beginning, the new contractors would have to redo all the work that was originally done as it turns out the slabs are uneven, not levelled out and some cracks in them not to mention the same colour. So we have a raft of issues with the work they have done, as well as the work not actually started too. 
Ideally, I would be happy with them paying the difference of their quote and the new quote as well as refunding me the money I have already paid them and putting it towards the new contractors. Essentially, I don't want to be out of pocket - the price they quoted me should be all I pay, anything more should be covered by the cowboys to rectify their work and complete the unfinished stuff too.

But this is why I asked if there is some explicit cost in relation to undoing the work done before... even if the slabs are uneven its likely its cheaper to level a nearly level bed than to start with an uneven lawn whereas if they've been set on an uneven concrete slab then its more expensive.

Your previous answer was that there is no cost explicitly to undo the work hence the £1k refund works.  

The recent quotes we have had do not explicitly state how much they are charging to undo the work so it is hard to differentiate.