Builder issues - advice please

[JugglingChaotically]

So all went well for first 2 months. Ahead of schedule.
Architect monitored and confirmed regular valuations.
Then any variations became very highly priced
Then windows paid for not delivered
Turned out when we asked for proof of order (given none appearance and cash in advance) than they were only just ordered.
Ditto floor.
Now the work on site has slowed to almost snails pace.
Only plasterer there today.
Only electrician other day.
Was forecast to run 6 weeks late a week ago.
On Friday that was revised to 8 weeks.
What had been agreed was that we would move back 2 to 3 weeks before completion and remaining work would be external or around us.
What best to do?
There are penalties in contract but it seems to have no effect.

Random. Thanks. Ours is not a rebuild but a rather large refurb.
Trying to stay focused on completion but need to protect our position.
Will try again for a meeting.
Good ideas in your post. Thanks.
Did you get most of what you needed?
At the moment we have unsafe site. No floors (even board gone) missing staircase, missing windows and no utilities! Need a little more done .....

Good point cheer up! Tks.

Funambulist. Never again will I pay up front unless to builders in this way.
Though some do have good builds so don't give up.
Our architect still says some builders need upfront payments for cash flow especially for bespoke items. But next time I would insist on invoice copy from supplier and proof of payment and order delivery date!
It's grim.

I think staged payments are normal, and that nothing starts until something is paid. Now that you have paid the 40%, funambulist, are they ready to discuss dates?

I think the key is how much (%) is held back until a job has been completed. It should be at least 20% of the money, otherwise there is no incentive to finish. And money for "stuff" should be paid directly to suppliers. There must be some code of best practice that people using builders could refer to?

For builders, I think they do have a cash flow issue. There was one occasion when my builder was pressing me for stage payment by a particular date because he "had to pay the guys at the end of the week/month".

next time I would insist on invoice copy from supplier and proof of payment and order delivery date!

Things like that could be in a guideline for users of builders.

Thanks RandomFriend that's reassuring.

We paid the money, heard nothing for a week, chased them, then they phoned up wanting to start the next day. It wasn't possible for us to arrange to be in at such short notice so we asked if they could do the following week or the one after.

Silence again for a few days then they phoned again, giving us a few days notice of their start date but only 20 minutes to decide if the day suggested was okay. We cancelled appointments, juggled work etc. they arrived, realised that they needed scaffolding put up to do the works and have gone away again, saying that they'll need to provide us with a new estimate to include scaffolding.

In the meantime we have paid a fair amount of money to them so even though the works haven't started yet I'm finding it quite stressful, though it seems trivial compared to what Juggling is coping with. Juggling I don't know how you are staying so calm!

Funamambulist. Calm I am not!
Your chaps sound keen though! That's positive

The liquidated damages kicked in once they went over the agreed finish date. We had agreed an extension in writing and after that expired the clock started ticking. So when the next valuation came in I had to notify the builder within a certain time that I would be deducting x per week till the job was finished, and then deducted that from that and subsequent payments.
It sounds as if you are too near the start for that to have an effect. At an earlier point they messed up by not getting the messy stuff done while we were away and we came back to an uninhabitable insecure house. Our architect came straight over to assess and then sent them a stinker of an email pointing out all the penalties in the contract. That got action. At other times he advised us to let things go for fear of driving them off the job. The key is only to pay for work in arrears and to buy supplies yourself if needed (they can place the order you just ring up and pay) and then you always have leverage. And there should be a contingency in the contract too so you don't pay 100% even for work completed until the whole job is finished. But all that may not be enough if they have bigger fish to fry. Because banks wont lend so easily I gather the cashflow issue is a real one so builders have an incentive to start more jobs than they can manage to keep cash flowing in to pay their guys as with a lot of jobs a lot can be done quickly and easily at the start - demolition and stripping out say. I may have misunderstood but that seemed to be a problem.

funambulist That is really frustrating. They should have realised that the job needed scaffolding when they gave you the quote. It is almost cheating to give you a quote ex-scaffolding, take a 40% payment, and then say they need to add something that includes scaffolding.

You might like to inform theme that you would also have to obtain alternative, scaffolding-inclusive quotations and that you would like the 40% returned in the meantime. [At least that would ensure that they are quick about getting a revised quotation to you].

Scaffolding is really expensive, the scaffold firm charges put-up, put-down and by the day it is in place. Your builders sound disorganised, so just make sure that if the scaffolding stays up longer than originally intended, any extra cost is taken by the builder.

I think the rest of your experience -pay, silence, chase, short-notice, etc. is very typical. I think it is hard for builders to do their scheduling. You do have to be on to them about exactly when they are coming, in a very nice calm way, of course.

But not realising that the job would need scaffolding rings alarm bells for me about their competence.

I gather the cashflow issue is a real one so builders have an incentive to start more jobs than they can manage to keep cash flowing in to pay their guys as with a lot of jobs a lot can be done quickly and easily at the start

I think that is exactly right. The incentive to start a job is large, whereas the incentive to finish a job is much smaller.

The trick - and this is what I have learned from three experiences but didn't ever mange to do particularly well - is to make the incentive to finish large enough that they actually do.

funambulist, I wasn't intending to alarm you, but I do think you will have to be on to them about revised quotes and starting dates now that they have got 40% of the money. Don't be waiting for the phone to ring or for the new quote to jsut pop through the letter box without any prompting.

How quickly can they fix up with a scaffolding firm? Have they worked with that scaffolding firm before? These are suggested questions for you to have in dialogue with the builder.

This sounds really difficult for you. It's really hard to see exactly what is going on here. Your contract administrator doesn't sound that motivated. How is he/she being paid? What's in it for them at this stage?

Were the builders you chose much cheaper than any of the other tenders? Could they be trying to recover from costing the job too low? (Not that this makes it right, but just wondering?)

How out of pocket would you be if you decided to change builders now? It would be worth getting some other recommended builders in to see whether they would take the project on and also how much they would charge to completion. You might be surprised. Sometimes builders have unexpected gaps they need to fill and might come in with a reasonable quote if you can move quickly (which you do want to!)

As an aside, my husband is an architect. He no longer does contract administration because he found it very time consuming, that clients chose the cheapest builder who are often very difficult to manage and will later try to screw the client over and (in general) the fee rates for the architect are very low for contract administration in comparison to other parts of the design process.

Reynoldsnumber. No. He was middle quote. He did discount to get the work and, I suspect, thought he'd make it up again on high pricing of variations!
He was introduced to us by the architect. Playing sillies on another contract for them too.
Interestingly he is on schedule for completion of a personal project according to his local press!
There is a builder opposite our rental who is working really well on that project but ours is not at a good point to swap contractors at this time.
See earlier comments.
Sadly we have paid in advance for delivery of items that were then not ordered for some time. And have not appeared.

Juggling, have they definitely been ordered?

The architect saw what he thought were the invoices. We insisted on this before the last valuation.
No copies though.
Should be on count down to move back in
I still don't think the builder is a cowboy.
Do think he has backed himself into a corner.
How to find a resolution?
Architect has advised not to serve notice or default at this time.
Builder says he is not in default anyway as one man on site (working at snails pace)
Have sent architect wording from contract following excellent advice from Happy below.
Even if we don't serve notice we need to make him aware that we could, surely?

Your Contract Administrator needs to serve notice to your Contractor. There's absolutely no other way to do this unless you want to pay him more money for works he hasn't done.

Your CA doesn't want to start proceedings because he knows he's valued works that haven't been done and told you to pay for materials that aren't on site. Breaching contract.

Sounds like you're being screwed by both the contractor and contract administrator.

Happy - how likely is serving notice to get contractor back on site? Or is it a one way track to dispute and new contractor?
I don't understand the architects position either. But if he were right and contractor can be persuaded to restart it would be good?
Can't see it though.
Stuck in the middle and it's not good

The architect saw what he thought were the invoices.

Well, if the stuff these invoices that the architect thought he saw is not yet on site, it will be easy enough for him to check that these invoices have been received and paid; and to then chase the material if it hasn't arrived. And provide you with copies.

The more simple points you can gather before going in to the meeting with the architect, the better.

As for finding a resolution, aim for agreeing upon a new set of dates - especially the completion date, and work backwards from there in term of what has to be done. Payments have to be linked to work completed.

He didn't copy them or note the name of supplier. I've asked.

Does the 'more money' mean that he wants you to pay more for work he agreed to do at a certain price? How is he justifying raising the fee now?

At the very least, he needs to get hold of the invoices that he thought he might have seen. So he needs to contact the builder.

Next payment due is not for another 11 days and architect has yet to agree valuation that supports it.
As drafted it includes windows not yet delivered and very overdue.
And other items that are "optimistically" valued

It depends on the contractor and his financial state. He could be bluffing, he could walk off. But if he does he's in breach. Actually, he's already in breach, as I explained earlier - section 6 of the conditions.

But if he is demanding more money to continue then I don't see what other option you have? you pay him more money and then are back in same position in another month.

I'd be seeking the advice of a solicitor with construction experience. He'll probably say the same thing as me - both your contractor and contract administrator are out of line and in breach.

Juggling - are you basing payment dates off the contractor's invoices?!

Your contract administrator should be issuing interim payment certificates based on his valuations and then the payment date would be 14 days from issue of each certificate.

I checked with the architect recently.
Valuations due every two weeks on a Friday.
Contractor drove me nuts by issuing invoices on Wednesday or Thursday forecast (?!) to the Friday. Almost over.
I duly ignored invoices till the Friday or Monday when the architect reviewed valuation.
So process now is valuation, review, invoice.
Inevitably I email both on receipt invoice asking for valuation and architects confirmation of agreement (or otherwise)
I asked again recently for the architect to confirm process.
His view is

1. contractor valuation,
2. architect review,
3. amendment if necessary then
4. contractor issues invoice But his view is due date for payment is 14 days from the Friday regardless of time taken for him to confirm valuation or date of invoice

I take it there is another interpretation Happy?
I suspect I am about to feel rather silly