Devastated - can't believe my builder did this

@INFJismyvibe out of interest how long was the build estimated to take, then took a year longer? Was the original estimate six months and it took 18?

Because how is the builder living on six months money over 18 or has he just asked for more and more money?

Hence the doing “extra” work in the garden?

This is awful. I am so sorry this has happened. They sound like cowboys. I had similar experience with trashed garden but not this bad. To rip out all your plants is unbelievable. I do wonder if he is using them himself. I would send an email saying ' i have just returned from holiday to find..' and just say all the things you said in your OP, the expensive plants, the sentimental value etc. and that obviously when your DH said clear the garden he meant all the mess they had made. Did your DH see what was happening? They must be complete morons to think you meant the plants/trees. I find builders play dumb when they want to. I was having a new patio laid one time and told them to stack the old slabs as i wanted to use elsewhere(they were loose laid, not cemented so easy to do) and they somehow dissappeared and guy looked at me blankly when i asked where they were.

He should cover the full cost of replanting, including professional gardeners (not builders) to do the work. There is no way that your husband could have interpreted “clear the garden” to mean “remove all plants and lawn” unless that was included in the scope of works in your contract. Sounds like this was caused by lack of communication between your builder and his dad.

Get a quote for what’s needed on the garden.
Withhold that from your retention.

I can absolutely believe it, a similar thing happened to my brother. Project massively overrun, builder brought in extra men to speed things up, brother walked in to find a guy removing original 1930s wooden flooring, which he then left in a skip overnight, it rained, tiles ruined, builder had to replace the lot. Must have been very costly.

Not everyone who goes into the building trade, or who is brought in to get shit done, has great communication skills.

You can be sensitive about builders mum and still get some money off the bill. That is completely reasonable. It's not just the money, it's years of care and effort, but the money is really the only but you can get back.

Sometimes builders and trades become too comfortable with their saviour complex and believe you should have everything their way. I imagine he saw no benefit in your precious plants and your relationship with him has become warped.
He’s forgotten he’s working for you and should check with you before going ahead; you always seem grateful and thank him so his ego is intact and he won’t learn.
It is best to assume he meant well but I had one handyman who was gaslighting me and had to let him go when every task became a power play. Amongst other things he delayed fitting my bathroom sink after I told him I had guests coming!
Do whatever you can to recover your garden.

No, I’d be demanding the full cost to replant each and every beloved shrub he pulled out. Don’t let him get away with it. We’ve had building works and the garden was affected, however clearing the garden at the end, meant clearing rubble and rubbish, not ripping out plants. You have to be firm. Not liking confrontation and wanting to rock the boat gets you nowhere I am afraid.

Um, how?

Btw, I don't understand why you didn't pull him up before on lack of skips either, your garden shouldn't have been a dumping ground in the first place. I'd say plenty of issues to sue for as well if there were unreasonable delays (a year??), overcharging, thrn destroying your garden, sounds like significant financial loss on your part - I'm guessing.
Don't just rectify this, it's on him to pay.
How much is left to pay him, enough to deduct? £1k sounds low to me, btw but hard to imagine the scale.
Is your extension actually safe, have you had it checked independently?

a year late?

how long was this extension meant to take?!

To those posters who have said maybe the builder's still got the plants and should put them back, I am absolutely positive that's not going to happen!

You're kidding.

This guy has just ripped out her garden. Something that is not part of his job description as a BUILDER.

It's not 'just a misunderstanding', it's massively unprofessional and he has caused huge damage to OP's property.

He needs to put it right.

Can you post a pic Op?
I can’t even imagine what this must look like

plus some green fingered posters might be able to advise

Honestly just a misunderstanding. I’d probably be a bit more pissed off with DH than the builders. Everyone knows that builders need close supervision especially when they start a new job! I had mine start laying the wall tiles on the floor!

I’d chalk it up to experience and plan a spectacular new garden from scratch. Beg, borrow and barter for plants if you need to but focus on creating something new and amazing. Go round the house and have a big clear out of stuff to sell on vinted/ ebay to fund it. Honestly it sounds as though quite a bit of stuff might have been dead or struggling by now as well and you can’t bring them back.

Well there aren't any positives are there? - and there don't have to be. He ripped out your garden, I mean WTF?

It's really unprofessional of him OP.

Simply saying "Am I OK to clear the garden?" and take that as meaning yes, please rip out all of our plants and trees and lawn, is absolutely bonkers. He's a builder, not a landscaper or gardener. Why would you assume this is what he meant when it's not even his job?

He should be paying you for the remedial work to get it back to how it was before - this error is on him.

Re-landscaping your entire garden is a huge piece of work and he should have ensured that you were all completely clear on what was happening before he did it, especially if it wasn't in the original brief.

A builder talking about "clearing the garden" when it's full of mess and building stuff is obviously going to be taken to mean just getting the building rubbish out, not digging up the entire thing.

You can't let his personal circumstances stop you from pushing back on this - it's sad but at the end of the day this is a massive thing he has done wrong and he needs to put it right.

We had a huge remodelling large house 3 rooms knocked into one steel supports required to hold up walls etc.

Our builders were amazing. Pretty much every other day the project manager met with us for 10 minutes to explain what they doing that day to confirm it. Clean and careful. Took 4 months and was genuinely massive job. That’s how decent builders operate.

YANBU. I felt really upset for you reading this. I completely get it- I’m garden obsessed, we bought our home from a professional landscape gardener 14 years ago (few trees, lots of mature shrubs, etc). Like you, we’ve added sentimental roses in our wedding colours and my late FIL planted several perennials for us. I would be absolutely devastated if these were removed.

I read it exactly like you that clearing the garden meant clearing the mess generated by the building work. I wouldn’t assume builders removed shrubs etc. I’d assume you’d hire a separate gardener for that, I found a tree specialist to remove one tree out the front.

I hope you are doing OK. Such sad news.

This is terrible miscommunication- you need to make sure you pay him a bit less to make sure you can replace all your plants.

Id be taking the cost out his final payment

Is there evidence of the dug up plants and stuff? Do you think he’s put them in his garden?

As an aside, why has it taken them almost a year over the agreed time to complete the work? Surely you're being charged way over the original estimate/quote as they'll be charging for time spent as well as materials. Is there a genuine reason or has he just strung it out?

What's the timescale, so when did he dig then up? I would ask for the plants back. If he hadn't taken them to the tip. The bushes could survive out if place for a while. Often if I'm moving stuff round in my garden I will leave them unplanted for at least 24 hours. The lawn if v weedy I wouldn't be bothered about, I would returf or reseed. If everything is trashed I would ask for a reduction in the bill and use the money to restock. Probably ask for some reduction anyway because just cleaning everything is weird. Massive misunderstanding.

Your dh said yes and left for work. I’d be livid. Not much you can do now. Call a gardener today and get a costing for making it nice again. See if it’s possible to get mature bushes planted. These need a lot of space to plant and cost. For paying for all of this it’s a dh problem and he should cover this. It’s awful what’s happened and I understand how sad you feel.

Speak to the builder firmly.
His personal problems are irrelevant.
Get a reputable landscaper in to quote for restoring the garden to how it was before the building work started.
And tell him either he makes it good or you knock that off his final invoice.
I am a gardener and would also be devastated by this.

I bet his mum doesn't have cancer. The liar.

So many tradesmen don't care about the environment. We've had a similar problem with neighbours work recently. They literally ruin everything.

You should advise ask him where the plants are to start with. If he’s still got them then he needs to put them back (and re-turf) at his own expense. If everything has gone, you need to advise him that what he’s done is theft and out of scope of the project and that it will cost XX pounds to rectify. Give him quotes from several landscaping companies and ask him how he’d like to settle their bill.

If he won’t then small claims court.