Dispute with a builder - how did you get your money back?

[jamidays]

Sadly we are in a dispute with our builders. We paid more than we got covered in scope and when we realised their progress in painfully slow, and they are constantly doing mistakes they need to rectify, we decided to terminate the works.

We feel really stupid that we paid so much in advance, but some of this was as an advance payment to order some expensive special surface material on our behalf. We didn't want to leave them out of pocket.

The surface material arrived defective, and two pieces don't match. They refuse to take it up with the supplier, claiming it's a natural material and what ever comes comes.

We don't accept that as there is a certain degree of quality assurance and standards that was completely missing form the process (both on the the supplier side and the buyer, our builders in this car, which were absent at the time of delivery and did not check what has arrived).

More so, they ordered the material as two separate orders so the supplier was never going to know that the material is for the same project therefore, not able to ensure a match.

We exchanged a few emails (they refused to pick up the phone, despite us preferring to have a proper conversation). We still disagree and they refuse to give us a refund for all the unfinished work.

We now have new quotes to finish the job, and it's basically mean we will lose a lot of money.

We decided to claim via the legal system but which one you recommend? There is a cheaper, faster route which is Arbitration, or shall we go straight to small claims court?

Anyone had any experience with this and have any good tips on how to go about it? Would you recommend to engage lawyer? Our claim is for 5-6K (we need to evaluate the inconvenience part of the claim and cost for further delays, which are now holding other works from progressing)

Any tips or legal advice you can share?

We went for small claims court but ours is less -£3.5k. It’s still rolling on and the company refuses to acknowledge the whole thing, despite it being at CCJ stage

@WhatKatyDidNxt what happened with the small claims court? Could they not reach a decision? Do you talk to a lawyer at any stage? How long is this going on for? @WhatKatyDidNxt what @WhatKatyDidNxt what happened with small claims court?

Sorry for the muddled reply!! it's an annoying phone app thing (MNHQ please fix this!)
The text disappears so I couldn't edit or see what is actually being posted.. But I think you got the message..

I took my plumber and electrician to small claims, I won. Didn't see any if the money though

@Catnuzzle how come?

Always try arbitration first. If you go in straight to courts they don’t think you’ve made sufficient effort to resolve.
There will probably be a settlement through arbitration although not what either side thinks is fair. If not then small claims is pretty straight forward and completed online. You don’t need a solicitor necessarily. If you get an award for dames then you then have to trigger the next steps to get the money back but it’s a long drawn out ball ache of a process and courts are way backed up due to COVID.
If they still don’t pay up you have to send in bailiffs and that’s assuming they haven’t gone bankrupt etc.
Might be worth a letter offering arbitration. When they ignore it send a letter before action and then file the claim. Everything recorded delivery.

Oh and double check your contract as to process to be followed!

@Loofah01 thanks Loofah. That's helpful. How do I find an arbitrator? I guess they need to specialised in construction?

Is the contract based on a template from a particular building contractor or RIBA perhaps? That would be a good start point followed by citizens advice

We had no joy in getting any money back with a very lengthy process, but did raise it with Trading Standards.

@Loofah01 no building contract signed as such but we have exchanged emails with the scope of work, money and breakdown per scope item and a programme. So we are in contract but no T&Cs..

In honesty from what you have described I think you’ll struggle to get the cash back. Talk to the bank about money paid in advance and ask if they can get it back. Write the rest off and move on. Building works are a pain in the arse for many reasons and bad builder are one of them!