Help Needed Cowboy Builder Threatening Court

[sebaab]

Re: Help Needed Cowboy Builder Threatening Court

So did the rogue builder send you a LBA or issue a court claim?

Di

No, not heard from him for a while now. I sent him a letter telling him he owed me money because the project was now going to cost a lot more to complete. He then sent me a strange letter with "Without Prejudice" at the top and basically trying to warn me off taking him to court. The letter was not signed by him. Very odd.

The project is now complete. Our new builder did a superb job but at a cost. We're approx £2800 over what we were quoted by the 1st builder therefore I am considering legal action to recover this amount.

But for now we need to take some time out to enjoy life as this has all been extremely stressful. We have lived on a building site for 3 months so about time for some R&R I think

[PlanB]

Re: Help Needed Cowboy Builder Threatening Court

the likelihood he'll take me to court for what he calls "non payment".

. . . . I am still waiting to hear back from the cowboy builder, haven't heard anything for a week. What's next I'm wondering, will I receive an LBA?

So did the rogue builder send you a LBA or issue a court claim?

Di

[cymruambyth]

Re: Help Needed Cowboy Builder Threatening Court

Hopefully he is just a bully and will realise that any further action wont be worth it.

[sebaab]

Re: Help Needed Cowboy Builder Threatening Court

Threats are powerful, especially when you are threatened by burly builders, who have friends, your keys and the layout of your houses and an idea of when you are not in.

In London there is no access to Trading Standards who divert to Citizens Advice. In many towns there I direct access to Trading Standards and no address. Why? because they are attacked by the rogues they prosecute.

In you case, the one man band seems pretty harmless, but my colleagues just walked away from £80k bodger because of the threats. Nobody wanted to know or help not even the special building insurance.

Good luck.

I do feel lucky that I didn't pay more than 10% up front so it's not a case of me losing a large amount of money. What's stressful though is the way it descended into a bitter argument (on his side) and the likelihood he'll take me to court for what he calls "non payment". It's the lies and deceit that I find it hard to deal with. My new builder has started today. He employs a guy that used to be a stone mason. They couldn't believe what the last builder had done. It's easy to pick fault with other people's work but this guys standard of work is shocking! I am still waiting to hear back from the cowboy builder, haven't heard anything for a week. What's next I'm wondering, will I receive an LBA?

[julian]

Re: Help Needed Cowboy Builder Threatening Court

Threats are powerful, especially when you are threatened by burly builders, who have friends, your keys and the layout of your houses and an idea of when you are not in.

In London there is no access to Trading Standards who divert to Citizens Advice. In many towns there I direct access to Trading Standards and no address. Why? because they are attacked by the rogues they prosecute.

In you case, the one man band seems pretty harmless, but my colleagues just walked away from £80k bodger because of the threats. Nobody wanted to know or help not even the special building insurance.

Good luck.

[nanna58]

Re: Help Needed Cowboy Builder Threatening Court

Very good luck xx

[sebaab]

Re: Help Needed Cowboy Builder Threatening Court

Ok quick update on this builder issue:

So he came to collect some tools etc. on Monday. Things got a little heated so my wife filmed it with her phone. We have him on video now accusing my wife and I of being "fraudsters". He came with his builder mate, probably to intimidate us, but it backfired on him.

I have reported him to his building institute the Chartered Institute of Builders (CIOB) because he is totally out of line and breaking their code of conduct. They are going to investigate my case and have asked him for his side of events. Hopefully they will chuck him out of their organisation.

I have reported him to Trading Standards who have lodged my complaint and given me some helpful info. They confirmed that, with the surveyors report, the builder has been proven to be incompetent and therefore I am under no obligation to let him perform "remedial work".

I am preparing a letter today to send to him via recorded delivery outlining costs to me to put the work right, the work I have rejected, the surveyor's report (agreeing that his work is crap), the building control inspection decision (it's crap) and my new builder's opinion (it's crap) together with photographic and video evidence of all of the rejected work. I have put the photos onto a website and the videos are on Youtube. Of course I haven't named him publicly yet.

When he receives all this he either admits his wrongdoing or will attempt to take me to court for what he is calling "non payment". I think he'll be silly to take me to court but who knows what he's capable of? I just want to get this all sorted out as it's been very stressful and has impacted my family a great deal.

[sebaab]

Re: Help Needed Cowboy Builder Threatening Court

Tough in't it?

Competency is proved by qualifications (apprenticeship and NVQ) showing skill, training and experience plus the finished product (photos). Many cowboys have no training or skill just umped up labourers who like money think they can.

You need to ask CIOB for his membership status, name, address etc should suffice. If he is member, then he should be managing building works, normally for a large company. It could be yet another lie. I my experience, Chartered bodies vet academic and professional qualifications unlike Trade bodies. My colleagues in CIOB have taken degrees building but are not bricklayers as structural engineers specify but do not install beams. Companies can be members e.g. Wimpey, Costain.

You have paid £950. How much will it cost you to undo and make good.

Have you a certificate for the electrics? If not, it needs to be reinstalled by a qualified and registered person. If not it is an offence.

Hi Julian and thank you for your valuable input. It is tough when you have to deal with someone like this yes. This guy has a degree but, as I found out, sadly lacks experience. Unfortunately he is arrogant too so will not accept responsibility for what he has done (yet).

I have contacted the CIOB but I'm not expecting much of a response to be honest. But worth a try.

I have paid £950 yes. It will cost 1k to rip out what was done wrong and prob 8k to finish to a good standard. Maybe (hopefully!) a bit less. I've spent £600 extra so far (surveyor, extra building control etc.)

The electrics were installed by a so called qualified electrician to 1st fix but no certificate has been supplied. There are a couple of problems with the electrics that need rectifying.

So, we need to talk figures this week. Wish me luck!

[julian]

Re: Help Needed Cowboy Builder Threatening Court

Tough in't it?

Competency is proved by qualifications (apprenticeship and NVQ) showing skill, training and experience plus the finished product (photos). Many cowboys have no training or skill just umped up labourers who like money think they can.

You need to ask CIOB for his membership status, name, address etc should suffice. If he is member, then he should be managing building works, normally for a large company. It could be yet another lie. I my experience, Chartered bodies vet academic and professional qualifications unlike Trade bodies. My colleagues in CIOB have taken degrees building but are not bricklayers as structural engineers specify but do not install beams. Companies can be members e.g. Wimpey, Costain.

You have paid £950. How much will it cost you to undo and make good.

Have you a certificate for the electrics? If not, it needs to be reinstalled by a qualified and registered person. If not it is an offence.

[sebaab]

Re: Help Needed Cowboy Builder Threatening Court

That sounds like a reasonable approach

If this dispute went to Mediation (a free option available to you by the court if a claim for under £10k were to be issued) there would be an attempt to reach common ground on what went well and what didn't.

So far you've paid £950 towards the £9,500.00 costs.

How do you plan to quantify the work which has been done to an acceptable standard?

After that you may wish to quantify the cost to you to remove the work which was not done to an acceptable standard.

I think you posted somewhere that the contractor has done 75% of the work so is he asking for around £6k?

Di

I really think this will go to the mediation/ court stage as this guy is being very unreasonable. He's resorted to namecalling and is claiming that he is the victim of a fraudster and I have planned this all along. It is like dealing with a child. The only way I can quantify the acceptable work is to estimate cost based on time + materials/overheads. He's refused to provide a breakdown of the quote, as I mentioned previously, so this task is not easyt. He's claiming to be a member of the CIOB. I may contact them but I think they will be more of a member centric club rather than be interested in resolving customer disputes.

I would welcome mediation. I have loads of evidence to back up my claim of gross incompetence. Plus now I also have evidence of his aggresive, argumentative response to all of this.

[PlanB]

Re: Help Needed Cowboy Builder Threatening Court

It was a bank transfer

I asked that question to establish whether you may be able to use section 75 CCA if you paid by credit card or Chargeback if you paid by Debit Card.

Di

[PlanB]

Re: Help Needed Cowboy Builder Threatening Court

I have told him that i will pay for any work that he has done that is of acceptable standard. I have not said I won't pay full stop.

That sounds like a reasonable approach

If this dispute went to Mediation (a free option available to you by the court if a claim for under £10k were to be issued) there would be an attempt to reach common ground on what went well and what didn't.

So far you've paid £950 towards the £9,500.00 costs.

How do you plan to quantify the work which has been done to an acceptable standard?

After that you may wish to quantify the cost to you to remove the work which was not done to an acceptable standard.

I think you posted somewhere that the contractor has done 75% of the work so is he asking for around £6k?

Di

[sebaab]

Re: Help Needed Cowboy Builder Threatening Court

How did you pay the 10% first instalment?

Was it on a credit card or debit card (or cash/cheque/online)?

Di

Hi, It was a bank transfer

[PlanB]

Re: Help Needed Cowboy Builder Threatening Court

Payment terms were 10% down payment & the rest on completion.

How did you pay the 10% first instalment?

Was it on a credit card or debit card (or cash/cheque/online)?

Di

[sebaab]

Re: Help Needed Cowboy Builder Threatening Court

My question is really whether it is ok to sack a builder due to incompetence or whether the judge will instruct me to give him a chance to rectify the work if it goes to court. I do not want this cowboy on my property at all. As well as being completely incompetent he had a near miss where people could have been injured (thank god they didn't).