Plumber issues with new bathroom - what's fair?

[sabretoothtigger]

Firstly, apologies this may be a long post..

We're in the final stages of having our new bathroom fitted and I'm not sure what to do about our first plumber.

We were quoted for the whole job from ripping out to fitting the suite, but there were so many issues by the time we got to the first fix and bath fitting that we called it quits and found someone else.

The issues included; basin pipes in the wrong place, shower pipes in the wrong place (the screws for the valve would have pierced the pipes), scratches on the shower down to the base metal (which is thankfully brass), a tiny dent in the brand new Carronite bath, scratches on the chrome basin pop up waste plug, radiator pipes left to come out of the floor instead of the wall (tiled floor going in), old soil pipe reused which had perished rubber seals (very difficult access after bath is fitted).. And the bath wall fixing plates weren't used so the bath was only supported by the legs and silicone around the wall.

It has now all been put right by our wonderful new plumber, but I really don't know what a fair price would be to pay the first guy? It was 3 days labour to rip out the bathroom, put in the first fix pipework that has now been almost entirely replaced, and the fit the bath, which had to be refitted. They also disposed of most of the bathroom.

However, we've had to pay another plumber, or tiler had to redo some of the tiling, and the bath had to be removed and refitted, not to mention all the scratches on our brand new bathroom fittings.

I'm fussy, but I don't think I was being too unreasonable or demanding for once What would be reasonable in this instance? He's billed me for a few days of work, materials, and disposal costs - £400 in total. Does that sound fair?

Start by subtracting what you had to pay the new guys from the original quote, then pay the remainder. Then you get what you were originally quoted at the original price. Ideally also subtract a small percentage for damages.

johnd’s methodology makes sense. However, I think the £400 is reasonable

So he’s billed 3 days work at £400 total?

I don’t know why plumer who works for £130 a day, so it sounds like he’s already discounted a fair whack.

I’d probably just pay the £400 as removal of old suit and disposal would be that much.

Personally I'd use the £400 to replace the damaged items. You're surely not expected to just live with scratches and dents?

Thanks for all the replies!

@johnd2 That's a very practical approach, I'll discuss that with the hubs.

@furano He left his apprentices to do the work (which we knew nothing about when we booked him for the job). When we raised the first couple of potential issues we were told it was all fine, and I didn't want to be that fussy customer, so the bath went in, and tiles started going up.. Then it became clear it all had to be ripped out again.

Humpty, that's exactly my issue. Work was done, and materials and disposal costs incurred, so I want to be fair - but we're left with damaged goods (which weren't cheap!) It was all totally avoidable if a tiny bit more care had been taken earlier on. The shower was scratched from sliding it up and down the sand and cement wall to see what height to fix the pipes - not sure what's wrong with a tape measure!

Basically, I want to be fair, but don't want to be a mug..

I would tell him you will pay him the £400 minus whatever it costs you to have the damaged goods repaired/replaced.
I suspect that will be £0.00!