Builder problems - failed buildings control inspection

mavenmim

Small update: My insurer have agreed to extend my coverage to cover us during the building work (it has pushed up the cost, but the premium was already high as it was a bespoke policy for multiple buildings). They have agreed to fund upto £100k of legal fees and have allocated a lawyer, but they say it might take a very long time to resolve.

mavenmim

A less optimistic update.

Every single thing that Paul did was not up to scratch. The beam and block floor was laid wrong. The blockwork had too sandy a mix. He had not demolished two walls that had to come down, and had not build the foundations required. He had not poured the concrete between the two leaves of the below ground masonry. He had not built the vents to the right level. There were gaps in the damp proof course. He had not done the drainage before doing the floors. The blocks used under ground level were out of line vertically and horizontally and some seemed to have a layer of roof tiles to try to correct this, which are not compression tested. The building inspector documented that it all had to be redone to meet required standards.

On the good side, James has continued to be excellent and all the problems are now rectified, and we are back to the position we thought we had reached with Paul (starting to build the ground floor masonry) but with a safe, level site and the materials properly organised. The beam and block floor is now correctly laid, the levels are correct and square, the vents at the right level, the drainage in place, the structural supports that were missing are now in place. Everything has been signed off with buildings control.

On the down side we've had to pay more than if we'd have started with James in the first place, on top of the dead money we spent with Paul, so we are out of pocket over £100k. This is crippling. It is enough to mean our existing mortgage won't be sufficient, and I don't even know if we will be able to borrow enough to finish the work.

Meanwhile the wonderful legal insurance we were promised has passed us around the houses for eight weeks saying we were covered before doing a credit check and determining that Paul's company isn't a good enough recovery prospect for them to offer any cover. They haven't bothered to check if he had professional indemnity insurance that would be liable rather than his company. Checkatrade promised to release his indemnity policy details, and said they'd come back to me within 72 hours a month ago, but now say this could take another 20 working days.

So I'm stuck. Surely there is some protection in a scenario like this? Do I just need to find and pay for my own lawyer?

GDB2222

You might well win a legal battle with Paul, but that doesn’t mean that you will be paid. The most important questions are:

Did you contract with Paul, or with a limited company?

Does Paul own his own property? 

mavenmim

I don't have a written contract. I have a quote from his ltd company, and a verbal contract with Paul. I don't know anything about his assets. The company has been trading since June 2017. The recent corporation tax return shows a small profit, but a turnover that doesn't seem to reflect the turnover of running many building jobs in parallel (as I know he does). The law firm's credit checks show "the company is considered to be maximum risk and has significant negative equity".

I feel like I did everything I possibly could have as a potential customer - I visited two recent projects that he was finishing, and got positive references. I saw he was registered with checkatrade. He had good reviews with google, checkatrade and even some old ones with mybuilder. He's on the trustmark site as being a verified member of the Federation of Master Builders, and that says they offer protection for the quality of work and in event of the tradesperson ceasing to trade. So I had thought there would be reasonable protection, and that there is reasonable prospects for recovery. But, as I said, I'm awaiting details of his professional indemnity insurance from checkatrade.

GDB2222

When you paid money, was this to him personally, or to the limited company?



 If you suspect tax fraud, as you say in your post above, you should think about reporting that to HMRC. What you should not do is attempt to blackmail him, however tempting it may be! 

mavenmim

I now have details of his insurance, which was indeed in place and is still current.

mavenmim

GDB2222 said:

When you paid money, was this to him personally, or to the limited company?

 If you suspect tax fraud, as you say in your post above, you should think about reporting that to HMRC. What you should not do is attempt to blackmail him, however tempting it may be! 

I paid the limited company.

I am not communicating with Paul directly, as he was too antagonistic for that to feel safe (he called me evil, and was so unpleasant I had to block his phone). But I would not attempt to blackmail him. I hadn't thought of reporting him to HMRC, but will consider that at the end of exploring other forms of redress.

Doozergirl

mavenmim said:

I don't have a written contract. I have a quote from his ltd company, and a verbal contract with Paul. I don't know anything about his assets. The company has been trading since June 2017. The recent corporation tax return shows a small profit, but a turnover that doesn't seem to reflect the turnover of running many building jobs in parallel (as I know he does). The law firm's credit checks show "the company is considered to be maximum risk and has significant negative equity".

I feel like I did everything I possibly could have as a potential customer - I visited two recent projects that he was finishing, and got positive references. I saw he was registered with checkatrade. He had good reviews with google, checkatrade and even some old ones with mybuilder. He's on the trustmark site as being a verified member of the Federation of Master Builders, and that says they offer protection for the quality of work and in event of the tradesperson ceasing to trade. So I had thought there would be reasonable protection, and that there is reasonable prospects for recovery. But, as I said, I'm awaiting details of his professional indemnity insurance from checkatrade.

Is he a member of the FMB?  Being part of Trustmark means that they should be offering you at least a two year insurance backed guarantee in the case that the company ceases to trade.  They do not have to include it, but there should be a conversation at the least.  

If he hasn't offered you that then he is in breach of his Trustmark membership.  

If he hasn't provided a contract then he is also in breach of his FMB membership.  They do have a Trading Standards Approved alternative dispute resolution service that can offer mediation, but that is not going to draw blood from a stone if he hasn't got money. Either way, by reporting him, you can potentially stop him from using those services to provide credibility for him.  

Re: professional indemnity insurance, that is not something that builders usually carry unless they are offering a design service of some description, so it's interesting that he does!  

GDB2222

mavenmim said:

I now have details of the professional indemnity insurance, which was indeed in place and is still current.

Have you studied that? Does it cover poor quality workmanship? 

GDB2222

The FMB mediation is not binding, so it doesn’t help much in a case like this, unfortunately. 

You may be better off asking the question again on the consumer rights forum, but you have a bit of a problem that you contracted with a limited company. It’s easy for the builder to dissolve that company, leaving you to discuss your claim with the liquidator, and maybe be paid a fraction of what you are owed. If you are cover3d by the insurance policy, that’s a different matter.