Where do I stand with this?

thatwomanagain

I have had a summer house built at the side of my house, the size was agreed by company that was building it, price agreed and built with no problems, but………last week Cadent told me that the gas pipe needs to be moved as the new structure is built over it and it’s going to cost me £990 plus they have to dig up some of my driveway which is imprinted concrete. If we’d have known at the time then we would have had a smaller structure built. Now, is this wholly my responsibility or should the company have known? Am I responsible for paying the £990 or can I go back to them and ask for them to pay all or some of it?

thank you

Browntoa

Your responsibilities, due diligence 

cymruchris

Unless you have it in writing that they were going to check for utilities, and then get prices to relocate them - then it's down to you to do so - and the costs in moving things aren't cheap. 

If you've just rung up and said 'I want a summer house building there please - this wide by that wide - thanks very much' then they'd quote you for that, and go ahead as per your instructions.

It comes down to what contracts you've signed/emails you've exchanged/records you've kept - but highly unlikely it'll be the builders fault if it wasn't raised and addressed at the early stages.

How did the gas people find out that the pipe needed moving?

Okell

Perhaps I'm being naive but aren't planning applications and building control regs meant to accomodate things like this?

cymruchris

Okell said:

Perhaps I'm being naive but aren't planning applications and building control regs meant to accomodate things like this?

Depends on the scope and size I suppose - whether it was done under permitted development. The OP hasn't mentioned if there was a planning application involved.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Okell said:

Perhaps I'm being naive but aren't planning applications and building control regs meant to accomodate things like this?

Without writing war and peace on the exact requirements generally speaking under 30m squared and no sleeping accommodation wouldn't require building regs or planning.

Electric hook up would but AFAIK  that can be signed off by an electrician, if qualified to do so.

OP services must be carried out with due care and skill, there was a thread a while back, I forget the specifics but roughly, a gardener cut an electric cable mowing the grass, for that I think there is an element of checking for hazards before conducting work.

Assuming summerhouse means fancy shed and there wasn't digging for foundations or such I'm not sure the company would be expected to check for gas pipes.

On the other hand the Cadent website says "No, you must not build over or attempt to move/alter the gas pipes or meter without seeking advice from us." so should anyone building anything consider this? Should a trader be the expert and advise you/check before building? 

Honestly I don't know. You can certainly ask the company about it and see what they say but if looking to enforce reclaiming some money from them via small claims or such I would suggest professional advice, in many years of being here I don't recall seeing an answer to something like this. 

born_again

Okell said:

Perhaps I'm being naive but aren't planning applications and building control regs meant to accomodate things like this?

Given OP made no mention of this, either they failed to do it or it was a permitted development. 

Sadly this is the danger of the permitted development, people do not do due diligence on what is underneath.

Hope that moving the Summer House does not cause further issues with the structure.

The majority of summerhouses and garden rooms do not require planning permission. However, permission is required for any summerhouse which covers over half the garden, which is not for domestic use or which is over 3 metres high with a pent roof or 4 metres high with an apex roof.

Of course there are still building regulations that apply. 

user1977

Okell said:

Perhaps I'm being naive but aren't planning applications and building control regs meant to accomodate things like this?

"Accommodate" in what way? It's still up to the developer (i.e. the OP) to figure out where the utilities are.

Alderbank

As above, most summerhouses are exempt from planning and building control. Planning would not be interested in underground services anyway, just location and appearance.

When I had a conservatory built at my previous house the contract was clear that the company did not check for buried utilities and it was my job to do so or was at my risk if I chose not to do so.

OP, what does the contract you agreed say?

thatwomanagain

Hi everyone. There was no mention of the gas pipe needing to be moved. The gas meter is about 1foot into the building and as it doesn’t need footing and isn’t attached to the house it isn’t something that I would have considered. It’s a hair salon, so the only thing that was required at the time, was drainage from the back wash. It didn’t need planning permission and is exempt from building regs but gas doesn’t get considered in these anyway. I just want to know know if that should have told me, or if it was my responsibility to find out. The gas pipe is under the concrete drive and wasn’t an issue until the garden room was built

Aylesbury_Duck

How have you come to be informed that the gas pipe needs to be moved?

"The gas meter is about 1 foot into the building" is an odd phrase.  Do you mean the meter was originally outside but is now inside the new shed?  Is it that the gas meter needed to be moved and that's what's alerted Cadent to the problem of the shed being built above the pipe?

As I see it, I don't think you have any comeback over the shed people, so this is a cost you'll have to cover yourself.