Devastated - can't believe my builder did this

[INFJismyvibe]

Bit of backstory - we've been having an extension done on the house, it's taken well over the agreed time (almost a year over) but we've been mainly patient about it. Builders have been dumping stuff in our garden, making it unusable for the most part. Everything was overgrown as I've been unable to mow the lawn or trim down the bushes, but I've been OK with that. I knew that once they cleared their crap from the garden, I could get back to gardening and sort it out. My garden had some beautiful, well established plants and fruit trees, and some taller bushes that worked as an extra privacy screen, which we really need from our neighbours. Without those, the neighbours can see into my kitchen.

Some of the plants were of sentimental value, gifts from my mum, a plum tree growing from a cutting that my aunt gave me, from my grandma's garden, etc.

The building work has meant I've been unable to use my garden - which was my sanctuary - this summer and last summer.

Anyway, on to current day.
I've been away on holiday with my (older) kids. Dh stayed home for various reasons.

Builder has been in, finishing up on the house. His dad came along (he sometimes helps builder out on projects) and asked Dh if he's OK to clear the garden. Dh naturally assumed he meant all their builder's mess - bags of cement, wood palettes, etc etc. I've been saying for a while that I can't wait for all that to go so that I can tidy up the garden and even be able to access the washing line again.
So Dh said yes please clear it up, and then left for work.

The guy brought in a team of men and they removed everything. Every single plant, bush, tree. Completely removed the lawn (which, to be fair, was riddled with weeds and needed returfing anyway).

But it's completely bare.

All my beautiful beautiful plants, my sentimental ones, my privacy ones. All gone.

Dh didn't tell me until the car journey home as he didn't want to ruin my holiday. But i've just returned home a couple of hours ago, and I'm absolutely devastated. Don't even care about the rest of the work thats been done while I was gone. Struggling to even talk to Dh about holiday or anything else. Completely ruined my return home.

I know some may say, ah it's just plants.... But they cost so much money and effort and time, and can't be replaced just like that. I'm going to have to spend hundreds to fill it up again, and it's going to take years for them to establish. And it needs so much extra work and attention now.

Gutted. Aibu for feeling this way.

Any advice? What do I say to the builder? Dh didn't say anything at the time as he hates confrontation but wtaf?!! And now the builder will think I'm being unreasonable. But it was my sanctuary, my space, my privacy.

Ps please forgive any spelling errors, I've barely slept.
.

Pretty shocked they manage to do all this whilst your dh was at work!

Exactly

I think there’s a hefty about of hyperbole involved

This is bizarre

I would start by very calmly (& swiftly) informing him that ‘clearing the garden’ was obviously clearing it of building materials / mess and state that you would like your plants returned immediately (and if he has disposed of them to sort replacements)

I would be gutted. That is really sad.

I hate to say this, but every builder I've ever used on a long term project has a wife or daughter or mum with stage 4 cancer. It's a standard excuse in the trade. Last time I was told this and smelled bullshit I just laughed and said, poor women attached to blokes in the building trade, they do tend to end up with stage 4 cancer. And it was clear from his reaction that he had been caught out lying. So unless you know this to be true, I'd take it with a pinch of salt.

There has to be because it just doesn’t make sense otherwise

Pulling out established trees - really does not make sense.

Look the existing work has overrun and the builder sounds like a bit of a shambles. Lots of people have said that this could have been a misunderstanding as lots of projects involve a full landscaping job at the end and it’s not clear what the DP said.

If the OP unilaterally deducts money due to the builder for work he’s actually done she’s setting herself up for months of aggro or worse (some builders come back and smash it up), and I don’t seriously think she’s got a hope in hell of getting her existing builder to re-do the garden as she wants it.

Far better to chalk it up to experience and move on- take the opportunity to make something even better and not spend the next 6 months wrangling with an angry builder while the garden gets worse.

I'd guess the garden looked trashed and builder assumed it was to be cleared fully

And I doubt the trees were tall and established. If they were, removing them would be a big job and it's hard to see why a builder would even consider removing them

Disappointing and frustrating but important to keep sense of perspective

It’s so weird it almost sounds like he was given the wrong address for the project. Unless so many people also have the garden ripped out and given the Love Island villa treatment after building work that they assumed you’d be doing the same

One things for sure though…. We will never know the truth!

although we can be pretty sure this builder didn’t manage to pull up established trees, lawn, bushes plants and dispose of a year’s worth of rubbish in the time DH was at work! 😆

Phone your builder at 8am today and tell him that removing all your plants was not in the agreed work. Tell him to return the plants so you can go through them and see what is salvageable and can be replanted. You can then decide if you want to withhold any payment as compensation.

I hope you had a detailed contract of works as that will put you in a strong position to say this was not included. Though I suspect if you did, the builder would have had more sense than to remove your garden.

You always need a written detailed statement of what is included in the works. It protects you and the contractor.

Perhaps. But then OP never would have made a thread would she, because she wouldn't be surprised that he'd decimated her garden? There would be an updated estimate/quote with 'Clear and make good the garden' or 'Clear the garden of all rubbish, debris, plants, lawn, and trees, and dispose.'

...IF they were compliant with consumer laws. Traders cannot unilaterally decide to do unauthorised work and bill for it as a fait accompli. Traders also cannot destroy or remove property (whether mistake or deliberate) with no liability. Traders cannot adjust the agreed scope at all (up, down, or sideways) without getting clear, itemised agreement from the consumer. Many flout this of course out of either laziness or being dodgy, but customers simply don't realise so they get away with it.

The law is very clear on this. Unless there is a written agreement saying that 'clear the garden' meant 'rip up the lawn and remove all trees and bushes' then it was unauthorised work that led to damage and he's liable. Vague claims of 'oh the DH said it was ok, we discussed it, it was all verbal' don't cut it legally.

You're basically saying, 'There was a misinterpretation, and the damage is done so the builder's interpretation wins.' Check Section 69 of the Consumer Rights Act - the consumer's interpretation prevails, not the trader's.

OP is perfectly within her rights to cost up the total of making good his damage and deduct it from the final bill, and if the builder has a problem, he can pursue her and let a court side with her and cost him even more.

I agree - I don't get the juxtaposition at all. If, say, somebody had been dangerously trapped inside a large thicket and it all had to be hacked out of the way to rescue them, then it would make sense to say "It's only trees"; but on what planet does it make any kind of sense to say that, because somebody is very ill (if this is actually true anyway), that justifies randomly destroying established greenery? It's not like ripping out trees is going to magically cure the very ill person.

This makes no sense. It's a huge job to remove an established and overgrown garden that would generate a massive amount of waste. They'd need heavy machinery to scrape your lawn up and dig out trees, chippers to break down the material, skips/lorries to take it away. And your husband is claiming he never noticed any of this work going on? Does not add up.

Do they lay block paving or tarmac as well? If so, do they say they're going to 'clear the driveway' after (eventually) finishing the job and then get your car towed away too?!

Tell the builder (in writing) that he damaged perennials, valuable fruit trees and that you're heartbroken.

Even if he won't apologise, compensate you or anything comparable. You will have voiced your grief (and the likelihood of ending up with a bill for the "gardening" will dramaticalyl decrease). Whenever I've chosen to "hold in" my pain I still had to deal with it years later.

Ah come on there must be more to this that the husbands saying. Why would he remove all of that when it comes at a cost to dispose of it? Your husband didn’t notice they were ripping it out?

I presume the toot sweets are sugar-free gummy bears. Those little horrors bring everything fully out into the open.

I'm another one who has heard allll the cancer stories from trades. And the daughter/wife who has been rushed to hospital. 🙄

Well contracts can certainly be verbal. It is pretty usual to agree amendments to a contract as it progresses.
The court would wonder where the motivation was for the builder to undertake this work if there was no authority to perform it, and he wouldn't get paid.

Or he might have been true and he was shocked at your reaction

This doesn’t make sense I think you need to go back to your DH to understand more.

why would a builder ask his permission to clean up after themselves? This implies in itself that they were gaining permission for something different.

what was your DH doing to be so oblivious to what was going on around him? This wouldn’t have been a quick thing. You have said your DH hates confrontation is there a chance he just stood there and watched it happen?

Ah OP I’m so sorry.
I had a large extension for my disabled DD. Our builders made some mistakes (like not widening the front door) which they had to re-do. Anything like that they did swiftly and either good grace.
Building projects often overrun for various reasons and I wouldn’t not pay on that basis alone.
But it’s incomprehensible that the agreed works (as per your original quote) was overlooked and to raze the garden because he failed to remove his waste as he went the way he should have.
My builders were told not to touch the rose bed even though they were levelling the rest of the garden and moving established trees and removing particular established bushes and they did it properly.
Give him a call and tell him it’s gone wrong. Let him lead on explanation. Decide what you want to do after that.