Help with Builder threatening legal action - court

[Chinacups]

We have just finished a renovation project. We signed a contract with the builder and overall, the work was completed to a reasonable standard and is more or less finished. Some plumbing and decorating unfinished but the builder is refusing to complete them until we pay some extra charges - his final bill was £6,000 higher than expected.

He wants another £4,000 for plumbing but this is the first we've heard. Nothing was mentioned when they were doing the work. We've gone back and forth and talked face to face but he is adamant he did the work and we have to pay.

To give an example, the original quote for plumbing was around £18,000. It lists every single tap and drain and that was the quote we accepted and attached to the contract. The builder is now claiming extra costs for things like, running pipes from the radiator to the new tank, and connecting the (existing) boiler. We expected all the plumbing costs were included in the quote and our argument is all the extras he's now claiming for were always part of the project - we haven't made any changes. So why would he quote and not allow for jobs he would have known he had to do, like reconnecting the boiler?

Similar situation for the other £2,000 that he wants for fitting the kitchen. We think the cabinets were listed under a certain part of the quote and he's saying they were actually included in another part of the quote (for work we removed). It's a bit complicated but essentially we think he is trying it on. It's tricky to make a call on who has interpreted the quote incorrectly, but without giving more detail we think it's clear from the quote.

We offered to pay 50% of these extra charges a few weeks ago, because we haven't been able to agree and can't see how else to resolve it fairly. The builder refused that and is now threatening to take us to court.

In my response I want to point to the terms of our contract (any additional costs have to be agreed before the work is carried out) and to suggest professional mediation. What would you do in this situation?

He sounds really dodgy. How can he be claiming off you? Have you paid or have intention to pay for what he's done? I hope it gets sorted. But you can ask someone else to do the plumbing.

He has asked me to respond in 2 working days or he’ll start court action, despite him taking 8 days to respond to us. What’s a reasonable amount of time to respond? My response is going to take a couple of days admin to pull together all the text messages, photos and emails.

Anyone have a view on how it would look if we revisited some things we've questioned in the past but ultimately ended up accepting because we made the payment for them? At the time we just wanted to avoid disputes mid build when we were at our most vulnerable (house uninhabitable) but in light of the extra charges and threats of court action, we would like to include them.

One example is the rubbish disposal. The builder gave an estimate for this particular part of the quote and he ended up charging 120% of that original estimate. He offered invoices for the skips but we didn't end up receiving them and just paid.

Let him take you to court. He won't win if what you say is true.

Just tell him to go ahead. He should have cleared any extra over's with you prior to carrying them out. It seems he didn't. I'd call his bluff on this one. Cheeky bastard.

Was there not a total amount clearly printed on the quote?

Anyone have a view on how it would look if we revisited some things we've questioned in the past but ultimately ended up accepting because we made the payment for them? At the time we just wanted to avoid disputes mid build when we were at our most vulnerable ...

What's done is done and accepting a dubious charge in the past doesn't oblige you to do it again, but to be perfectly honest you've handed him a major message/opportunity here, as in "they fell for that so they'll be good for a bit more"

If you want to respond at all I'd keep it very brief, mention that he broke his own (already detailed) contract by not consulting you over these additional charges, and invite him to go right ahead

Most likely you'll hear nothing else about it and he'll try for his "Christmas box" with someone else

Whenever I have received a quote, I always thought of it as a rough figure rather than precise figure. For example I had a quote from the vet recently which I accepted, but the final figure was higher than the quote because the work required slightly more resources than expected. I've never really considered a quote to be a final price, more a ball park figure.

That would be an estimate you're thinking of, @Curtainqueen; basically a quotation's an agreed-upon fixed price and an estimate's exactly that - an approximate price which may change* *

And none of it changes the fact that the contract required him to clear any extra charges with OP before doing the work and he didn't

Call his bluff and say take me to court, more than likely he'll compromise.

He's trying to extort you. Wife of a trader here who always sticks by his original quote even if it means a loss for us and reduces the bill if he finishes ahead of time! Sounds like he's received big money from you already. He will lose in court.

Hire a QS asap. Most work for a flat fee. Then get your QS to contact the builders QS (he should have one if he regularly tenders) for a breakdown of costs. If the increased costs are BS it'll come to light very quickly

We’ve completed 6 renovations over the years and building costs have always run over. We’ve never viewed “quotes” as set in stone but a guide and assumed the final figure will change.

If you can’t reach agreement and can’t pay, court is your only option really.

My DH is a builder and tbh it’s difficult to know from your post who is in the wrong here. Extras should always be agreed in advance although due to time pressures are often verbally agreed and then written up later. It’s a problem when it’s a big job with lots of extras and clients forget what they’ve agreed to and £100 here and there soon adds up.

I would say though that he’s pretty confident that he’s not in the wrong if he’s threatening to take you to court. I suspect he is fighting you on this because he personally has probably paid out for any extra materials and work for the subcontractors and so he is now out of pocket.

How much was the project as a s a whole? While things sounds a lot, it's not unusual for projects to run over by around 10%, so if you've paid upwards of £60k this sounds a reasonable overun to me.

Superb you had a contract in place. Does it stipulate how he needs to let you know about additional expenses? Without that covered (and stating 'in writing'), it's unlikely this clause will offer you much defence.

I'd follow the sage advice here about a meeting to discuss where in the quote (if a quote, and not an estimate) you each think this work sits within.

However, small building firms can't simply absorb a customer refusing £6k of costs, and I'd absolutely expect them to pursue small claims action if you can't agree this. Most firms are well versed in non-paying customers and so unlikely they'd drop this.

If you used a trade directory to find them, worth seeing if they can intervene and offer mediation?

(I work in this industry handling complex customer and trade disputes).

If builders think there's a gravy train, they want to get on it. Your replies are showing how rattled you are, and he knows it. Let him go to court, you need to simplify your responses as you will have to respond to the court letter if it comes. You agreed x, he didnt tell you he was adding y, you have offered z as a gesture of goodwill but he is clearly in breach of contract. End of.

£4k for the plumbing
£2k for kitchen cabinets
But he expected the electrician with poor English to have explained this to you?

If you've already offered £3k I'd stand firm on this - it's going to end up costing you money (mediator or QS) to fight his claim. He's wanting a response within 2 days, repeat the £3k as Full and Final settlement offer in writing and give him 24hrs to accept this or you're withdrawing the offer and will see him in court. Going the small claims track won't be quick for him. If he's got sense, he'll take the £3k.

Agree with everyone saying, "see you in court".

1. The backlog for small claims is still pretty huge, so will be many (many) months before you get to court, if you ever actually do.

1. You will probably (?) get offered mediation prior to court. Both parties have to agree, but you mentioned in your OP that you at least would be open to this, so could be a good way to force him to come to the table.

Source: My own dispute with a tradesperson. He threatened court several times, refused to return keys, it got pretty nasty, etc. We sent a long email with evidence - photos, emails, etc. and said we were ready for SCC. Never heard another word.

I was in a similar situation with a decorator and refused to pay what he said we owed after offering to pay a more than reasonable amount to get rid of him (this was after him billing us 3 times for the same materials, leaving the work half done, putting a hole in our ceiling he couldn't fix, and creating holes in our walls that weren't there previously so he could charge us for plastering them, and we'd already paid the majority of the work plus a deposit plus extras from his dodgy billing AND being the most expensive of all the ones we'd looked at).

He sent abusive texts for weeks and then came back to our house and threw cans of paint all over it in the middle of the night over Christmas. Which then cost us £2k to get sorted.

So I would be very careful and definitely get cameras outside your property if you don't have them already.

I think you need to meticulously go through the quote then compare to the extras he's trying to charge for. If they are not on the quote it's your word against he as to whether they were agreed by you or not.

The kitchen units I suspect do need to be paid for if the original fitting cost was included in an element you otherwise cancelled. Also ask for a full revised quote in such situations and you need to highlight if it's missing anything like this obviously was.

10% overrun is pretty normal and we agreed to pay when extra piping etc was needed, but my builder communicated to me each time he discovered something that hadn't been anticipated and crucially perhaps on my quote it clearly said that it was written in good faith but should he uncover things during the build he would update us with any changes to the schedule of works and costs

Overrun might happen, but good trades will discuss and put extra charges in writing. So when you change your mind on something you have a clear idea of how much extra it'll cost.

Does the builder have form for this sort of thing, could he be bluffing?

Does the contract include provisions for variation orders (extras)? This will depend on whether the judge considers the disputed amount to be reasonable. If the builder can demonstrate that the work was necessary as part of the overall project, then you may face a challenging situation.
£6000 for extras isn't a considerable sum.

I would say though that he’s pretty confident that he’s not in the wrong if he’s threatening to take you to court

TBH I wouldn't want to assume that, @Nosleepforthismum - especially not when he's already used OP's "vulnerable" position to extract other questionable payments

As said, it's just as likely he's seen an opportunity and saved the big guns of legal threats for one last major thrash

Don't spend too long at this stage. Let him take you to court. Then put together your case.

Even if he follows through, he may not attend court.