Hi All,
I am looking for Urgent advise please?
Without knowing the full facts, a friend of mine has had some building work done at her property and she is unhappy with his poor workmanship, one of the words she describes it as shoddy.
The problem she has got is that she has paid a lot of money for it and is looking for help in this matter. Obviously she would like her money back.
Is there anyone in the building trade (or in the legal trade ie solicitor) or has anyone been through this experience who could advise myself (and her) who she could turn to in order to try and claim her money back?
She is a lovely person and we would appreciate all the advice we can get.
Kind Regards
Paul
0
Comments
But seriously, these might be some help to get started:
which.co.uk/consumer-rights/action/how-to-complain-if-youre-unhappy-with-the-building-work-
adviceguide.org.uk/england/consumer_e/consumer_builders_and_home_improvements_e/consumer_problems_with_poor_quality_work_e/consumer_poor_quality_work_e.htm
I know domestic work is different to commercial, but surely there should be staged payments and always try to argue 5% retention until after the defects period.
Say you had a large house extention for, say 100k, do you honestly think a builder would let you retain 50k?
First stop is the CAB service as linked above. They are an excellent source of first tier advice and will pass any potential criminal complaints on for further consideration by the local trading standards service. It may be this builder is on their radar.
Getting back to the problem the CAB adviser will cover this but it's worth exploring where the contract was agreed and when as it's potentially an illegal contract for which she was not required to pay at all. Always a useful negotiating tool in getting problems sorted out.
You refer to your friend as a woman. It may sound sexist but many tradesmen will take advantage of a customer who is female, elderly or disabled and I always advise these people to get a male friend or relation to support them during all negotiations with builders, etc.
It should not happen but I am amazed at the number of clients who engage a builder with little more than a verbal agreement on what is to be done and how payment is to be made.
Personally, I never ask for money before work is carried out and allow our client to satisfy themselves that the work is completed as agreed but many builders insist on "money up front".
I hope your friend can get things sorted out, but it will be very unusual for the builder to give back money once he has been paid.
"I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don't have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you."
As Del above states this makes it bad for every builder/trades person.
Frankly most builders would not expect payment up front, they may request it, but in the case of building an extension say, building control would come around and sign it off, at stages, then consider discussing money at say roof level. Of course with the new planning laws, say on small extensions that may be by-passsed. Hate to say it, but I will only use contractors that my contacts suggest. I then ask for a written quote. I do a lot of the donkey work myself, buy the materials etc. A lot of builders will not like that, but then I have the time to wait until the right person comes along. I ask for a start date, a top price, and a finish date, as some builders seem to want to 'wander off '. Both my sons are in the building trade. They never ask for money up front, and if materials are required give the customer the choice of supplying them. My sons give a full VAT receipt for the materials. These day's they tend to do smaller jobs, as they both work full time. CRB, and trading standards are fine, but even if you get a judgement in a small claims court, that does not guarantee your money, and you have to still get the work done. I have been lucky, but then I am not after a cheap job, or expecting to be ripped off. Personal recommendation is often the best way, or if you see some one doing some work, go back a couple of weeks after they have left and ask the owner?. If it is a local company, the local paper may be of use......... but by that time she probably would not want them back anyway.
I did a case for a family friend who had been robbed to the tune of 50K (it actually made the Cowboy Builders show on 5!). Whilst securing the CCJ and later the writ of Fieri Facias for enforcement was fairly easy (the original claim obtained default judgment as the Cowboy in question didnt even respond), extracating any money out of the theiving git proved a lot harder. He simply didnt care, had no assets in his name and had started trading as another company.
My experience of TS and CAB is underwhelming and I think you would be in the extreme minority of persons getting useful help from them if you are recovering against sole traders and small companies. I just dont think they have the resources to help the average person.
My advice would be to try and establish whether the rogue in question has any skin left in the game, is his company still trading and does he own property? Once you find out there are assets that you can go against, then the legal process can be done yourselves. Money Claim Online is easy to use as a layman.
As the tradesman on here state, you need to do your due diligence upfront as its very hard to recover against the true rogues in the building trade. Any decent professional would not take your money upfront with no work done. If they need money for materials then most reputable sorts would happily provide receipts instantly and tell you exactly where they are going shopping with your money.