Unsafe conservatory conversion almost killed us - what can I do?

knightstyle

How far appart are the supports?  Should be no more than 450mm for ceilings.

35har1old

thedoberman10 said:

Hi, 

We recently had a conservatory conversion, which involved replacing glass panels with aluminium ones and then plasterboarding the interior. 

A day after the work was completed, part of the ceiling collapsed, smashing into the floor and the furniture underneath. 

I have a toddler who was playing directly under it hours earlier. I was under it ten minutes before. Unspeakable things could have happened. 

I have paid for half already and have withheld the completion payment. I used Amex. 

They sent someone round the next morning to remove the existing drywall ceiling (it actually fell on him while he was inspecting)  and to do a report for the subcontractor’s insurance. They will offer to fix it but I am not sure I can trust them; the work was outrageously bad. 

There was no signed contract in place (mistake by me) but they sent a quote that I accepted, and I believe that constitutes a legally-binding contract of sorts. 

What should I do here?

If a contract has been established by me accepting the quote, have they broken that due to unsafe and dangerous practices? If so, do I cancel the contract and get Amex to reverse the initial charge? 

Do I get their insurance details and hire someone else to complete the work? 

I plan to speak to a lawyer and other contractors this week. 

It is all quite emotional for us given what could have happened so I’m finding it quite difficult to see things objectively. 

Thanks for reading.

Did you inform your building insurance prior to starting the conversion?

35har1old

knightstyle said:

How far appart are the supports?  Should be no more than 450mm for ceilings.

Can be upto 600mm 
450 mm for supporting a floor above  which isn’t the case in this instant

Ectophile

35har1old said:

thedoberman10 said:

Hi, 

We recently had a conservatory conversion, which involved replacing glass panels with aluminium ones and then plasterboarding the interior. 

A day after the work was completed, part of the ceiling collapsed, smashing into the floor and the furniture underneath. 

I have a toddler who was playing directly under it hours earlier. I was under it ten minutes before. Unspeakable things could have happened. 

I have paid for half already and have withheld the completion payment. I used Amex. 

They sent someone round the next morning to remove the existing drywall ceiling (it actually fell on him while he was inspecting)  and to do a report for the subcontractor’s insurance. They will offer to fix it but I am not sure I can trust them; the work was outrageously bad. 

There was no signed contract in place (mistake by me) but they sent a quote that I accepted, and I believe that constitutes a legally-binding contract of sorts. 

What should I do here?

If a contract has been established by me accepting the quote, have they broken that due to unsafe and dangerous practices? If so, do I cancel the contract and get Amex to reverse the initial charge? 

Do I get their insurance details and hire someone else to complete the work? 

I plan to speak to a lawyer and other contractors this week. 

It is all quite emotional for us given what could have happened so I’m finding it quite difficult to see things objectively. 

Thanks for reading.

Did you inform your building insurance prior to starting the conversion?

Why would you do that?  I can't remember any insurance policy that asks what sort of roof you have on your conservatory.

Boohoo

Ectophile said:

35har1old said:

thedoberman10 said:

Hi, 

We recently had a conservatory conversion, which involved replacing glass panels with aluminium ones and then plasterboarding the interior. 

A day after the work was completed, part of the ceiling collapsed, smashing into the floor and the furniture underneath. 

I have a toddler who was playing directly under it hours earlier. I was under it ten minutes before. Unspeakable things could have happened. 

I have paid for half already and have withheld the completion payment. I used Amex. 

They sent someone round the next morning to remove the existing drywall ceiling (it actually fell on him while he was inspecting)  and to do a report for the subcontractor’s insurance. They will offer to fix it but I am not sure I can trust them; the work was outrageously bad. 

There was no signed contract in place (mistake by me) but they sent a quote that I accepted, and I believe that constitutes a legally-binding contract of sorts. 

What should I do here?

If a contract has been established by me accepting the quote, have they broken that due to unsafe and dangerous practices? If so, do I cancel the contract and get Amex to reverse the initial charge? 

Do I get their insurance details and hire someone else to complete the work? 

I plan to speak to a lawyer and other contractors this week. 

It is all quite emotional for us given what could have happened so I’m finding it quite difficult to see things objectively. 

Thanks for reading.

Did you inform your building insurance prior to starting the conversion?

Why would you do that?  I can't remember any insurance policy that asks what sort of roof you have on your conservatory.

Some insurance companies will/don't provide cover while building works to the property are going on.

If you call them and tell them about upcoming building work they may say your covered or not or you can pay extra while the work is going on.

Not sure about conservatory conversion though.

thedoberman10

Ayr_Rage said:

It didn't almost kill you, it fell down without anybody being harmed at all.

If there was "outrageously bad" work and "unsafe and dangerous practices" were these noted during the work or just your assumption now that the incident has occurred.

Whoever "they" are, wait for their proposed resolution and then decide.

A ceiling collapsing the day after it was installed is obviously 'outrageously bad'. The surveyor and both contractors we've had out to fix this have said it was one of the worst plasterboarding attempts they have ever seen. 

And yes, it could have almost killed me or my daughter. I was in there five minutes prior and the whole thing weighed an absolute tonne. 

I don't understand what you have to gain by being like that over the internet. It's bizarre that my post somehow irritated/upset you enough to post such an unempathetic response. I assume you're only like that online and in real life you live a quiet life of desperation and don't get the respect you feel you deserve. Good luck with it. 

thedoberman10

MattMattMattUK said:

It is nothing to do with people not being able to understand what could have happened. Emotional, hyperbolic "what ifs" have no bearing on the legal situation, consumer rights, or liability. If the OP wants to get anywhere they will need to deal with the facts, not emotions, not hypothetical situations. 

Actually, you are wrong - they do. The potential disaster meant this qualified as a repudiatory breach under the consumer rights act whereby a 'loss of trust' is a reasonable stance for me to have, meaning that I did not need to give them the chance to fix it. I now have a full refund as a result. 

thedoberman10

knightstyle said:

How far appart are the supports?  Should be no more than 450mm for ceilings.

They were 700mm, which was why it failed according to those who assessed it. 

UnsureAboutthis

Ectophile said:

35har1old said:

thedoberman10 said:

Hi, 

We recently had a conservatory conversion, which involved replacing glass panels with aluminium ones and then plasterboarding the interior. 

A day after the work was completed, part of the ceiling collapsed, smashing into the floor and the furniture underneath. 

I have a toddler who was playing directly under it hours earlier. I was under it ten minutes before. Unspeakable things could have happened. 

I have paid for half already and have withheld the completion payment. I used Amex. 

They sent someone round the next morning to remove the existing drywall ceiling (it actually fell on him while he was inspecting)  and to do a report for the subcontractor’s insurance. They will offer to fix it but I am not sure I can trust them; the work was outrageously bad. 

There was no signed contract in place (mistake by me) but they sent a quote that I accepted, and I believe that constitutes a legally-binding contract of sorts. 

What should I do here?

If a contract has been established by me accepting the quote, have they broken that due to unsafe and dangerous practices? If so, do I cancel the contract and get Amex to reverse the initial charge? 

Do I get their insurance details and hire someone else to complete the work? 

I plan to speak to a lawyer and other contractors this week. 

It is all quite emotional for us given what could have happened so I’m finding it quite difficult to see things objectively. 

Thanks for reading.

Did you inform your building insurance prior to starting the conversion?

Why would you do that?  I can't remember any insurance policy that asks what sort of roof you have on your conservatory.

For the many years since we have owned property and dealt with property, in England, every building ins we have taken out asks about any "building works" ongoing/planned. The contract also tell you to let the ins company know when you plan to start any building works.

I'm not sure who you are with and/or you have not read the small print but if I was you and you own a property and you have building ins, read it.