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Original poster

You know that builder who knocked down the porch and conservatory he built because the customer didn't pay him?

85 replies

LittleBella · 23/04/2008 21:21

this one here

Well one thing I've puzzled over today and haven't heard addressed, is why didn't he just take her to court? Is it because he didn't want to spend any more money on trying to get money out of someone who obviously wasn't going to pay up? Is there any real legal redress against someone who won't pay?

I do remember years ago taking a dodgy builder to court, winning and then never hearing anything again. So it was a complete waste of time. Is this still how it works?

OP posts:
Psychomum5 · 23/04/2008 21:52

BUT......

DH;s friend is in council accomodation and the council cannot move him to bigger so have agreed to extension.

aprt of the agreement is regular checks by said council (and when I say regular I MEAN regular.....weekly!!!!), and payment also would be regular if DH was drawing a wage from it too.

in todays climate most brickies/builders get a monthly or weekly payment from most jobs.

flossie64 · 23/04/2008 21:58

The woman in question lied to the builder and gave him chqs ,which were of the rubber variety.
As a parting shot told him her husband had died and could not pay. Needless to say her husband was not dead
I would have knocked it down aswell if I were him.
On the cost thing we are in the process of building a garden room as my quotes ranged from £1700- £23900, so I must say she was not being over charged in my experience,especially as she lives in the south.

Psychomum5 · 23/04/2008 22:00

we do to, but I guess that the bouncing checks add to the overall cost, as would interest

misdee · 23/04/2008 22:01

zippi, IF i was working and could afford to extend this bungalow then i would, its not mine its the councils, but as much as we dont need a bungalow now, i know we could do again in the future. i am dreading the idea of moving house atm. am too scared to in case dh gets ill again. we do extra space though, so will be leaving once we get a offer elsewhere

avenanap · 23/04/2008 22:06

Is it not the normal thing to ask for a deposit? He should have known better. Do you think he only built it so that he could try and get the council to pay, once they refused he was stuck. Maybe they were both in it together.

zippitippitoes · 23/04/2008 22:08

interesting misdee i find it hard to imagine spending those sort of sums on a property owned byt a landlord

misdee · 23/04/2008 22:10

its an assured tenacy though zippi, its my home untill i choose to give it up or not pay rent (belive me i will always make sure rent is paid)

misdee · 23/04/2008 22:15

i know it seems mad zippi, but sometimes its the only way for people to stay in suitable homes, and the council dont always have the funds to externd for you. i am pretty certain the council wont extend this place (its their only 3bedroom bungalow in the district) as we dont really need it atm.

Kewcumber · 23/04/2008 22:23

He may not have been a very good business man but I can't beleive how many of you are trying to imply that he was somehow at fault!

Taking something and not paying for it is stealing - whether he might have handled it better is irrelevant. People do the same thing to us in our business occasionally and even if I don't think they have money I will occassionally take them to court anyway just to inconvenience them as much as possible and to discourage them from doing it again.

It's bloody stealing!

What would you think if a builder persuaded a council house tenant to give them a load of cheques for £20k, cashed them and went out of business. Would you be thinking up reasons why the client is probably deserving of having their money stolen. (or maybe I am just cross becuase its happened to me in business and I don't normally get caught)

£20k is absolutely not expensive for a porch and conservatory around here.

avenanap · 23/04/2008 22:28

It would have been wise for him to get a deposit first though and wait for it to clear. It is theft, you are absolutly right.

ReallyTired · 23/04/2008 22:36

I think what he did was fair enough. 22K is not a small claims court amount. He probably spent 5K taking her to the county court.

Good for him removing the porch and conservatory. Serves the stupid stut paracite right.

lucyellensmum · 23/04/2008 22:40

Bloody good on him thats what i say!!! My DP is a builder and he doesnt like to take up front payments, but he has been bitten in the backside before by this. In fact someone not paying us £2000 just before xmas is still having ramifications for us now - has contributed to a lot of our stress and hardship. Now me personally, i would have been round at this persons property (not residential) and removed every single sodding nail and screw. I know that people tend to have a distrust for builders but 99% of them are not trying to rip you off, just trying to get by - due to this person not paying, we had to have a very austere xmas and are only just recovering so it works both ways. I hear this so many times from clients, ooohh, well we can't quite afford that, ummmmmmmmmmm well dont have it done then!!!! Oh, its hitting the top end of your budget - not my problem, my dp is a builder not a charity worker. Sorry, i ama bit biased.

My DP always takes staged payments, most people are absolutely fine with this, as i said, DP doesnt like to do this, but why should he fork out for materials and labour and then get fucked over. I have noticed though that people dislike this payment method and some corporate clients wont have a bar of it

oops · 23/04/2008 22:41

Message withdrawn

zippitippitoes · 23/04/2008 22:41

im not saying he wasnt robbed

i am just surprised i have never met a builder who would work without ongpoing stage payments and that way he would keep his liability within small claims amount
and i have employed lots of builders

two i havent paid the full whack tho because they didnt fulfill their contracts properly

lucyellensmum · 23/04/2008 22:42

It said on the news 15k, (i think) that is more than reasonable for what they have had done. This is from a woman who had a thread about her dp doing work to cheap - not anymore!!!

emkana · 23/04/2008 22:43

We are currently getting an two storey extension done for 19 K

lucyellensmum · 23/04/2008 22:44

oops, i am sorry you have gone through this, hmmm, im actually wondering if you are the person my DP did some work for recently - that would be a small world, he wasnt the nasty builder of course , but he just did a job for someone who had paid more or less all the money up front and the guy did about 10% of the work and then buggered off. That sort of thing makes me sooooo angry

lucyellensmum · 23/04/2008 22:45

oh if it was you oops - thanks for the lovely cardi you bought for DD, she looks really cute in it

Kewcumber · 23/04/2008 22:46

zippi - I'm guessing thats why he is so angry - he proabably was talked out of a deposit by a sob story and is cross at himself that he fell for it. Only a guess.

Emkana - I'm guessing you don't live in London. You'd be lucky to get a single story built for that.

zippitippitoes · 23/04/2008 22:49

of course if people dont have the money you are stuffed taking them to court

the geezer who didnt pay me for my work is a premiership footballer so he had it

and so does this builder i am after at the mo he has built 6 properties next door to me

oops · 23/04/2008 23:00

Message withdrawn

pedilia · 23/04/2008 23:24

emkana- where in the country are you?

emkana · 24/04/2008 09:38

Gloucestershire

zog · 24/04/2008 09:43

Completely agree with Kewcumber.

Ithinkthisisfunny · 24/04/2008 10:02

One of the men working for the builder, who helped him to knock the thing down, was seen on tv by his ex partner. She then rang the csa to let them know who he is working for so they can chase him for child support.

Knock-on effect?