Advice re unexpected trade waste

woodsford

Hi all,

Happy Friday.

I had my old fireplace replaced yesterday - the whole thing was replaced; the fire, fire surround, fire hearth etc. This was done by a professional gas fire fitter.

Today i walked outside of my property and realised that the fireplace fitter left the old fire / surround / all waste outside of my property in the bin area.

This was a surprise as I was not aware that I was supposed to dispose them myself and he didn't mention anything about it. There was nothing in the contract that specified who was supposed to dispose of the old fireplace.

What should I do? 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

GDB2222

“ This was done by a professional gas fire fitter.”

Not at all professional in my view. He should have said whether he would be taking the waste when he quoted. 

As things stand, you are stuck with it. Can you take it to the dump yourself? If not, you will have to pay a waste contractor.

Alderbank

It's your waste.

If you wanted the contractor to do it you should have made sure it was in the contract that he would remove all waste. He would have charged extra for that of course, not just for the labour but also for the commercial waste disposal charge he would have had to pay.

If you take it to the household refuse site yourself you avoid paying the charge.

woodsford

GDB2222 said:

“ This was done by a professional gas fire fitter.”

Not at all professional in my view. He should have said whether he would be taking the waste when he quoted. 

As things stand, you are stuck with it. Can you take it to the dump yourself? If not, you will have to pay a waste contractor.

Thanks for your reply.

I agree, not professional at all. My main issue is that nothing was communicated at all.

I can't as I don't have a car and I'm disabled, so it looks like I may have to pay for a waste collector.

Do you think I should email him to enquire or suck it up basically?

justwhat

Alderbank said:

It's your waste.

If you wanted the contractor to do it you should have made sure it was in the contract that he would remove all waste. He would have charged extra for that of course, not just for the labour but also for the commercial waste disposal charge he would have had to pay.

If you take it to the household refuse site yourself you avoid paying the charge.

no...It's part of the job to dispose of the carp. ....fitter left it to cut costs....good job it was not a roofer , that's allot of waste on a roof. lol 

Bet if it was a full CH system he would have took the copper away lol 

Section62

woodsford said:

Today i walked outside of my property and realised that the fireplace fitter left the old fire / surround / all waste outside of my property in the bin area.

When you say "outside of [your] property" do you mean outside your house, but still on your land?

If it isn't on land you own (so for example a communal bin store area) then you need to do something about it ASAP as in theory it may be a flytip.  (ASAP as in move it onto/into land/space you own tonight)

woodsford said:

This was a surprise as I was not aware that I was supposed to dispose them myself and he didn't mention anything about it. There was nothing in the contract that specified who was supposed to dispose of the old fireplace.

You need to contact the fitter and say you thought he was disposing of the waste as part of the agreement - and see what he says.

The law is a bit complicated when it comes to waste generated by a contractor working on a domestic property.  If nothing was agreed then in theory he would be responsible for it by default.  But you'll need to scrutinise all the T&C's (including any website he has) to see if anything is said about waste removal which you've missed.

You may be lucky and he will come back and take it all away for no extra charge.  (make sure there is no personally identifying materials on or in the waste though, just in case it doesn't end up where it should)

If not, then scrappers might be interested in taking the fire for the metal.  The rest of it might be harder to dispose of. You could try sites like Freecycle/Freegle, especially if the surround is something which could be reused.

If you end up having to pay someone to take it away then make sure they are registered, and give you a waste transfer note.

Alderbank

No harm in asking him but as a qualified gas engineer his hourly rate will be much more than a general labourer which is all you need.
Your local council might do it but their charges vary wildly. They might be cheapest, they might be the most expensive.

As you are disabled try local charities first, they might be pleased to help you.

Be aware that the waste is yours right up until it is in an approved waste management site. If you book a cowboy and they fly tip it, it might be traced back to you

Section62

Alderbank said:

If you take it to the household refuse site yourself you avoid paying the charge.

Many sites now won't take DIY waste, or will only allow small quantities.

If it is waste generated by a contractor as part of their work then it shouldn't be taken to a household refuse/recycling site.

theoretica

How much of the waste is metal?  You still might be able to ask around and find someone who wants to collect scrap metal for free.

woodsford

theoretica said:

How much of the waste is metal?  You still might be able to ask around and find someone who wants to collect scrap metal for free.

Not much - just one small part.

I don't mind paying but it is the lack of communication that bothers me a bit.

I will email him to politely enquire about it. Lesson learnt for me!

seatbeltnoob

I used to break it up into small bits and out q bit into the wheels bin at a time.

That was before I had a car.