We paid builders £2.3k to ruin our wall, we asked for some back and now they're asking for more. Any companies that can help us please??

[xkr]

Hi, we were quoted £10k for scaffolding, paint removal and 1 coat of primer/2 coats of paint to our house. We paid the first staged payment of £2.3k up front, they scaffolded one side of the house and spent two half days with a machine that has a '0% damage guarantee' but it ruined the wall and lots of render came off - it looked like a child had scribbled over it. When we asked them if they could fix the wall before proceeding, the builder got aggressive and started making threats that unless we paid an additional £2k by the end of the day, the job could overrun by months, and would cost more money - at this point we decided not to go ahead. I asked (very politely!) if they could either repair the wall, or give us some of the £2.3k back towards repairing it and got a firm no.

We then wrote a letter saying that we believed it was reasonable to pay £700 for one side of the house to be scaffolded, and £500 for two half days of machine cleaning, asking for a refund of £1,100 (and still leaving us out of pocket and with the damaged wall) - they responded with a letter saying that upon reviewing their timesheets and transport details, we now owe them an additional £660 to deliver and collect the scaffolding.

What are our best options going forward please? I'm tempted to try the small claims route, but also wondering if there are any companies we should consider contacting to represent us and put the case forward? At this stage I'd much rather increase our chances of getting something back, rather than getting the full amount. I'm also wondering if we should go for the full £2,300 rather than just the £1,100 we put in the letter.

Thank you

You need a solicitor.

Check your house insurance policy. It usually covers a minimum amount for legal services for problems of this kind. Good luck.

Why did you interrupt them while they were still preparing the wall to be painted? They would have most likely repaired the rendering before starting anyway.
Also to note, if render starts falling off, you need it re-rendered, not painted.

Thank you :)

Yep, the only way of repairing the wall to the standard it was before is an entire re-render, so I'm glad we interrupted them and saved the other three walls.

Thank you, this is a great shout! I'll check our policy now

Why did they need scaffolding? I had my house repainted for something like £800, no scaffolding needed. Though I didn’t have the previous paint removed - what was the reason you needed to do that first?

Wow! That is a very good price, we paid more than that just for the paint 🙈 The reason for paint removal is that it was bubbling, peeling etc, and the house survey said it had to be removed. I was suspicious but my partner is autistic and was keen to get it removed. Multiple decorators afterwards came to quote after the damage was done and said actually the other 3 walls are absolutely perfect just needed to be sanded down and primed/painted :(

@xkr it sounds like you’ve been unlucky with the advice you got :( Your house must be a lot bigger than mine if the paint alone cost you that much. Mine is just a terraced house so only two two-storey walls to do. Still the price you paid sounds crazily high to me unless you live in a castle!

They used a machine (what was it?) but still the render came off?
It sounds to me like the render was knackered already, and that’s what they will say if it ever goes to court.
How old is the house? Care to post a picture of a wall or two?

Thanks, yep definitely some bad advice unfortunately :( But I also have no idea why they didn't stop when the render started coming off

The house was completely renovated around 8 years ago (extended etc, and completely new render) - here's a photo of the back of the house, the render is absolutely perfect on all 3 walls (and was perfect on the other wall before they damaged it)

Sorry, the image didn't attach first time and it won't let me add it when I edit the post

What about a picture of the damaged wall? To get paint off smooth render it only needs a light circular wire brush ran over it, and that wouldn’t knock off any render.
The idea is to only remove lose paint, leave the well adhered paint alone.

Thanks, yes we know that now with hindsight, I'm also guessing the building company who damaged the wall also knew it was unnecessary to remove the paint but didn't tell us. Afterwards the wall looked like this, the marks are on average 1-2cm deep, but some are deeper and they managed to damage the plastic on the edge too (beading?). In the end we paid a decorating company to fill it, stabilise it and paint it - it doesn't look perfect but hopefully the filler won't blow

Looks like they used a scabbler or some high pressure washer/media at too close range.
That’s only damaged some of the top layer, not knocked off the render. Just fill with quality exterior filler and then paint.
But seems you are drip feeding us. The wall is already repaired and painted? And didn’t need to be completely re-rendered like you said previously?

Go to small claims if you want to pursue them or tell
Them to go to small claims for you. You shouldn't need a lawyer for something as small as this

Go to the small claims for sure. You are in the right & trading standards would back you/be shocked at the state of this work! I took a rogue plumber to the small claims court, the process was fairly simple, uploaded all the evidence etc. Sadly I never received any money back, he moved out of the area to avoid the bailiffs catching up with him, but I am pleased I did as he now has a CCJ against his name which I know is screwing up his ability to get any loans etc, and move on with his scam plumbing 'business' life. For me, that's good enough!

And a building surveyor as a solicitor won’t have a clue about costs or the nature and reason for the buildings damage.
The surveyor will be in a professional position to advice on both.

Thanks, apologies I didn’t mean to drip feed, just didn’t want to overload on info. We did go the route you suggested of having it filled, sealed & painted but 4 of the 6 decorators we contacted straight up refused to work on the wall until it was re-rendered, and the 2 that would were very clear that it wouldn’t look great, and it doesn’t

I’m not sure which tools they used, but a few of the decorators suggested that they did use something beyond just the 0% damage guaranteed steam cleaner that they claimed to have done.

Thank you! I’m happy to try the small claims court, just wanted to maximise our chances. These people also are difficult to deal with and aggressive/intimidating so I figured any barriers we can put in place would be welcome too :)

Thanks so much for this, sorry to hear about the rogue plumber and that you didn’t get any money back, but I can appreciate the moral victory for sure! Mind if I ask did you have to pay the small claims court fees yourself?

Thank you! That’s a good point. They can help us compile everything we need hopefully. Will contact the building surveyor we used at the start and see if she can help

We did pay court fees but as it was all done online I think it was under £100 total, plus that was added to his bill. At that point he'd blocked me & packed up from his rented room to do the disappearing act. I think if I wanted to I could've hunted down his new address to send bailiffs onto but came up with a dead end on that one sadly, and didn't want to spend more money on a company to investigate into it. But yeah, karma for sure!

Pay the fuckers and be done with it. They know where you live and there's nothing stopping them returning and doing more damage to your property. I've heard of so many stories where people's windows have been done in/outside walls knocked over, etc. because of a fallout they've had with their tradesperson. £660 is nothing in the grand scheme of things.