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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To not pay this tradesman?

101 replies

hsegfiugseskufh · 21/06/2019 20:23

Having a kitchen fitted. Small kitchen (see pics) units delivered built so presumably pretty straightforward.

Got a few quotes, chose one after looking at pics of his work. all seemed fine.

He said it would take 1 man 3 days or two men 1 poss 2 days. At this point didnt know if he could get a second man i said whichever is fine as would price the same either way.

He arrived day 1 (an hour late) with 2nd man. Put in bottom units, and 2 top cupboards. Was gone before i got home (5.30pm)

2nd day they arrived and left when i was out so no idea on times. Rest of the top units went in and the extractor however it doesnt extract to anywhere as theres no hole in the wall. Weird.

Day 3 hes on his own (according to him) dont know when he arrives as its after i have left. I message to say when hes finished pop the key through the door and send me an invoice and once i get home and see the kitchen ill pay it. No response. Assumed he was busy.

Dp got home at 3.15 to find a random woman sat smoking on our doorstep. We assume she was his gf. Wasnt dressed for kitchen fitting so presumably not his labourer.

Dp is now sat in living room for reference. Door open. Entirely approachable.

I message again (i dont know dp is home at this point) and he says its not finished hes had a "small issue" and took a chunk out of one worktop. I ring dp who tells me hes sat in the living room so why on earth hasnt he told him? Bizarre. Dp then goes to get ds from nursery. Tradesman tries to tell him about worktop but he has to go and tells tradesmen ill be home soon and to talk to me about it.

I get home.
Not much has been done since day 2. 2 filler panels have been added (one is damaged from the screw he has put in it) and the plinth (?) Thing that goes on the bottom of the top cuboard. Obviously worktop is fucked. Not saveable.

He puts me on the phone with a random woman who apparently works for the retailer i bought the kitchen from. She says oh dont worry theyve sent you the wrong worktops and waffles about the edges being wrong and i can have them replaced for free. I have no idea what shes on about as they match the plans.

He is apologetic but doesnt really say much else. Agrees with random woman about worktops.

I point out knackered filler panel and he says it came out of the box that way. It didnt, the screw has pushed the front from the inside. I tell him this. He says nothing. I say i will ring retailer and check what random woman said and order a new one and let him know when it arrives and what i want to happen.

I should also mention we have no kickboards, no holes cut for the taps or waste to come into the cupboards and we had to turn the sparky away who came to connect the oven and hob today because tradesman wasnt finished.

Aibu to tell him not to come back, and not pay him considering i will have to spend £££ on a new worktop and also £££ on someone to rectify all the issues and finish the job?

Neither me nor dp trust him to finish the job to a good standard now.

To not pay this tradesman?
OP posts:
Pinkyyy · 21/06/2019 20:27

I don't think you can just not pay him. He needs to be paid for the labour he has done so far, especially if you are choosing to ask him not to finish the job.

hsegfiugseskufh · 21/06/2019 20:28

How would i work that out though? 2 men have 2 days and 1 man an extra day but very little has actually been done and obviously i have no idea how long they have actually spent here.

Do i less the cost of the worktop too?

OP posts:
Omzlas · 21/06/2019 20:31

You might have more luck on the 'legal' board OP

Pinkyyy · 21/06/2019 20:33

No, you pay what you agreed. If you're choosing to break the contract you made by agreeing for work to start, then that's your choice. He hasn't refused to do the work or rectify any of the problems so I can't see how you could think it was fine not to pay him.

Phoningliz · 21/06/2019 20:38

I think you need to give him a chance to finish the job.

hsegfiugseskufh · 21/06/2019 20:40

Hes ruined an £200 worktop though? So i should let him finish it (if he even can!) Pay him full price and pay for a new worktop on top?

OP posts:
arethereanyleftatall · 21/06/2019 20:40

Did he quote for the job or a day rate?

Pinkyyy · 21/06/2019 20:43

Let him finish it and if he doesn't come through with the replacement worktop, then you can negotiate. You can either ask for a reduction or for a replacement, but if you don't let him finish the job then you'll be in a very difficult position legally.

hsegfiugseskufh · 21/06/2019 20:43

A day rate but he said a max of 3 days total

Hes already done more than that and is expecting to be paid the day rate when/if he comes back to rectify everything

Im looking at paying more than twice as much as i thought i would be

OP posts:
Louise0701 · 21/06/2019 20:44

You can’t not pay him but if you don’t trust him / want him to finish the job you need to pay him the original agreed price (you said it would be the same price regardless of manpower) and find something else to take it on.

millymae · 21/06/2019 20:47

I feel your pain OP but have no advice really.
I could write a book about the problems we had with our small bathroom which took 13 days to complete and had so many things go wrong with the fittings in the early weeks that I was all for replacing the whole lot.
We weren’t helped by the fact that the fitters were all nice people - just incompetent.
Everything worked out OK in the end and 13 years on we’ve just had our first problem that needed a plumber - he has restored my faith that there are some truly excellent tradesmen around. It’s a pity that they are not that easy to find.

Tohaveandtohold · 21/06/2019 20:47

You can’t just not pay him. He’s done some work and you need to give him a chance to rectify it.
In the op, you said the woman on the phone said you can get a free replacement so I don’t know why you’d rather pay for it.

Pinkyyy · 21/06/2019 20:48

OP when you agreed the job did you receive a quote and accept it? If you've already agreed on a price then he can't expect you to pay more, just because he's been slow.

DontDribbleOnTheCarpet · 21/06/2019 20:49

Is that a wall unit hanging in front of a window? Not relevant but just wondered!
I think that since he ruined the worktop, he should replace it. You should give him the chance to correct the faults in his work and only pay him when it is done. If you can agree on a price for the work he has completed and for him to allow you to get someone else to complete it, then that's another thing, but even if he agrees to it, it can be very difficult to get a tradesman to come and correct someone else's poor work.

callmeadoctor · 21/06/2019 20:50

Have to say that your DP bottled out of it all! Difficult to say whether YABU. Why does the extractor not extract to anywhere? Was that his job too?

DontDribbleOnTheCarpet · 21/06/2019 20:52

Ah, just saw about the day rate. Not something I'd agree to, but too late now. Since he is correcting mistakes that he made, you shouldn't have to pay a day rate for the extra work. However, he is likely to disagree.

SpanglyPop · 21/06/2019 20:56

You need to tell him straight and negotiate. I will pay you X amount for what you've done but this is not what we agreed and the standard is not good and there is damage. Agree to part ways with X amount. He wont want the hassle of arguing about it and he probably doesn't want to finish the job and you can then all just get on with your lives. No fucking way should you be paying him the full amount.

hibbledibble · 21/06/2019 20:57

Did you agree on a daily rate, no matter how long the job takes? That's a big mistake, and something to learn from. In future, always agree a price for the job.

Since you have agreed a daily rate, and he has done several days work, you need to pay him for that. You don't need to continue to use him to finish the job, but be warned that it is very difficult to get tradesmen to finish a half baked job.

hsegfiugseskufh · 21/06/2019 20:58

No quote as such but he said it wouldn't be more than 3x day rate. (Over a message)

Agree in hindsight i wouldn't agree to day rate again.

Its a wall unit hanging over what used to be a cold store pantry kinda thing. We left the gap below as thats where the microwave lives and we thought it would save some space. Its a bit odd i agree!

Yes dp definitely bottled it! Hes a big baby when it comes to complaining about things!

Yes extractor was his job and yes it goes nowhere. That is an outside wall though so it should go out!

I suppose id be happy to pay for what hes done less the worktop BUT what would that be? He said id have a finished kitchen for 3 x day rate. I have a half finished kitchen and no worktop so do i pay like half less the worktop?

They may have been there 3 (not full) days but theyve not done 3 days work?

OP posts:
Iwouldratherbemuckingout · 21/06/2019 21:00

There is some really good advice on the citizens advice website. It was really helpful in working through what I needed to do in a very similar position. Essentially the contractor can only increase the price if it is reasonable (if an estimate not a quote). Really worth spending some time reading through the advice there.

BrilliantYou · 21/06/2019 21:02

I'd pay him for 2 days work in lieu of the worktop (was it his fault), the damaged end panel, and the fact he hasn't fitted/finished jobs such as no hole for extractor, having to turn away trades people.

He's obviously trying to eek out the work for as long as he can for more money.

hsegfiugseskufh · 21/06/2019 21:06

Yes worktop was his fault. He cut it in the wrong place!

tohaveandtohold i dont know who the woman was! He said she was from the kitchen retailer but it wasnt the retailers customer service phone number nor the number of the store i purchased it from. She could have been anyone!

The plans state its edged on one side which is it. Nothing on any of my docs say it should be edged on 4 sides which is what she said. I will ring the retailer tomorrow to check, but i think, whoever she was, she was talking shit unfortunately

OP posts:
hsegfiugseskufh · 21/06/2019 21:07

For reference the worktop costs more to replace than his day rate is.

OP posts:
Nextphonewontbesamsung · 21/06/2019 21:08

tldnr

Pekkanekka · 21/06/2019 21:09

He doesn't sound very good at all.
Our kitchen fitter fitted out a very large kitchen with 3x1.2m island in 3 days, on his own and no bodge ups 😬.
Bit concerned about where the extractor is extracting to too.

We did have a bodge up with our flooring and I wish I hadn't paid the full amount.
I'm not really sure what the best thing you can do is I'm afraid.