Chasing builder costs

LittIeFeet

Hi

First time poster - sorry it’s so long!

I engaged a builder to do a conversion on my house. It was a big job, so I signed him up to a contract and engaged him through my company. There’s penalty clauses in the contract to stop the job dragging on. 

As we start to get delayed the first penalty comes down, which is subtracted from the first instalment. We’re about to get into lockdown (where builders could
carry on working but supplies were tight) so I verbally agree to stick a pin in the penalties in good faith as long as we’re transparent about progress and where I can see that any future delays are attributed to lack of supplies being available. 

Towards the end of the build, there is a leak which floods downstairs. He hasn’t installed the pipework properly - which I have video evidence of. He makes it good and then tries to bill me for it. I show him the video that someone in his team sent me to show that the leak was his fault and then he just never shows up again. 

I end up paying subcontractors to finish the job and do (a lot) of snagging. It runs into ‘000s. 

I want to take him to court for the extra costs, waived delay penalties, and material he was paid for in the last instalment he received which he didn’t deliver. 

The trouble is legal fees can be prohibitive. Is there a service that will help advise on whether there is help in mitigating this for small businesses. 

And the second question is; is it worth it? Could a small builder just avoid the responsibility by shutting his company down and start operating from a new one?

pinkshoes

Do you have written evidence showing him that you gave him a chance of coming back to finish of the work?

You have to give someone a chance to finish a job before getting someone else to finish it and billing the original builder. 

Did the final payment not cover the additional work that needed doing?

Aylesbury_Duck

LittIeFeet said:

Hi

First time poster - sorry it’s so long!

I engaged a builder to do a conversion on my house. It was a big job, so I signed him up to a contract and engaged him through my company. There’s penalty clauses in the contract to stop the job dragging on. 

As we start to get delayed the first penalty comes down, which is subtracted from the first instalment. We’re about to get into lockdown (where builders could
carry on working but supplies were tight) so I verbally agree to stick a pin in the penalties in good faith as long as we’re transparent about progress and where I can see that any future delays are attributed to lack of supplies being available. 

Towards the end of the build, there is a leak which floods downstairs. He hasn’t installed the pipework properly - which I have video evidence of. He makes it good and then tries to bill me for it. I show him the video that someone in his team sent me to show that the leak was his fault and then he just never shows up again. 

I end up paying subcontractors to finish the job and do (a lot) of snagging. It runs into ‘000s. 

I want to take him to court for the extra costs, waived delay penalties, and material he was paid for in the last instalment he received which he didn’t deliver. 

The trouble is legal fees can be prohibitive. Is there a service that will help advise on whether there is help in mitigating this for small businesses. 

And the second question is; is it worth it? Could a small builder just avoid the responsibility by shutting his company down and start operating from a new one?

Since this is a business transaction rather than a consumer one, as I understand it the onus is on you to source your own legal services to enforce the contract.  You might try your local chamber of commerce or similar for some recommendations of suitable solicitors or routes to help for such situations.

This might be a cake-and-eat-it situation, where you wanted the benefits of this being a B2B contract, but with that you don't have the consumer rights that you would have had if you had engaged the builder as a consumer.

Ultimately though, your last question is pertinent in any case.  You'd have to be confident that even if you went to the expense of court action and won, the builder has the means to pay.  Have you done some due diligence into his company?

user1977

LittIeFeet said:

The trouble is legal fees can be prohibitive. Is there a service that will help advise on whether there is help in mitigating this for small businesses. 

And the second question is; is it worth it? Could a small builder just avoid the responsibility by shutting his company down and start operating from a new one?

Nothing I'm aware of - generally businesses are expected to be capable of covering their own costs.

You only have the right to recover from the company with whom you contracted (was it a limited company? You also talk about "him"?), so whether it's worthwhile pursuing depends on what assets they've got.