Want to sack cowboy builders - how easy?

[XoooX]

We bought a while ago, and got a team of builders in to get the house how we wanted - mainly painting all walls, new kitchen, new bathroom, and tiling bathroom, kitchen and entrance porch.
They should have finished a month ago, but things have dragged on and on. They keep giving us deadlines of when then will be finished, and then those deadlines come and go and we are barely any closer to being able to move in. They do a couple of hours in the evening in our project, if they can be bothered to turn up, as they have other projects on. Meanwhile we are wasting money renting elsewhere, as we can't live there as it is (no working bathroom, kitchen not finished).
Can I just sack them? We have paid a lot upfront, and only owe them a few hundred. It will probably cost us a bit more than the remainder due to get another builder in, but at this stage, I think I'd rather cut our losses. What do I need to do to get this happen? Do I give them an ultimatum first?

What we did was - work out what they have done that you have actually paid for and then what you have paid for that is unfinished. Get other builders round to quote for finishing it off (at least two), then send them a letter detailing when the other builders will start and that you will be taking them to the small claims court for the money that you have already paid them. If they're a member of one of the trade associations, say that you will be filing a complaint with them too.

Our builder did the same thing, fucked off to work on a different job without finishing ours off. Six weeks of chasing the scummy bugger, then one email threatening to report him to the Association of Master Builders, and we had someone on our doorstep two days later to finish in a day.

Thanks, great advice. They do have a sign on their van about being part of some trade association! I will note it down next time the van bothers showing up!

Shocking, isn't it! I don't know how they can sleep at night, treating people like this.