We are defending a 'small' claim against me, £2000 from a builder who didn't complete work on the house in line with the quote.
Before he started legal proceedings, we talked to the Citizens Advice helpline. They advised us to obtain three quotes from other builders to estimate how much they would charge for the part of the work actually completed. We then took the average of these, and wrote wiith a full and final offer to pay this amount (£350).
The builder rejected this, and the small claims paperwork followed. We explained our position in the defence paperwork and included these three quotes and copies of all the letters and emails.
We now have the allocation questionnaire through - and have a couple of queries:
- Do our three builders quotes count as expert reports? The builder already has copies of these, it is in the defence documentation, guessing I have to include them again to be sure.
- I want to bring my other half along to any hearing, do I ask for permission at this stage to do this as a witness.
- I don't know whether to tick the yes box on the Courts small claims mediation service. Up until the court application was made I felt that I wanted to pay him off for the work done. But the exaggerated claim he has made is so far off the average quote figure I offered to pay my instinct is to go to court now.
Really welcome any advice. It's been quite a hassle so far, hoping things don't drag on until Christmas!
Thanks