Feeling stuck: builder falling behind and company facing strike-off, what should I do?

HopelessJoe

I need advice on what to do about a renovation project that has gone badly off track. We hired a builder to manage a fairly large project that should have been completed by now, but it’s only about halfway done and progress is extremely slow.

At the start, the builder was very responsive during quoting and early discussions. He doesn’t do the work himself but manages the project and brings in tradespeople to carry it out. The trades themselves seem competent, and the building control officer is currently satisfied with the work completed so far. He is also a long-standing member of the Federation of Master Builders, with good reviews, which initially gave us confidence.

However, communication with the builder deteriorated quickly. He became difficult to contact, regularly makes promises he doesn’t keep, and consistently overpromises and underdelivers.

We have a sort of payment plan where we pay an agreed amount and he works according to a schedule. Because he has fallen so far behind, we told him we would temporarily pause payments until the work caught up. He agreed to this and the work didn’t stop, it simply continued at the same slow pace. Based on what’s been completed versus what we’ve paid, I estimate we are currently around £20–30K ahead of the work actually done.

We did some due diligence at the beginning, and everything appeared fine, including the FMB membership and reviews. Later, after he mentioned a few small details, I used those clues to dig deeper, and that’s when I discovered his history. This is at least his third company:

• The first was liquidated in 2010, with creditors losing around £50K.

• He was declared bankrupt about ten years ago.

• Another company was liquidated in 2022, with creditors losing roughly £500K.

Now this current company appears to be heading in the same direction. There is an active proposal to strike it off for failing to file accounts. Companies House did not link his previous companies to his name, so none of this showed up during our initial checks.

He has again promised that the next phase will start next week, the same thing he said last week, and I have very little confidence this will happen.

At this point, I honestly don’t know whether this is a deliberate scam or simply someone who is extremely disorganized. The work that does get done seems to be of reasonable quality. I also don’t have the energy to start the whole process of finding new builders. In reality, it might be faster for him to finish than to bring someone new in, but I’m increasingly concerned that the company may be liquidated soon, leaving the project incomplete and us unable to recover our money.

My questions are:

1. Do I have grounds to complain to Companies House for not linking this builder to his previous companies? Had this information been available, I almost certainly would not have hired him.

2. With the proposal to strike the company off, can I object on the basis that he owes me money for work paid for but not completed (approximately £20–30K)?

3. What steps can I take now to protect myself, given the risk that the company may collapse before the project is finished?

MyRealNameToo

1. No

2. You should object to the strike off

3. Sounds like at the moment it's an administrative issue not a financial one but the time for the due diligence is before entering into a contract. There are always options, some will cost you, but you'd need their agreement and you have little leverage at this point -v- when you hadn't signed the contract. 

Ectophile

2. You can object to the strike off.  But if the company is about to go bust, it will make little difference.  It's quite possible that they don't want to produce accounts as it would show that the company is insolvent.

3. You could try finding out who the subcontractors are and getting their details.  That way if your prime contractor goes bust, at least you can contact the subcontractors and pay them directly to finish their parts of the job.