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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To ask for the money

49 replies

Clappingforjoy · 21/08/2020 08:54

Dp part built a wall for somebody and the customer had another guy finish it off as dp was busy on another job.
Yesterday dop went to do more work for the customer in relation to the wall and the wall collapsed almost crushing dp legs. The part thsy dp built remained intact. The other guy had built his section with the bricks lying a different way and my dp had said to the customer he felt the wall was crooked when he arrived.
Obviously the customer is very upset and has either forgot or doesnt intend to pay dp his day rate money which isnt loads by the way.
Dp felt awkward asking and so do I would we look awful to ask for dp money in these circumstances.
Obviously none of this is dp fault and he spent all yesterday working hard for nothing if we dont ask.

OP posts:

Original poster

Clappingforjoy · 21/08/2020 10:06

Troll how has he messed the customer around I already explained thier agreement. Ffs

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Funnyface1 · 21/08/2020 10:15

If that was really the agreement then the customer wouldn't have contacted someone else to finish the wall, it doesn't make sense. I think you should leave the customer alone. They might actually come after you at this point.

AlwaysUtterChaos · 21/08/2020 10:19

Difficult one, there's a lot of factors, but generally speaking I don't know any trade that is happy to finish off a job of another tradesmen as when it goes wrong, their name is implicated.
What type of wall is it, and what did the other brickie do to 'lay them differently'? surely this would be really obvious, you can't lay them in a different way, even on a rendered block.
It could be the weather that brought it down or perhaps it hadn't gone off properly before the next section.
To be honest, I'd ask for the day rate but I would be questioning why your husband built on top of what must have been a really obvious defect.

HooverWhenTheCoastIsClear · 21/08/2020 10:19

How odd.
Why didn't he get money for the bit he did straight away?
I guess the customer isn't going to want to pay for a half done wall. Regardless of why.

Original poster

Clappingforjoy · 21/08/2020 10:23

He was paid his day rate for the section he built.
Customer said to dp that he wishes he had of waited for dp to finish it now and asked if dp would come and sort it out but do now very busy.
Jesus I wish he hadnt of got involved in this job now.

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NailsNeedDoing · 21/08/2020 10:24

Was the job able to be finished after the wall broke? Your dp should of course be paid for work he’s done, but if the customer was expecting to pay by the job and not by the day, and the job isn’t finished yet then that might be why they haven’t paid yet.

Original poster

Clappingforjoy · 21/08/2020 10:25

The wall was finished dp didnt get involved in laying further bricks
The other guy told customer he was going to lay his section a different way to save on material and time. I am talking about breezeblocks dp laid them flat down other guy laid them up on thier side

OP posts:

Original poster

Clappingforjoy · 21/08/2020 10:26

Well I'm not sure what customer is going to do he is a builder by the way

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Original poster

Clappingforjoy · 21/08/2020 10:27

I spoke to him yesterday and said it's bad what's happened and he sounded upbeat saying well its start again tomorrow but at least they had a good workout

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SchrodingersImmigrant · 21/08/2020 10:28

Well, your DP has to talk to the customer about the payment. Nothing we can do here

AlwaysUtterChaos · 21/08/2020 10:31

I think I get it, if he was working on something else and not the wall then it had nothing to do with him at all, and the customer now knows that it doesn't work out cheaper to try and bodge it to save some money. Absolutely chase the payment for work done.
It's unfortunate but not your husbands fault, especially if the customer knew there might be a gap in continuity of work.

GreenLeafTurnip · 21/08/2020 10:35

I'm confused by what he wants to be paid for? Did he rebuild the part of the wall that collapsed?

SmellsLikeFeet · 21/08/2020 10:44

@AlwaysUtterChaos

I think I get it, if he was working on something else and not the wall then it had nothing to do with him at all, and the customer now knows that it doesn't work out cheaper to try and bodge it to save some money. Absolutely chase the payment for work done. It's unfortunate but not your husbands fault, especially if the customer knew there might be a gap in continuity of work.

^this Just send them an invoice It was their choice to get someone else in

RB68 · 21/08/2020 10:45

OK the other builder is a red herring here. The issue is the agreed job was part build the wall and come back later to finish. Your DP did his bit and the rest of the wall build by brickie 2 fell over due to poor workmanship. Am assuming here that your DP then made good the mess and rebuilt the rest of the wall - just bill him for the full job and if you want to be cheeky extra for the tidy up of the shit job by the other guy - customer should claim that from other guy. Some people need the patience to wait for what they asked for - you can have good -cheap or quick not all three really

katy1213 · 21/08/2020 10:51

I think I've employed your husband. The one who walks off in the middle in a job when something better turns up.How long before he went back to it?

Waveysnail · 21/08/2020 10:56

Could you be more clear about what you want your husband paid for?

Waveysnail · 21/08/2020 10:57

Tbh you dh shouldnt have contact the person unless he could have finished the job. Really unprofessional.

DontDribbleOnTheCarpet · 21/08/2020 11:02

Most tradesmen I know are booked months in advance, so if you want a job done quickly you do have to accept whatever odd days they can fit you in. This can mean getting Seamus to do part of the blockwork, John to do the rest and then Seamus comes back to render or whatever. It can be a nuisance but I'd rather this than getting someone with no waiting list (rarely a good sign!).

Was your partner injured? If not, did he finish the day's work? If he worked for the day then he needs to be paid for it. But he needs to chase payment himself. I know a joiner who sent his wife to ask for payment and he never lived it down. He's a adult and he can fight his own battles. After all, you wouldn't ask him to go into your workplace and speak to your boss about your hours/overtime/other issues, would you?

NoSquirrels · 21/08/2020 11:17

So he’s been paid for the first part of the wall.

Then he goes back to do a different job for customer, but still working on/near the wall, and the wall collapses.

So he’ll need to go back again to rebuild the wall?

Won’t he just charge for all the days he works at the end of the job, when the wall is finished?

Original poster

Clappingforjoy · 22/08/2020 10:38

Posting for traffic but has anybody ever been really badly affected by something they have seen in the news about a tragic death and it makes you cry depressed and you cant get it out of your head.

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Original poster

Clappingforjoy · 22/08/2020 10:39

Oh my God this was supposed to he a new thread

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TrollTheRespawnJeremy · 22/08/2020 11:13

@Clappingforjoy

Troll how has he messed the customer around I already explained thier agreement. Ffs

Don't FFS me

it's your husband who left a job unfinished.

I'd be absolutely raging if a tradesman did this to me and I had to scrabble to find someone else to finish (and then it go wrong.)

You're lucky he's not getting torn to shreds for it on social media. Not professional at all. If you commit to doing a job then you finish it in a timely manner.

edwinbear · 22/08/2020 11:26

Actually OP, I don’t think YABU. I’ve just had an electrician do some work for me. He came for a day and did part of the work but didn’t have all the materials he needed to finish it. I knew up front he’d do a day, then come back once he had the materials to finish off - there was about 1.5 weeks in between. I wouldn’t have dreamt of getting someone else in to finish off, that would be weird.

I’d have chased him for a date to finish off if I’d not heard from him after a couple of weeks, but then I’ve used him many times so trust him completely. I think your DP is perfectly entitled to ask to be paid, presuming it was agreed upon front he’d come back to finish the job another day. Did the customer chase your DP up to find out when he was coming back or just go ahead and book the other guy to finish it without discussing with your DP?

PigletJohn · 22/08/2020 11:27

"Dp part built a wall for somebody and the customer had another guy finish it off as dp was busy on another job."

I see this as a big problem.

If you engage a builder to build a house, or a wall, and he makes a start but doesn't finish, he can't demand to be paid for the unfinished work. Not even as a percentage or proportion.

If you engage a builder to part-build part of a wall, and he build the part he was contracted for, then he is entitled to be paid for fulfilling his contract. But from what you say, that is not what happened.

Bu chance, there is (was?) English case law on this very point, but I am not a lawyer and it is a long time since I was taught (some) commercial law so things may have changed.

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