Kitchen installation finishing late..AIBU to withhold money?

[Louisesp82]

Happy to be told this is unreasonable, just after some perspective:)
Our kitchen started renovations 2 weeks ago, one day later than planned...he was due to finish last Wednesday. However, the wrong units had been ordered so this was pushed to Friday, however both myself and partner were working (i work shifts, but home a lot, and qas on annual leave when work started).
Due to an appointment for myself yesterday, it was agreed that the kitchen would be completed today..i have contacted the company who apologised, bit they had noted 'after tursday' although we agreed on this date.
During this time we have had no downstairs sink, the house is a tip and we have had to eat out more..i still owe some money to be paid when tbe work is complrte, would i be unreasonable to retain some of this?

So the wrong units were ordered which delayed things and then you requested a further delay because of a personal appointment - I don’t think it would be reasonable to withhold money on that basis.

No sink - presumably the old kitchen had to go before the new one was installed, so it’s reasonable to expect no sink for a while. If you have an upstairs one, that’s more than adequate for temporary use.

The house being a tip - is this the builders mess over and above the extra dust that the work will create? Are they not cleaning up at the end of every day? Is their mess spilling over into other areas of your home? If not, it’s nothing to do with them and I don’t think you could complain about that.

Eating out more - personal choice, you could have set up a microwave, kettle toaster or even a portable hob in another room, but if you have receipts for the extra expenditure and you can prove you had no other means of preparing food and no other choice but to eat out, then go for it.

Providing the work is finished to the standard you expect, delays of a few days are just part and parcel of building work and I don’t think running over schedule by a few days on a two week project warrants withholding payment.

You should pay for the service in full unless you are unhappy with the standard of the work.

Unless an agreed finishing date was part of the contract, no, you can't withhold money. And it wouldn't have been part of the contract - it would have been an "estimated 2 weeks" type thing, so in the eyes of the law, even 3/4 weeks is acceptable, particularly if many of the delays were caused by your appointments/you and your partner working etc.

So no, you can't withhold money. Building work overrunning is just part and parcel of having work done.

Its all part of the fun and games of having a kitchen fitted . The person who will suffer if you don't pay is the kitchen fitter as they are paid on completion .
You can always with hold money but don't be surprised to see a pay up or else letter winging its way to you

What money are you going to withhold exactly?

The money for the materials? Well that's not on is it as you've had the materials.
The money for labour? Well that's not on is it as you've had the labour.

What money do you think it is acceptable to withhold in this situation?

It's not acceptable to withhold any is the only reasonable answer imo. Imagine if your salary at the end of the month was 20% down and your HR manager said it was because you took longer than expected on a project, you'd rightly be furious.

Yes you would be unreasonable.

It's all part and parcel of having building work done.
Yes it's irritating but surely you expected snags and dirt?

Your delay is nothing! We had one of 3 months due to 3 cabinets being missed off the first order, 1 being dropped during delivery during the second and some issues with trim that didn’t show up until install attempt 3. Then because it is a small flat we were stuck in a rental but luckily we were able to extend the lease. We did get a small discount for all of that but nothing close to what we spent. You have to build in a contingency both in terms of time and money to any building project. So yeah you’d be massively unreasonable not to pay in full and if you didn’t I expect you’d hear from debt collectors.

I’ve just had my kitchen done and I wish running over was the only problem I had.

The sod left me with a electrical socket that is deemed illegal ( it was a corner one so didn’t see it until after he left) and had to get someone else in to sort it , left me with a leak, the worktop edge fell off after 24 hours, used the wrong screws in everything, one of the cupboard doors were on the verge of falling off after 48hours, some of the cupboard drawers and doors are wonky,etc

I then found out from checkatrade that he wasn’t supposed to instal my hob and oven or do anything electrical as he’s not certified to do so despite him saying on his profile he can do all aspects of kitchens.

I’ve now got to faff about with recovering my additional costs via small claims and there’s still no guarantee he will pay up

If the work they are doing is up to standard but just running over, just boil that down to the joys of builders.. I wouldn’t wish the headache my one gave me on anyone.

Thank you for the messages..i was really annoyed when i posted this due to fitter not turning up today..looking at it in a different light now :)