Unfinished rewiring-do we pay electrician?

[mumtorobbie]

To cut a long story short....

A friend's father agreed to rewire our house and after working 2 and a half days walked off the job. He didn't even have the decency to call us and got his son to tell us instead - 2 days later!

He simply left a note saying he wasn't finishing the job with the keys ( we are staying with in laws while the work is being done).

Where do we stand in terms of paying him? We've had to get another electrician in to finish the job at great expense.

I'm happy to pay his costs as long as he provides receipts but what about labour?

I'm so angry with him and his behaviour is so unprofessional but at the end of the day he didn't complete the job he was asked to do.

TBH I'd work out the quoted cost (friend's father) and deduct great expense (new electrician) and if there is a positive balance give him that and if not just materials with receipts.

TBH he wouldn't stand much of a chance in no claims court.

How much did he quote you?
How much did it end up costing you?

If you ended up paying the new electrician more say £500, when the original bloke quoted say £250 and you accepted the same, I would say he isn't entitled to any payment. In fact, as cheeky as it sounds, he is in breach of the contract and technically could be made to pay you the difference, in my scenario £250 (sounds odd but that is how contract law works).

If he chases you for the money tell him he is not entitled to it as he has breached the contract by not finishing the work, it has cost you more than he has quoted, and if he tries to claim the money off you, you will counterclaim the difference.

I would pay him £0. If he complained I'd send him an invoice for your inconvenience.