Extra charge and time scale

Regardless of the percentage how much actual cash will you be out of pocket if you pay someone else? Personally I’d try to negotiate him calling it a day and returning the balance of what you’ve paid for but he hasn’t bought (not easy to quantify if you’ve just paid 80% of his total bill as he can just say that the remaining 20% was for all the materials not yet purchased.)

Doesn’t sound like he wants to be there so weigh up how much stress this is causing you and what you’d be willing to write off to be able to move on. Not ideal but might be the best option. I wouldn’t want him back if it was my job.

 

Been a few times in my previous retail career. Customer always wins in my experience, even when they’re clearly in the wrong. However difficulty you have is no contract and unquantifiable payments and timescale as you say. At the moment he says he’s coming back to finish it so difficult to know what you’re claiming for (in the courts opinion at least).

Get your other quote and if you can swallow it then sack the other bloke off and see what you can get back off him. Nobody likes finishing other peoples work though so might not be cheap.

 

I previously asked whether you were aware of the term of the quote: time-cost or fixed price and you said a bit of both. I don’t see how you can agree a fixed price that is also dependent on the time taken (hours worked) and therefore variable cost. Without being clear on your contractual position forget any legal claim as you’ll not be able to make a clear statement of case.

If you can make a clear strong statement of case then the small claims process may galvanise action but otherwise move on

 

Well it’s a contract of sorts but you’re still on slightly shaky ground in the sense of there is no guarantee of completion and no mention of what might happen if he doesn’t. Small claims is cheap enough to take a chance if you can be bothered but he’ll say that any changes you made, however minor, we’re the cause of those delays. Perfectly normal for building work to run over and he’s not even past Christmas yet so you’d really need to be appreciably over the timescale and have given him clear revised deadlines to meet, before you were seen in court to have made efforts to resolve it in a reasonable manner without court action. They don’t like to be the first port of call for disputes. That always goes against you.

You still haven’t said how much is at stake and I appreciate you may not want to and also an amount that I feel isn’t worth worrying about may be different for you.

Have a conversation with him. Tell him you really want it finished by X and if he can’t meet that agree how much he will return to you by way of labour and materials paid for but not received.

Then go to your decent builder and get it finished. Life is short and is best spent enjoying rather than stressing over people who will never give you what you want.

 

Ask him to either deliver all the materials paid for or reimburse the cost. If he doesn't you immediately have a good case. Get someone in finish job. Be happy. Start a MCOL for the materials paid for and not delivered. You will def win that bit.

In future, never, ever pay up front for work not done and goods not delivered, except for perhaps a small "goodwill" deposit. Stage payments for actual work done and material delivered is fine, but should be unecessary on jobs less than 1 month. But be a good customer - don't quibble over pennies, pay on time for good work. This philosophy has worked for me.

 

so as I read it. Variation in price is only for spot lights and waste disposal. You have fixed price quote. As other have said, you should be able to recover materials costs but provided he has sufficient time to complete then you could recover the cost of someone else doing the work.

All communication should now be in writing to build an evidence trail if needed. Do not focus on when he will start work but when he will finish. Ask him when he will finish the outstanding works: as an experienced tradesman he will know the time.

essentially you need to get to the point where he says I will be done by a date and after that you can employ someone else due to breach of contract

 

Honestly. It’s pointless asking him when he will start work. It is finishing work that matters. That is what you should be asking. If his reply is “I don’t know” then your reply is “ as a professional who understood the scope of work when you quoted I would expect you have a clear idea of the outstanding work and when it will be completed. If you cannot give a completion date then I assume you have not intention of completing. Please either give me a completion date or if you fail to I will be forced to find alternative contractors and recover any costs from you”

 

In part you sound like the client from hell as well as the carpenter being your neighbour there!!! Lots of expectations of the carpenter and et also a very fluid situation.
Has he done a good job so far? if so, agree a time-rate to get the work completed, including snagging. Swallow the extra costs of the tiles. Do not deduct any money.
You want to end up with a nicely installed kitchen and the carpenter wants a fair rate for the work he has done.
Thats the balance.If the carpenter has done a naff installation, tell him that, give him one chance to fix things. Of just pay auto date for the work done and close the door on him and get someone else to finish things off. I can't see how you can deduct money at the end, if you have seen the quality of finish thats been going on from day one.
This sounds like one of those cases where it could have all been done brilliantly and you would have a nice kitchen and he'd have a few quid in his pocket. Alas, that didn't happen and now you have to accept that without a contract its all about who said what to who.

 

you have demonstrated you have a contract in place. Fixed fee for fixed scope of work plus a couple of extras. Timescales are harder to enforce but the work needs to be done for the price quoted. That is not the client fron hell that is the customer expecting a contract to be fulfilled. Stand your ground firmly

 

I had it with a wet room, mother had lost her leg, and needed downstairs toilet and shower in a hurry ready for when she returned home, builder very aware of time limit, and we had rejected lower quotes because could not be finished on time.

Main problem which we now know was he bought a load of out of date tile cement which was not drying, in the end we were forced to DIY except for fitting of lintel. But the job was then bigger that the original as had to remove his botched work, and well as fit new.

I was only really worried about getting the wet room finished, but once panic over did try to get some money back, only to find builder had been taken to court by LABC and was now no longer trading. You can't get blood from a stone.

So you need to decide, when to call it a day. To my mind the installer should provide all materials, there is no come back if you supply materials as always the installer says materials faulty, and the supplier says installer faulty, you have been lucky Wren have replaced it.

Working on your own is hard, specially when use to working as a team, which is why when mothers house needed rewiring I used a large firm who could get in and out in a week.

I would say get some one to give you a quote to take over the job, then make up your mind. You may have no option but stick with him, when we did the wet room we could not find anyone willing to take over the work, it was DIY or nothing. No good throwing him off the job if no one to replace him.