Builder taken money and not done work

Njt1012

Hi,

Looking for advice on some issues we are having with a builder we had working on our house.

The work was a pretty big renovation and we got a quote from the builder for £100k+.

The quote was broken down into the various pieces of work we had agreed and we also agreed a payment schedule, starting with a £30k deposit.

A few months into the job, now £60k paid, in line with the payment schedule we agreed, we started seeing less and less of the builder, and his right hand man was the only person there most of the time.

We arrange a meeting with him and stated until we started seeing more progress and seeing him more often on the job we would not be paying anymore money. We were certain we had already paid much more than work carried out.

We did start to see a bit more of him and a bit more work being done, but things came to a head towards the end of the year. 

A window fitter came round, fit two windows and measured up for the remaining windows. As far as we were concerned he had gone away to order them with a view to coming back fitting them two weeks later. Our builder as for £15k to the pay for the windows. This was in line with the quoted figure for windows so we agreed.

By this time we are now two months over run on the project and the main hold up is a steel joist for the back of the house extension.

The builder told us he had ordered the steel and asked for £9k, to buy the steel, install it and start on the brickwork prior to Christmas. 

Naively, in hindsight and getting a bit desperate now with delays we sent the money.

During this period, the builders right hand man who had been doing the job on his own went away on holiday for six weeks and we lost all touch with our builder. He would not answer calls, respond to emails, messages. All we were told was the window fitter had been really ill with covid and that’s why the windows weren’t in.

Fast forward six weeks and not a single days work spent on the house, the right hand man came back and things came to a head. 

It turned out the window fitter hadn’t been ill, the reason he hadn’t been back was because he hadn’t been paid even though we had paid the builder. The plumber hadn’t been paid. I rang the steel company that the order for the steel had been placed at. They had no record of the order, the address and had never even heard of our builder. 

We finally get in touch with our builder who claims to have had personal issues, assures us there is money left over and he promises to get a financial update over to us and refund the difference, for us to take the finances on pay him and his staff a day rate as and when works done.

We waited 8 weeks for a financial update, only for him to finally get back to us and say all the money has gone. He had very few receipts, a lot of so called cash payments for things. And the wages he claimed for him and some of his staff a blatantly made up, just to get it to match up to the amount we sent him.

We’ve had a few building companies round since who have confirmed what we have paid doesn’t represent the work done. 

I have reiterated my point to the builder that we sent over £24k for windows, steel and brickwork. And we have had none of that done. 

We’ve tried a few avenues to try and get our money back or get advices, such as trading standards but aren’t getting anywhere. 

To make matters worse, we have now got  another building firm involved and an independent structural engineer who have advised us some of the work done will have to be demolished as it was not done correctly and isn’t safe.

Wondering if anyone could offer some advice?

paye

Was there a contract in place and what due diligence did you undertake prior to awarding the works to him? 
Does the builder have  a legit company or is he a sole trader? 

Njt1012

There was no formal contract signed. 

He was recommended to us by a family friend as he did a similar renovation on their house. 

He’s trades under a company but not a limited company so assume classed as sole trader. 

MalMonroe

Oh this is awful! Not only has this person taken your money but some of the work he's done is rubbish.

There's a lot of (what I feel to be) useful information from Which here -

https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/advice/how-to-complain-if-you-re-unhappy-with-building-work-aWG3g5O4RZCh

You may have to end up taking this person to court - but read the info first, see if it fits with what has happened to you. 

Citizens advice also have some info here -

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/getting-home-improvements-done/problem-with-home-improvements/

I do hope you manage to get something back. 

Bendy_House

Does not being Ltd mean that he can be sued personally? Assuming he has assets, which he surely must.

Njt, you need proper advice, since getting a new builder in without going through the correct process with the first guy might not help.

Do you have Legal Prot on your house insurance?

cc58

Sorry to hijack the thread a bit but there seems to be people in here with good knowledge so I thought I'd ask, 
We are getting a remodel done to our annex, nothing massive but having some walls knocked down, new bathrooms fitted and beams installed. 
When getting quotes most of the builders I'm finding are sole traders (I think because the works are too small for "larger" companies)  is this an issue? I've found most through mybuilder and they have reviews etc but I guess I don't want to end up like op and if there's issues I'd like some sort of avenue of recourse. Thanks 

FaceHead

cc58 said:

Sorry to hijack the thread a bit but there seems to be people in here with good knowledge so I thought I'd ask, 
We are getting a remodel done to our annex, nothing massive but having some walls knocked down, new bathrooms fitted and beams installed. 
When getting quotes most of the builders I'm finding are sole traders (I think because the works are too small for "larger" companies)  is this an issue? I've found most through mybuilder and they have reviews etc but I guess I don't want to end up like op and if there's issues I'd like some sort of avenue of recourse. Thanks 

There's nothing inherently wrong with a sole trader, indeed better in many ways. 

OP - do you know the builders fill name and address? Do they own their house? You can pay the land registry £3 to check. 

If they have assets, and they are a sole trader, it's worth chasing them for the, what £80k court claim. If they can't pay, then no matter what judgement you get, you'd never get paid. 

If they do own a house, then I'd suggest getting in touch with a solicitor - either local or through you home insurer - as £80k is a big claim to be making DIY (wholly possible as MCOL goes up to 100k).

Njt1012

Thanks for the responses. 

Regarding appointing the new builder, we did get advice from trading standards who told us to formally write to the old builder cancelling our contract with him. 

They also advised me to get 3 or more quotes from others builders to get a price for the work carried out so far, to prove it isn’t a fair and reasonable price. 

Easier said than done though as the builders we tried weren’t interested in taking the work on due to business never mind coming round to give us a quote for them to get nothing in return. The one’s we did speak to said it’s pretty much impossible given they haven’t seen the house from when work started.

I’ll try looking into whether he owns his house. I suspect not, purely speculating but in some messages we exchanged a few months ago, he had hinted at some family/personal issues and from correspondence we have had he has moved address during the build.

Bendy_House

Njt1012 said:

Thanks for the responses. 

Regarding appointing the new builder, we did get advice from trading standards who told us to formally write to the old builder cancelling our contract with him. 

They also advised me to get 3 or more quotes from others builders to get a price for the work carried out so far, to prove it isn’t a fair and reasonable price. 

Easier said than done though as the builders we tried weren’t interested in taking the work on due to business never mind coming round to give us a quote for them to get nothing in return. The one’s we did speak to said it’s pretty much impossible given they haven’t seen the house from when work started.

I’ll try looking into whether he owns his house. I suspect not, purely speculating but in some messages we exchanged a few months ago, he had hinted at some family/personal issues and from correspondence we have had he has moved address during the build.

A common ploy, I understand. There was another thread on here with a similar issue, and the builder plead poverty - even after a new Audi turned up on his driveway.

 

Having severed the original contract, it would seem that you have no option - and nothing to hold you up - in pursuing this legally. LP should help, but get very good guidance if not. Once you win - as you most likely will - then straight over to a debt collector like the Sheriffs Office.

cc58

Njt1012 said:

Thanks for the responses. 

Regarding appointing the new builder, we did get advice from trading standards who told us to formally write to the old builder cancelling our contract with him. 

They also advised me to get 3 or more quotes from others builders to get a price for the work carried out so far, to prove it isn’t a fair and reasonable price. 

Easier said than done though as the builders we tried weren’t interested in taking the work on due to business never mind coming round to give us a quote for them to get nothing in return. The one’s we did speak to said it’s pretty much impossible given they haven’t seen the house from when work started.

I’ll try looking into whether he owns his house. I suspect not, purely speculating but in some messages we exchanged a few months ago, he had hinted at some family/personal issues and from correspondence we have had he has moved address during the build.

it shouldnt be too difficult for them to quote you even if they didnt see the original state of the house, presumably you have pictures etc. id speak to them, explain the situation and suggest youre willing to pay a fee, say £100 just for them to come round, have a look and give an idea of the cost for the job. i think you'll find a a small donation always gets the wheels moving, it will take them 15 minutes and you'll get what you need. 

orangecrush

We had almost exactly the same thing happen to us. If the builder has gambling issues (the “personal problems” our builder had) I would begin to think it was the same crook.

We wrote to his personal address and his company address giving him two weeks to return to site and present a plan to complete the work, otherwise we would consider the contract cancelled. Of course he didn’t respond so we then got 3 quotes to complete the build; frustratingly the electrics were not up to scratch and needed redoing. We sent a letter outlining the costs we were facing and asked him to refund us so we can complete the work. Again, silence. 

We went for the middle quote, work completed and signed off. 

After that we documented all the expenses, netted off the value of the work done before the builder legged it, and the amount we’d paid him, and raised a money claim online. At which point we learned he’d done the same thing to two other households, who were all after him, and he’d scarpered down south leaving his girlfriend and kid behind with no forwarding address.

We’ll never get our money back but he has at least 3 sizeable CCJs now. 

Hopefully you get some money back if he has assets - our crook didn’t, he lived with his girlfriend and her parents.