Builders made mistakes installing doors

imamutant

Hi all,

I recently had a local company replace two sets of bifold doors in my extension, and they made a couple mistakes, I'm not entirely sure what my rights are here and would appreciate some advice.

There's a couple small mistakes: They installed a different catflap to the one they showed me. They showed me a clear, large flap. But installed a white plastic, small one (That the cat can't really fit through lol). And they installed the wrong handles (We chose satin and they installed chrome).

But the bigger mistake is they took the measurements wrong on one of the doors, meaning on the day of fitting, they had to cut the top of the door off, removing the trickle vents, in order for it to fit. I believe this goes against building regulations as the extensions doesn't have any airbricks for ventilation, and the one door with the vents doesn't provide enough ventilation (From my research, but i'm no pro).

What exactly should I do here? My concern is that when it comes to sell the house, the survey will bring up the lack of ventilation and give me hard time selling. Interested to hear what you would do in this situation! Thanks!

A_Geordie

Your concern is really not something I would be concerned about. I'd be more concerned that they have chopped up your bifold doors to make it fit, rather than get the correct doors. Sounds like a botch job to me and I would be asking them to come and replace the whole thing as it was not to order - unless you've accepted what you have done. 

How did you pay the local company, was it cash, card, bank transfer? Unless you paid credit card, you might want to prepare yourself that you may not get your money back or for them to come out to repair/fix the issues. Quite often small local companies do a runner or if they are a limited company, dissolve it and then set up a new one to avoid liability. 

Assuming you've done your research and this is a reputable company then the starting point would be to call the company and explain your issues and ask them to come and replace the whole thing since it wasn't done to the correct specifications nor were the fittings correct. 

Did they give you a FENSA/CERTASS certificate once completed? That would be quite telling if they didn't.

imamutant

A_Geordie said:

Your concern is really not something I would be concerned about. I'd be more concerned that they have chopped up your bifold doors to make it fit, rather than get the correct doors. Sounds like a botch job to me and I would be asking them to come and replace the whole thing as it was not to order - unless you've accepted what you have done. 

How did you pay the local company, was it cash, card, bank transfer? Unless you paid credit card, you might want to prepare yourself that you may not get your money back or for them to come out to repair/fix the issues. Quite often small local companies do a runner or if they are a limited company, dissolve it and then set up a new one to avoid liability. 

Assuming you've done your research and this is a reputable company then the starting point would be to call the company and explain your issues and ask them to come and replace the whole thing since it wasn't done to the correct specifications nor were the fittings correct. 

Did they give you a FENSA/CERTASS certificate once completed? That would be quite telling if they didn't.

Thanks for the reply. I haven't accepted the exactly, as I still have the remaining 50% left to pay. I emailed them explaining the issues and they said to call them, so we're due a phone call tomorrow, but I would like to arm myself with some more knowledge before then. It's not that small of a company for them to dissolve the company over one customer. They have 600+ google reviews and are one of the main door/window fitters in my county. I mean 'small' as in comparison to huge companies like Anglian.

They said certifcated wouls be recieved in the mail. None have come yet, but the job was completed just before Xmas so delays are expected.

I will ask them to come re fit the door

A_Geordie

From the sounds of it, I think a civil conversation seems to be the way to go so no need to escalate at this stage, probably just gauge how they react to your issues.

As a minimum and if you haven't done so already, I would suggest you take photos of the completed work, any damage to the areas, the door handles and the incorrect sizing of the cat flap just in case you need that for future reference - consider various angles of the issues too if appropriate to capture the damage/poor installation. Then you can use all of that against what you were quoted/offered and explain to them what has been installed does not align with what you originally agreed.

If you wish to go a bit further and be more specific, you can explain that there are statutory consumer rights that imposes certain obligations on the company when providing goods/services/installation. It's not necessary to to specify the relevant sections during an informal conversation as my experience of companies and customer service people is that they just tend to think your a smart alec or get irate at the fact you are quoting legislation. Summarising should be fine unless they're asking you what part.

Several sections of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 may apply: 

- Section 10 (Goods are not as described) e.g. the incorrect sizing of the bifold doors, cat flap, door handles.

- Section 13 (Goods to match sample ) applies if you saw samples of the goods before you entered into the contract such as the cat flap or door handles.

- Section 14 (Goods to match model seen or examined) Alternative to section 13, could be applicable if you entered into the company's shop and saw models of the goods you were buying. 

- Section 15 (Installation as part of conformity of the goods with the contract) if the contract included installation which it sounds like it did, then if the installation was carried out incorrectly, the company is deemed to be in breach.

- Section 49 (services to be provided with reasonable care and skill)

In terms of your remedies (you should make it explicitly clear what you're asking for), you can exercise a right of rejection within 30 days and obtain a full refund or alternatively, you can ask them to provide a repair or replacement free of charge provided the repair or replacement is not disproportionate to the other, though I suspect the way you have described the way they have done the installation and cut away at the doors, replacement of the bifold doors seems to be the only sensible option here. If you opt to repair/replace, the right of rejection is paused until the repair/replacement is complete and there is still an issue, you can reject or seek a price reduction of up to 100%, if appropriate. Note, they only have one chance at fixing the problem before you can exercise your right of rejection. 

These statutory rights don't prevent you from claiming compensation or other remedies under normal rules of contract law for breach so long as there is no double recovery. For example, you could instead engage an independent third party to carry out repairs/replacement and claim that back from the company. 

One last point, did you pay any part of the payment by credit card at all? 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Hello OP

If the trickle vents are required by building regs and they've cut them out to make the door fit I think you have a good argument for the door being replaced.

Handles are minor and you'd hope they would swap them out.

If the door with the cat flap is the one they've cut down and you end up agreeing a replacement then make sure they fit the right cat flap in the new door. 

If it's in the other door I'm not sure how easy it is to swap out for a larger cat flap but hopefully not too difficult and they'll agree.

50% left to pay is a good bargaining chip, as above have a chat to gauge their response and then pop back with some details for more advice if they aren't offering what you feel is right. 

If they agree to fix everything keep an eye on the install second time around and don't be afraid to speak up if you feel something is off.