'Cowboy builder'

niamh4626

Hi,
Long storey short, we contracted a builder to complete works on our house. The works were implied to take only 1 month in the contract and were to be completed in May 2015.
The work was still not completed (and the house is not habitable since April as there is no water) so when another excuse came the week before last we told the builder to have the work completed within a week or remove himself from the site & we'd get someone else to complete the work.

The last instalment of €2,500 was due upon completion & all other payment were made as agreed with the builder.

There is c. 4k of work left to the house as well as fixing up very poor tiling (hollow sound under tiles which need to be replaced) so we are going to be out of pocket €1,500 as well as the 2 months rent we've had to pay.

Is there anything we can do to recoup any of this month?

I have all the email correspondence etc.

Can I give him the bills & ask him to fix us up and in the event he does not bring him to court?

Any help / advice really really appreciated.

Thank you,
Niamh

Lux23

I think you will have to seek legal advice given the amount of money involved.

niamh4626

Could he be pursued through the small claims court?

Tigger

Implied end date ? Was the end date in the contract because you might find you owe him €2,500

niamh4626

No, as per the contract:

Proposed Date of Commencement: 23rd April 2015
Proposed Date of Completion: 22nd May 2015

Thanks,
Niamh

slimjimmc

The SCC is only for claims not exceeding €2,000. You're probably looking at a claim of at least €4,000 which is well above the SCC threshold:
€1,500 for redoing the tiling,
€1,500 (€4,000 less €2,500) to finish the rest of the build
€x for 2 months rent to date + possibly €y for rent while waiting for the build to finish.

Note also the SCC does not award costs so if you hire someone to give a professional opinion then that comes out of your own pocket.
For claims over €2,000 you'll have to take a civil suit through the District Court.

JimsAlterEgo

slimjimmc wrote: »

The SCC is only for claims not exceeding €2,000. You're probably looking at a claim of at least €4,000 which is well above the SCC threshold:
€1,500 for redoing the tiling,
€1,500 (€4,000 less €2,500) to finish the rest of the build
€x for 2 months rent to date + possibly €y for rent while waiting for the build to finish.

Note also the SCC does not award costs so if you hire someone to give a professional opinion then that comes out of your own pocket.
For claims over €2,000 you'll have to take a civil suit through the District Court.

Could they just put the firghteners on and just to to SCC about the tiling

delahuntv

niamh4626 wrote: »

No, as per the contract:

Proposed Date of Commencement: 23rd April 2015
Proposed Date of Completion: 22nd May 2015

Thanks,
Niamh

"proposed" - he can come up with a litany of excuses to get out of that.

However you gave him reasonable notice to complete the work and I assume he has not responded, hence he has accepted the termination.

Only realistic option is to look for a claim of €2000 and go via small claims court. Any other route wouldn't be worth it.

You would need to get a new builder in (get references) and for that builder to quote you (get a couple of quotes) and see what the difference is. Then you ask the previous builder for a refund for work not completed of the amount (keep it under 2k) and if he refuses, go the scc route.

slimjimmc

JimsAlterEgo wrote: »

Could they just put the firghteners on and just to to SCC about the tiling

They could indeed.

niamh4626

Thats great - I don't particularly want to go the court route, and I am going to give them the opportunity to pay fore going that route so I'm just hoping that all goes well from here on in because I can't take much more disruption!
Thank you for all your advise & opinions.
N