To not pay this tradesman?

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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.

He has thrown the box and instructions out but i will have a look on the makers website. If he says its fine maybe it is!

£140 a day that's shockingly low for a skilled tradesman

Ok thanks for all the clarification that I'm thick!!

Rest of the top units went in and the extractor however it doesnt extract to anywhere as theres no hole in the wall. Weird.

Modern extractors don't. They just filter the air into the cupboard.

I totally get your anger. Our kitchen fitters were twattish too, to the point where I had a pretty strong word with them when they refused to come back and fix something and they started lying.

However, you will need to pay for what is done and he will need to pay for a new worktop.

Okay, so he quoted 3 days at a total of £420 for labour. A professional would know how long it takes, so if it's longer than he said through no fault of yours I'd say that's on him - especially as he's bodged it instead of using the (unknown) amount of time he spent there efficiently

You'll also need to deduct the damage from that, so by all means invite him to put his mess right, in the knowledge he'll be getting £420 minus damage. He won't want to do that of course, so then you get someone else in, deduct their fee from his bill too and pay him the remaining £71 (or whatever)

IME a cowboy like this is unlikely to sue, but make sure you document and photograph everything just in case

£140 a day that's shockingly low for a skilled tradesman

Is it? I can't speak for anywhere else, but round here that seems to about the going rate for plumbers, electricians, plasterers, etc - certainly it's what mine charge, and unlike this guy they're brilliant

The extractor has a chimney though, presumably it wouldn’t if it didn’t need a hole in the wall? Wheres the cupboard it would filter air into and why? Wouldn’t that be one smelly cupboard?

There is no cupboard for it to filter into. Thats it!

puzzled 2 plasterers for 1 day cost us £300 to do the kitchen diner and they were brill so i had no reason to think kitchen fitters should be much more expensive!

Hi OP

Sorry to hear about the stressful kitchen situation.

Do contra charge the fitter for the damage. It doesn't matter if that nearly nullifies his invoice. Make sure you do this in writing and detail each charge and why of what you are withholding. Don't just not pay him.

Really you should let him rectify the work, otherwise it might be deemed that you've breached the contract. That said it's tricky. You'll effectively only be holding 71 pounds retention on him, not much if he makes more mistakes. So it's up to you really, depends if you think he will get litigious. Plus do you have a written contract with him?

Do check out whether it's an extractor that needs an outside vent or just a filter. If he hasn't fitted it properly, then again withhold appropriate monies until he fits it properly or you terminate the contract and employ someone else.

It needs a hole! He just didn’t want to do it.

For some reason the kitchen in the house we moved into last year want fitted to the walls and all the doors needed refitting. Worktop was knackered too as were kick boards.
Joiner who did jobs in the side came over the weekend. He refitted the entire kitchen, refitted all doors, replaced the sink, worktop, kick board and end panels and adjusted a couple of internal doors before he left. It's a big kitchen. Took him a day and a half and he charged £300 for the labour.

Get rid and find someone else, preferably via word of mouth.

This is the "frame" he built behind the cupboard in front of the old larder (we stated when he quoted a frame would need to be built to properly support the cupboard so both brackets could be used)

Weve also noticed hes not screwed the top cupboards together at all which he said he had. Hes also not put the ply wood on the bottom cupboards in the corner so stuff can fall out onto the floor.

I don’t think you should pay him just yet. Yes you agreed a rate and accepted it but he hasn’t fulfilled his side of the agreement as the kitchen isn’t finished. I think you are in your rights to refuse to pay but do ring consumer direct or your local trading standards for advice.

You need to find out why the extractor doesn’t seem to go anywhere. It may have filters in it and not need to but he should be able to explain that to you.

Any parts that he had damaged he needs to swallow the cost himself and put them right. That is what his insurance is for. I run my own electrical business and we would be horrified if our work was like that and certainly wouldn’t want customers to pay us for substandard work.

A plumber friend recently damaged a bath on installation, completely an accident, so he bought a new one and paid himself as the customer should not be out of pocket for a trade mistake.

Sorry to be rambling on but shoddy workmanship is a pet hate of mine and gives trades a bad name.

Any parts that he had damaged he needs to swallow the cost himself and put them right. That is what his insurance is for

You're right of course, but in all honesty does this sound like a man who's likely to have professional insurance?

Can I ask where you got him from, OP - I'm wondering if it was one of those online things where you list the job and invite quotes? Because while I'm sure there must be some decent ones on there, my own experience is that they attract types who lack the skills to attract business through word of mouth

To be honest he doesn’t sound like the type at all, I was just trying to give him the benefit of the doubt!

Probably a good idea to suggest that his insurance pays for the parts he has damaged and see what he says.

He was reccomended on a local fb group but of course it could have been anyone who reccomend him. Ive found every other trade that way and theyve all been fine.

I have fitted a couple of kitchens in 2-3 days and while I am good at DIY, I am not a professional kitchen fitter. He's really not done a lot, certainly not more than a few hours’ worth. Adding the damage he caused, I’d give him Fifty quid and tell him to take a hike.

I think you will find it hard to get someone to finish the job- that will be your problem. Dp has his own company, and rarely does things like kitchens and bathrooms anymore, it’s more extensions and houses. But he’s been asked so many times to finish botched jobs and he says it’s soul destroying, because 90% there is that much wrong when you are looking at it through a professionals eyes, it all needs to come out, which people can’t afford quite righty. So now unless it’s someone we know, he stays well away.

I have read, quite recently, that if you have any type of gas appliance in your kitchen, you must have a ducted extractor - ie. one with a hole in the wall which extracts to the outside.
Don't know if this is a recent building regs thing.
Don't know if this applies to your situation or not OP.
Good luck with it all.
It sounds like a nightmare.

There are two types of extractor. The traditional one filters outside but newer varieties either extract into a cupboard or back into the room. You can't tell from looking at the OPs one which it is.

I have one that has a cupboard above t and it extracts into there. OP needs to google the brand etc to check if it is an extraction or recirculation type.

Here is a website to explain the difference:

www.cookersandovens.co.uk/blog/ducted-or-recirculating-hood/

We dont have any gas appliances.

I looked on the website and it says it can be ducted or fitted with charcoal filters (presumbaly we will have to buy them seperate and fit them) so i suppose that's ok. Will have to find the filters i guess!

Send him a message listening everything that's wrong/not been done and ask him how long it will take him to rectify this.