Stay-away builder

[Spanish Dan]

I need to know what I should do to get a builder to come and finish the work that he said he's do. So far I've paid him £32k to do an entire renovation of my ground floor and there are various bits to finish, including plumbing in the underfloor heating, some carpentry and some minor electrics.

Although I still owe him a relatively small amount (< £1000) this apparently isn't incentive enough for him to come around and complete the work so I'm now considering whether I need to get different contractors round to complete the work. He's not returning calls or texts so what should I do to try to resolve this?

[Chocky]

[Tapps]

Do you have a contract signed with him?

[Dal]

[Spanish Dan]

Not a signed contract as such. However he did send me a list of works at the start of the build and I have email confirmation of bits of additional work (and prices) that have been added during the build. Pretty much all of the remaining tasks are things that are in the original list of work that we agreed on.

[Chocky]

You should've got Stubbs to do it in the first place.

[sam bater]

Send him a 7 days notice letter to return to site to complete the works.

State the details of what is required to be finished and by when.

Also state if he fails to contact you or return to site by the said date you will be employing another contractor to fulfil his obligations and that the cost will be deducted from his account (including your loss and or expense) and the difference you will pursue through the small claims court. Make sure the letter is send recorded delivery. Get a quote from a new company send this to him advising that this cost will be pursued etc etc.

[Spanish Dan]

That sounds like good advice, thanks Sam. Is there a legal reason for the notice period being 7 days? I was going to give him Friday this week since he's already been stringing it out for 3-4 weeks so far.

[Tapps]

If you are sure he is not coming back you could attempt to use the email / list of works evidence against him (threat/court case). Without a signed contract you will have a difficult time proving anything.

The other route would be to find out where he buys materials / other jobs he has done and see if you can discredit him enough to not get another job or materials in the area until he has finished the outstanding ones and or paid for all materials.

Does he advertise (how did you hear about him?). You would need to pass back through the grape vine how bad a job he has done.

It will be tough if he just refuses to come back. Just need to stop him getting new work / materials until yours is done (Then he is earning nothing).

Sorry there is always trading standards In my experience fairly pointless.

Good luck

[Scroatey]

Wow! You paid him 97% of his fee prior to completion.

[FraserH]

was he a member of any trade associations etc? if so contact them and tell them he has not completed works paid for.

[Eaglesmad123]

Any reason why you didn't get a contract signed

[Spanish Dan]

Originally Posted by Scroatey

Wow! You paid him 97% of his fee prior to completion.

I've been paying in weekly installments with the last 5% held back until satisfactory completion.

However work had stalled due to his cash flow problems and he couldn't afford to buy the materials that he needed to finish. So faced with that situation I decided to drip-feed him some of the remaining 5% to enable him to complete some of the jobs. I'm not out of pocket yet, and I'm reasonably confident I could get the remaining major jobs done for around about a grand from other people, but it'd be better if he finished it himself.

[Spanish Dan]

Originally Posted by Eaglesmad123

Any reason why you didn't get a contract signed

No not really, just a mistake on my part. I do have a list of all payments made and signed by both of us. I think the email trail between us is fairly unambiguous about what work was to be done and for what price - whether that holds up in a court of law, I'm not sure.

[AndyStreet]

Originally Posted by Spanish Dan

No not really, just a mistake on my part. I do have a list of all payments made and signed by both of us. I think the email trail between us is fairly unambiguous about what work was to be done and for what price - whether that holds up in a court of law, I'm not sure.

Contract doesn't have to be written and signed to be binding. More difficult to prove, but sounds like you have the requisite evidence in your emails from your above post.

[Mat ov CPFC]

My advice would be to tell him that you are getting somebody else in to finish the work and consider your contract done and dusted.

There is nothing to be gained from chasing this through the small claims court and if he has already told you he has 'cash-flow' problems then its just not going to happen.

Save yourself the time and hassle and chalk it up to experience.

[ChickenDipper]

Don't get done, get Dom. . . . .

[Ardent Eagle Forever]

Originally Posted by sam bater

Send him a 7 days notice letter to return to site to complete the works.

State the details of what is required to be finished and by when.

Also state if he fails to contact you or return to site by the said date you will be employing another contractor to fulfil his obligations and that the cost will be deducted from his account (including your loss and or expense) and the difference you will pursue through the small claims court. Make sure the letter is send recorded delivery. Get a quote from a new company send this to him advising that this cost will be pursued etc etc.

Don't send it recorded. Send it Registered. Registered will cost more, BUT the Post Office will guarantee to deliver it. The Post Office (Royal mail) will not guarantee a Recorded delivery. I found this out when I sent a clients cheque to an insurer. Six weeks later the insurer was asking me why they hadn't received said cheque. I checked with the online recorded delivery checker to find that it hadn't been signed for. The PO help line told me that there is no guaranteed delivery on recorded. This was confirmed later by my postman on another issue.

[Ardent Eagle Forever]

Got BBC's rogue traders or Dom Littlejohn involved.

Name and shame the b@st@rd on here.

[sam bater]

You have to formally write to him to give him an opportunity to return, 7 days is deemed fair and reasonable notice to both parties.

If you do not write or record to him and say what is or is not complete whos to say he will not then come after you for the money you owe him. Don't forget to get plenty of photos perhaps a report from your building inspector etc.

Set him the deadline record what has not been complete and potentially how much additional it will cost to put it right, then you are in a position to choose whether you take the legal route or just bite the bullet and accept you made an error.

Pretty irrelevant that a contract was not signed nowadays..at the end of the day comes under offer and acceptance he offered you a list of services of £ and you accepted by paying monies for the services.