Not sure whether builder for garden studio has done a runner. What are my options?

powderyalabasterguzzler

@soolin thanks for the advice. The contract has no firm start and finish dates, nor does it have a clause dealing with breaches of contract.

He gave me both verbal and written assuranced in text messages about a completion date of 12 April, which he obviously did not honour. So I do have evidence of an expected timeframe for completing the build, which has come and gone.

I'll see what he says if and when he decides to show up today.

tightauldgit

To be honest I'd work on the assumption that any money you've given this guy is probably gone and not coming back. So working on that assumption you need to decide if you want to give him a chance to continue the job or just cut your losses at this stage. I suspect that he will come and ask you for money based on what you've said so far and I think the answer to that has to be a firm no. 

powderyalabasterguzzler

tightauldgit said:

To be honest I'd work on the assumption that any money you've given this guy is probably gone and not coming back. So working on that assumption you need to decide if you want to give him a chance to continue the job or just cut your losses at this stage. I suspect that he will come and ask you for money based on what you've said so far and I think the answer to that has to be a firm no. 

The same thought did cross my mind. I absolutely won't be giving him any more money. The only issue at the moment is whether he will return my deposit or, if he is able to prove that he spent my deposit on costly materials such as the uPVC doors (which is what the deposit was meant to pay for), then I'll accept delivery of those items in lieu of my deposit being returned. Otherwise, I'll have to consider legal options for recovering the money I've spent on work/materials that he has not yet delivered.

tightauldgit

powderyalabasterguzzler said:

tightauldgit said:

To be honest I'd work on the assumption that any money you've given this guy is probably gone and not coming back. So working on that assumption you need to decide if you want to give him a chance to continue the job or just cut your losses at this stage. I suspect that he will come and ask you for money based on what you've said so far and I think the answer to that has to be a firm no. 

The same thought did cross my mind. I absolutely won't be giving him any more money. The only issue at the moment is whether he will return my deposit or, if he is able to prove that he spent my deposit on costly materials such as the uPVC doors (which is what the deposit was meant to pay for), then I'll accept delivery of those items in lieu of my deposit being returned. Otherwise, I'll have to consider legal options for recovering the money I've spent on work/materials that he has not yet delivered.

Certainly consider them, but as you'll see on a lot of threads on this site taking legal action against a small trader (assuming he's a Ltd Company) is not that often fruitful. 

soolin

tightauldgit said:

To be honest I'd work on the assumption that any money you've given this guy is probably gone and not coming back. So working on that assumption you need to decide if you want to give him a chance to continue the job or just cut your losses at this stage. I suspect that he will come and ask you for money based on what you've said so far and I think the answer to that has to be a firm no. 

I agree, I wouldn't be at all surprised if he doesn't ask for a little something to tide him over.

soolin

powderyalabasterguzzler said:

tightauldgit said:

To be honest I'd work on the assumption that any money you've given this guy is probably gone and not coming back. So working on that assumption you need to decide if you want to give him a chance to continue the job or just cut your losses at this stage. I suspect that he will come and ask you for money based on what you've said so far and I think the answer to that has to be a firm no. 

The same thought did cross my mind. I absolutely won't be giving him any more money. The only issue at the moment is whether he will return my deposit or, if he is able to prove that he spent my deposit on costly materials such as the uPVC doors (which is what the deposit was meant to pay for), then I'll accept delivery of those items in lieu of my deposit being returned. Otherwise, I'll have to consider legal options for recovering the money I've spent on work/materials that he has not yet delivered.

Without an address any legal action is going to be extremely difficult if not impossible and if you are correct that the company is being disbanded, you might be wasting money trying to chase your losses.

Slinky

I don't understand why you haven't taken a drive past his house in the evening to see if his van is on the drive? Presumably he's going to be fairly local to you. That would at least give you an idea of whether that is his address and whether he or somebody else refused the letter.

born_again

Time to follow him when he's been to see you.

powderyalabasterguzzler

He didn't end up showing at my house to speak to me. Apparently, he was upset about the negative review I had left him the previous day. I reckon he probably was going to try to ask for more money and realised that he had run out of road on that one.

I'm not in the habit of tracking people down. As far as I'm concerned, if he's gone to such great lengths to conceal his address from me - which incidently isn't local anyway - then I don't see much point in trying to search for him. I've had a similar experience quite a few years ago and learnt from that that people who don't want to be found often aren't worth looking for.

macman

You don't need to know his residential address if it is a limited company: you just serve to the registered address at Companies House. Use normal post (not recorded delivery, which he can reject) and obtain a certificate of posting. Service is then deemed to have been made after two business days. 
If he never receives the papers and doesn't attend court then you will win by default. However, winning the CCJ is only half the battle, you then have to actually recover the money, which may require bailiff action.