Bad builder & home insurance?

sayhitorosie

Hello all, advice welcome please. 

Background for context; 
House Extension built in 2019, by builder A. 

Garden patio, built by builder B, in late 2021. 

Garden patio includes steps etc which are crumbling and overall poor workmanship. Tried contacting the builder, no success and he is apparently no longer trading. 

Bricks of the house extension now having their “faces fall off” through the process of spalling. 

Contact builder A who says cause of the damage is a lack of drainage around the patio against the house. 

Cost to fix, bricks (and patio, or it will just keep happening) - £10k. 

So, given that Builder A says Builder B is responsible. And Builder B says no longer trading. What now, can house insurance help pay for the works? 

Thanks 

user1977

Only if it includes legal cover to help you sue someone.

The fact builder B claims to be "no longer trading" isn't a get-out from being sued!

Aretnap

Poor workmanship isn't typically covered by home insurance so your not going to be able to claim for the cost of putting it right on your policy I'm afraid. As above if you have legal cover on your policy then you may be able to get legal assistance with the process of claiming from the builder, who remains responsible even if he isn't trading.

Hopefully you used a reputable builder who had insurance of his own to cover his liabilities in this situation, and not a fly by night character who has disappeared of the face of the earth? (No longer trading is not a get out in this scenario, but being untraceable usually is...).

sayhitorosie

Yeah upon further “social media hunting” I have spoken to other customers who have had poor workmanship from Builder B - a few have even taken him to small claims court and won - the problem they have raised is that they still have to further prosecute to actually get the money from him which from the sounds of 2 other customers - proves to not be very fruitful! 

Hence feeling rather like a lost cause to peruse him and feeling a little stung over all! 

Slinky

How big is this patio? How much is actually against the wall? You could probably fix this by cutting the row of slabs against the house back by about 6 inches and creating a gap you can put gravel in to reduce the amount of rain bouncing against the house. That and replacing a few a few spalled bricks doesn't sound like £10K of work to me.

35har1old

sayhitorosie said:

Hello all, advice welcome please. 

Background for context; 
House Extension built in 2019, by builder A. 

Garden patio, built by builder B, in late 2021. 

Garden patio includes steps etc which are crumbling and overall poor workmanship. Tried contacting the builder, no success and he is apparently no longer trading. 

Bricks of the house extension now having their “faces fall off” through the process of spalling. 

Contact builder A who says cause of the damage is a lack of drainage around the patio against the house. 

Cost to fix, bricks (and patio, or it will just keep happening) - £10k. 

So, given that Builder A says Builder B is responsible. And Builder B says no longer trading. What now, can house insurance help pay for the works? 

Thanks 

Sounds like poor quality brick.
Are the joints recessed?