County Court advice

TheSwan16

Hello all, i’m hoping I’ve posted in the section, apologies if not.

I’m just after a bit of advice. We employed a builder to complete some works on our house. He gave us a written quote with a price and number of days. He ended up going over the price and number of days, neither of which he informed us he was going to do, and I also had a conversation with him a week earlier asking him where we were up to with the original quote, and if it was going to go over he’d have to stop as we couldn’t afford it. He said it’d be close but he’d see what he could do…! Anyway, fast forward to the end of the job, a week over schedule and £3k over the original quote. He’s now taken us to small claims court, claiming additional costs and interest.

I’m just wondering where we stand…? Yes, we should of got written contracts, but we didn’t. And yes, it was all cash in hand. Circumstances at time meant we were desperate for the work to be completed. You live, and we’ve definitely learnt from this experience.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated 

capstain411

Have you got legal cover attached with your home insurance. Have you tried seeking their opinion. 

Aylesbury_Duck

All you can do is gather all the evidence you have to refute his claim.  Has he actually commenced court action, or have you only received a letter before action? If the latter, he may be bluffing, given the "cash in hand" nature of the transaction.

How much was the original quote?  Did you knowingly agree to cash payments to avoid tax?

eskbanker

TheSwan16 said:

We employed a builder to complete some works on our house. He gave us a written quote with a price and number of days. He ended up going over the price and number of days, neither of which he informed us he was going to do, and I also had a conversation with him a week earlier asking him where we were up to with the original quote, and if it was going to go over he’d have to stop as we couldn’t afford it. He said it’d be close but he’d see what he could do…! Anyway, fast forward to the end of the job, a week over schedule and £3k over the original quote. He’s now taken us to small claims court, claiming additional costs and interest.

Was it definitely a quote rather than an estimate, and to what extent was it confirmed as being a fixed price?  If it was a fixed price then you shouldn't have needed to be concerned about it going any higher, although that doesn't justify him going over the figures without agreement if you'd made it clear that this was your expectation....

pinkshoes

What percentage is £3k? If its within 5% (so a £60k job) then thats not too unreasonable, but £3k on a £5k job would be ridiculous! 

Was it a quote or an estimate?

Undervalued

eskbanker said:

TheSwan16 said:

We employed a builder to complete some works on our house. He gave us a written quote with a price and number of days. He ended up going over the price and number of days, neither of which he informed us he was going to do, and I also had a conversation with him a week earlier asking him where we were up to with the original quote, and if it was going to go over he’d have to stop as we couldn’t afford it. He said it’d be close but he’d see what he could do…! Anyway, fast forward to the end of the job, a week over schedule and £3k over the original quote. He’s now taken us to small claims court, claiming additional costs and interest.

Was it definitely a quote rather than an estimate, and to what extent was it confirmed as being a fixed price?  If it was a fixed price then you shouldn't have needed to be concerned about it going any higher, although that doesn't justify him going over the figures without agreement if you'd made it clear that this was your expectation....

Indeed.

Also, what percentage is £3K of the whole job? If say a £5K job went £3K over (£8K in total) that would be unreasonable even for a estimate, which should be prepared with due care.

However, if it was say a £50K job then £3K is maybe within reason.