Any solicitors or quantity surveyors give me some direction please

[custardbear]

Hi
We had a house extension recently, builder turned out to be a nightmare and walked off the job leaving a mess we spent over £30k fixing

He quoted us a price, was on a contract as amount to do the build as per architect drawings (new roof plus extension)

We paid everything

He's gone into voluntary liquidation a few months afterwards - a quantity surveryor appointed by liquidator contacted us saying we owe more money according to the builder. Even though we had a contract with full cost (not estimate) stated which he's had.

QS sent over the breakdown (first time we've seen this -Total fabrication) and it's more money than we've paid

The few extras we asked for we paid in advance to the builder

He's making costs up eg on contract it clearly says new roof and extension, now he's charging extra for roof tiles ?

Says we told him to make ceilings higher - nonsense - he screwed up so the ceilings turned out to be higher than expected (few cm)

Bespoke staircase due to us changing our mind - nonsense - it's cheap plywood

So many holes in his 'story' that are juat lies
' As agreed by the home owner' whixh never happened and is basically his lying about his building work to add extra stuff on the end

So my query - do we just respond to the QS with all the comments about how much rubbish he's talking
Or
Do we take it straight to a solicitor?
Not sure how these things go as it's our first time dealing with this type of thing
Thank you

You should respond. It is unlikely you will be able to recover any legal fees from them so don't incur costs unnecessarily. Simply write back saying that you dispute these costs and setting out your reasons. I doubt the insolvency practitioner will want to take you to court.

Thank you - so you have experience with this or are you a solicitor or QS? I'm feeling the fear a bit as the builder was a
Malicious bastard, think he's made up this pack of lies out of spite

*do (not so!)

Yes, respond in really robust terms. Break down how much he owes you.

At this point you are just trying to avoid getting sucked into the insolvency.

Hi Persona
When you say 'yes' do you mean seek legal advice now or respond as you've mentioned ourselves and see what
Comes out of that first?

I understand @prh47bridge is a solicitor

Respond yourself. Provide a copy of your contract, answer each point where he has lied about what he's done or what happened and provide copies of the expense you were put to to correct his work.

Thanks all
He's given us a contract with 'the owner pays £X to do the new roof and extension.

He's now saying that the costs escalated and it's more expensive -
To the tune of another 32k more than on the contracts

Note. The Federation I'd Master Builders contract says will pay, NOT estimate (at one point he was saying it's only an estimate now I want more money from you - not discussed before or agreed just suddenly 'oh yes I want another 32k'

‘Yes’ to responding yourself. Write a very detailed thorough letter. And be aggressive about any value of claim you may have against the builder.

Thanks @PersonaNonGarter - is this your field of work? Its all very worrying 😕

I am a solicitor and used to deal with contentious construction issues but no longer do.

The main thing here is to look like an organised opponent, and get the administrator to jog on.

Make sure you send your letter registered post.

Thank you @PersonaNonGarter - much appreciated.
The builder was hideous. He gave us a price and knew it was tight. His breakdown has ludicrous breakdown costs on it so think a bit of time to get some ideas as to 'real costs' and the fact he signed a contract that it would cost X bit then decided to chuck on an extra £32k without discussion - even got phone message from him saying 'I'm not charging you extras for the roof' and 'I'll do the work it'll just take longer' the left us in such a terrible state I doubt anyone would see his side upheld - fingers crossed!
Thanks again

*breakdown that I had first sight of on Friday evening just gone

Sorry, quick question @PersonaNonGarter - if he's liquidated himself, is he driving this and the QS and insolvency solicitors work for him? Or is it all independent? I'm just wary and scared!
Thanks

His creditors are looking for money. Make it clear you will be very very difficult to get money out of and it will be a fight through the courts.

Thank you 😊

If they push back against your initial reply might it be an idea to get your own quantity surveyor to look at your original contract the work done so he or she can give you a breakdown of what it should have cost. It might only be a few hundred depending what you had done.
I’m not the remotest bit legally qualified so don’t know if this is a sensible suggestion or not though!

As PP's have said respond yourself and be very robust and very clear in your answers. Make the liquidator think that it will be a very long process and very expensive to get anything from you. If you have house insurance you may be able to get some legal advice through it.

Reply robustly refuting what you disagree with - like you have in your opening post here. Mention that he walked off the job and you had to get other tradesmen in to finish and rectify his mistakes.

Thank you, we do have legal on our insurance so will call them tomorrow to se if this is covered and I'll continue making my robust response.

I think I'll start with the price paid and agreed and in the contract, then start to minus the work he's not completed - rather than what he's done, which is give a list,
With very over inflated costs on it which adds up to way more than in the contracts

I work for a lot of Insolvency Practitioners and they are ruthless but pragmatic
State your case as clearly and strongly as you can x

Did you take photos Before and during the work?