Garden room seems to be taking forever.

priuklondon

We are having a garden room installed. The work started in early March 2021 and we were promised that it would complete within 10 weeks.

We are now in the second week of August 2021 and the work hasn't completed. 

The builder has been provided many opportunities to complete the work and keeps failing to commit to his promises to complete the work by a specific date. 

We understand that some of the delay may be down to material shortages for example cladding. But there is a lot of work remaining that we know that this isn't the case for. 

Some of the work such as rendered walls for a seating area outside of the garden room is not of good quality. Paint is flaking and bubbling. 

We have requested that he provides a Electrical Installation Certificate as both him and his son performed the electrical work. He said that he would have someone else come in to do the sign off but my understanding is that it should be the electrician i.e. him and/or his son who should provide this. I don't think the person who would do the sign off works directly for him. He would just contract him to do the sign off. Surely this would be illegal right? Also on asking the builder for this certificate and querying this, he has now threatened to not complete the remaining work. 

I would appreciate any advise from anyone on what we could do next? 

I am planning to get my solicitor involved. I have legal advise cover on my home insurance policy so would this help in this circumstance? 

stuart45

Rendered garden walls, planters and and outside seating areas are not the best method in the UK. Probably fine in the Med.

Section62

priuklondon said:

We have requested that he provides a Electrical Installation Certificate as both him and his son performed the electrical work. He said that he would have someone else come in to do the sign off but my understanding is that it should be the electrician i.e. him and/or his son who should provide this. I don't think the person who would do the sign off works directly for him. He would just contract him to do the sign off. Surely this would be illegal right? Also on asking the builder for this certificate and querying this, he has now threatened to not complete the remaining work. 

On this point specifically, there is no absolute obligation for work to be 'signed off' by the person doing it.  E.g. a householder is perfectly entitled to DIY most electrical jobs, then 'employ' building control to complete the inspection and certification process.

So it wouldn't be illegal to contract in those aspects of the project, just as it is entirely in order for a builder to contract in structural engineering design, and almost any other part of a project.

Competence to carry out the work in the first place is more likely to be an issue.


On the other issues, builders are snowed under with work at present, Covid is still having an impact on working practices, as well as the availability of materials.  The weather recently has also not been ideal for construction work with it being interchangeably both too hot and too wet for a lot of activities.

If you get a solicitor involved you first need to have a clear idea of what it is you want to achieve. It will be one of the first questions a good one will ask you.  Terminating the contract with the builder won't assist in getting the project finished, especially if you cannot find another builder to take on a half-completed project (and especially not if they know there is ongoing legal action).

Have you reached a position where your relationship with the builder has irretrievably broken down? Accusing him of acting illegally (if that is what happened) might have done so, if your unhappiness with the quality and timeliness of his work hadn't already.

Do you want him to finish the job, or do you want to be free to get someone else to?

FreeBear

stuart45 said: Rendered garden walls, planters and and outside seating areas are not the best method in the UK.

Oh, I would have thought rendered walls would be fine - It is used on the outside of buildings without issues.

If the wall had been freshly rendered and then painted, it may be that the wall wasn't fully dry, hence the paint flaking off.

stuart45

House walls tend not to suffer in the same way. They are usually better protected by overhanging eaves and cills etc, and heat from the house helps to dry them. Garden walls are usually more exposed, and often are damp for longer periods. They are not as bad if not painted, but when painted white are usually showing problems within a few months. 

FreeBear

All good points. Add to that, garden walls don't always have a DPC, so will draw up a bit of moisture from the ground.

Section62

stuart45 said:

House walls tend not to suffer in the same way. They are usually better protected by overhanging eaves and cills etc, and heat from the house helps to dry them. Garden walls are usually more exposed, and often are damp for longer periods. They are not as bad if not painted, but when painted white are usually showing problems within a few months. 

All the above, plus on buildings the paint/render combination is helping to keep water out.  On those garden features there's typically water on the inside already and the paint/render combination is stopping it escaping.  The waterproofing nature of the paint becomes the problem.

That, plus the mentality "it's only a garden wall" leading to lack of care on the detailing and execution.  And frost of course.

They often look quite nice for a few weeks though. Long enough for the final payment to clear.

stuart45

Section62 said: Long enough for the final payment to clear.

That's the key point. If it's a cash job it's till they can't see your tail lights anymore.

stuart45

This is a typical example of what happens to some stone built garden walls in my area. I had to rebuild this one as the ivy and other plant life had grown inside it. When you take down these type of walls you usually find that the outside is quite dry, but in the centre it's really damp and full of ivy and plant life.
Untitled | DIYnot Forums
Untitled | DIYnot Forums




This was another one that was full of ivy at the top.

Jeepers_Creepers

stuart45 said:

Garden walls are usually more exposed, and often are damp for longer periods. They are not as bad if not painted, but when painted white are usually showing problems within a few months. 

Ah. That explains a lot... :-(

priuklondon

Section62 said:

priuklondon said:

We have requested that he provides a Electrical Installation Certificate as both him and his son performed the electrical work. He said that he would have someone else come in to do the sign off but my understanding is that it should be the electrician i.e. him and/or his son who should provide this. I don't think the person who would do the sign off works directly for him. He would just contract him to do the sign off. Surely this would be illegal right? Also on asking the builder for this certificate and querying this, he has now threatened to not complete the remaining work. 

On this point specifically, there is no absolute obligation for work to be 'signed off' by the person doing it.  E.g. a householder is perfectly entitled to DIY most electrical jobs, then 'employ' building control to complete the inspection and certification process.

So it wouldn't be illegal to contract in those aspects of the project, just as it is entirely in order for a builder to contract in structural engineering design, and almost any other part of a project.

Competence to carry out the work in the first place is more likely to be an issue.


On the other issues, builders are snowed under with work at present, Covid is still having an impact on working practices, as well as the availability of materials.  The weather recently has also not been ideal for construction work with it being interchangeably both too hot and too wet for a lot of activities.

If you get a solicitor involved you first need to have a clear idea of what it is you want to achieve. It will be one of the first questions a good one will ask you.  Terminating the contract with the builder won't assist in getting the project finished, especially if you cannot find another builder to take on a half-completed project (and especially not if they know there is ongoing legal action).

Have you reached a position where your relationship with the builder has irretrievably broken down? Accusing him of acting illegally (if that is what happened) might have done so, if your unhappiness with the quality and timeliness of his work hadn't already.

Do you want him to finish the job, or do you want to be free to get someone else to?

Thanks for some of the clarifications you provided. 

As mentioned in the original post we know that there have been some material shortages for example the composite cladding. However we know that everything left to finish this job is currently in supply at various trade retailers such as composite fencing, concrete slabs etc.

I think the main issues we are facing with this builder are promises keep being broken and he is never keeping us posted. Seems like we always have to chase.

We know that some of his other customers are also facing challenges here. I am guessing that he may have some cash flow issues. 

One other concern we have is that he installed an air conditioner unit in the garden room for us but I don't think he is FGas registered. 

If we can get somebody else to certify the electrical work then this takes some worry away from us as I don't think this builder will finish the job.