Cowboy Builder Neighbour

LegacyUser

A builder, who is a neighbour of mine, completed a house extension for my late father about five years ago. The extension was significantly funded by the County Council as my father was an elderly man who had been a wheelchair user for many years. It turns out my neighbour is a builder with considerably questionable morals who will cut corners where possible to keep money in his pocket.

My father passed away nearly three years ago, leaving me the house, so I don’t know if I should/could pursue this matter. Only in the past two years have my family and I became aware of issues with the extension. I won’t go into huge detail about these issues, but there are a few which will I will have to correct this summer with money out of my own pocket and that makes me very angry. He installed a used and faulty electric shower which I need to replace immediately. Replacing same will involve cutting through a wall to correct pipework, plus the actual cost of new shower and labour, totalling at the very least €500. Also, alarmingly, the extractor fan in bathroom had insulation packed on top of it in the attic, instead of having a special pipe attached to carry the extracted moisture/air through an external wall.

Some have advised me to let the matter slide and put it down to experience. But I am really angry at this stage. Im thinking of approaching the County Council with the angle of the significant fire risk of the extractor fan, and the at the time potential implications for my late father, in the hope that they might pursue the builder for professional misconduct. Informing the Council would be solely in the hope that the builder would be held accountable for his actions. But since my father is sadly since deceased, is there any point? And also, builders are unregulated in this country.

This same builder has secured a contract for a reroofing of a listed building. My family have known the owners of this building, in a professionalish context, for over 30 years. We were shocked and disgusted to hear this builder got the contract. We had recommended him to them, at the time thinking he was a decent and moral man, and he has already done a big job on their building. I’m unsure if I should say anything to the owners of the listed building, as they probably have signed a contract with him and he might have started work on the building already.

I would appreciate people’s thoughts on the following:

Should I just go ahead and pay to correct the shoddy work of the builder? Is there any point in turning up on his doorstop four/five years after job completion? I should note he is a neighbour here in rural Ireland and my family and his go back many years…

Should I approach the County Council?

Should I tell the owners of the listed building about his building practices to date?

Thank you for reading

dudara

Not a Personal Issue, so moving to Accommodation & Property

dudara

EdgeCase

You'd be better to consult a solicitor and go from there.

Contacting third parties, particularly customers and tarnishing someone's name could end up causing you issues.

punisher5112

Why not contact him through registered letter and give him a chance to rectify.

Ask for a time frame and state you are very disappointed with the defects.

Johngoose

I think in a rural community as awful as it all seems, you would be better paying the €1000 and sucking it up. Otherwise cue years of avoiding this builder/neighbor and bad blood between your family and his.

davo10

Hold on here, an extension required architectural plans, what does the architect/engineer say about all this? They would have overseen construction and signed off on it.

Before you go making accusations, do you have a report from an engineer to say the work was substandard, or is it just your plumbers opinion?

I've had to change electric showers over the years in both my own and rented houses, they burn out/break, particularly the cheaper ones. In all. cases it took a plumber less than an hour to swop them out, electrics and pipework are obviously already there.

Your attic has vents all the way around just above block level, an attic is filled with moist air. Also, it is very quick and easy to fit tubing to a fan, the hardest part is drilling hole through external wall for vent cover, but again, a plumber/carpenter/builder will have drill to do this, takes about 20 mins.

Gumbo

What does the original contract state?
How are you sure it was a second hand shower fitted? If it was, why didn’t you question it at the time?

You also need to be careful that things were not done in a particular way to save money to your father so you need proof that your father didn’t ask for cheaper options.

There’s no point contacting the council as all they do is provide the grant. The onus is still on the home owner to comply with all relevant regulations and they will simply tell you to sort them yourself.

myshirt

kceire wrote: »

What does the original contract state?
How are you sure it was a second hand shower fitted? If it was, why didn’t you question it at the time?

You also need to be careful that things were not done in a particular way to save money to your father so you need proof that your father didn’t ask for cheaper options.

There’s no point contacting the council as all they do is provide the grant. The onus is still on the home owner to comply with all relevant regulations and they will simply tell you to sort them yourself.

Do the council not have a duty of care given it is them that have the decision making authority on who gets the job?

Metric Tensor

That extractor fan "detail" is shoddy - a lot of chancers calling themselves builders do it. If that's the type of corner cutting that was done I can well believe that a few other items need to be fixed too.

I hate saying that following but I believe in your case because this man is a neighbour in a rural area you are as well of to pay to fix the items yourself and then slowly dissociate yourself from dealing with him whilst all the while remaining pleasant. It's not right to have to do it this way but life is too short for the hassle anything else will cause.

If you know your friends well and trust their discretion I would have a quiet word in their ear about having to fix a few things in your own house and to have their architect/engineer keep a close eye on the builder.

Glass fused light

myshirt wrote: »

Do the council not have a duty of care given it is them that have the decision making authority on who gets the job?

The council normaly have a list of approved contractors ie tax compliant people who apply to be put on a list. The recommended changes normaly come from the HSE, through the care in the community staff, and the council will fund it. But If it's a private house the decision making authority starts and ends with the owner.

And as kceire pointed out if the man was local, and he was aware that sometimes the choice was the changes or a care home, he may have worked around what the father would allow or afford rather than to the regs.

Gumbo

myshirt wrote: »

Do the council not have a duty of care given it is them that have the decision making authority on who gets the job?

No because it’s the home owner that gets the quotes and engages the contractor. The council purely provide financial assistance to the home owner. The home owner can engage any tax compliant contractor.

yabadabado

I know you may not have lived there when the work was done but surely you or an able bodied friend/relative should have looked over the work when it was completed ?

Did know one oversee the construction or is there no engineer report/signing off ?

myshirt

kceire wrote: »

No because it’s the home owner that gets the quotes and engages the contractor. The council purely provide financial assistance to the home owner. The home owner can engage any tax compliant contractor.

I'm not 100% convinced that is true. They always want their man to do it.

yabadabado

myshirt wrote: »

I'm not 100% convinced that is true. They always want their man to do it.

Doesn't mean you have to heed them .Up to the homeowner to pick anyone who is compliant.

Gumbo

myshirt wrote: »

I'm not 100% convinced that is true. They always want their man to do it.

Take it from somebody who prepares the plans for these works maybe 6-8 times a year that’s it is true

LirW

Johngoose wrote: »

I think in a rural community as awful as it all seems, you would be better paying the €1000 and sucking it up. Otherwise cue years of avoiding this builder/neighbor and bad blood between your family and his.

OP, this is a solid piece of advise. The house I bought was owned by a cowboy builder, I didn't know about his bad reputation locally and when we renovated I really struggled getting local tradespeople in because they wouldn't touch anything here with a barge pole.
Now the gaff is grand but I'd just give it a rest, put it down as experience, get someone really reputable in, pay what it costs to fix it and move on.

the_pen_turner

its a tricky one. the builder migth have subbed out the work and been unaware of the vent issue. iv seen that loads of times. its carless and lazy
the shower issue i dont understand. its 5 years later. most showers would be worn out in this time . not sure why you need to chisel the wall. most showers will work with existing pipework or very close to it

Glass fused light

the_pen_turner wrote: »

its a tricky one. the builder migth have subbed out the work and been unaware of the vent issue. iv seen that loads of times. its carless and lazy
the shower issue i dont understand. its 5 years later. most showers would be worn out in this time . not sure why you need to chisel the wall. most showers will work with existing pipework or very close to it

If the work was for an wheelchair bound OAP the shower could have been dropped to be worked from a sitting position, same as the dropped light switches.