Options for unfinished extension

[Summersun91]

Looking for some advice on what to do about an unfinished extension.

Build started in August 2024 and was supposed to take 3/4 months. It is still not completed, although mainly snagging remaining. We’ve had almost daily struggles over the last year to get the builders to turn up, and now they’ve stopped coming round to finish the job. As much of the remaining work is fixing poor workmanship (eg leaking roof, smelly drains, leaking gutters), the amount we owe is lower than the cost of fixing it. We have had a quote from another builder for the remaining work and we would be around £3/4k out of pocket.

We have sent a letter to the building company asking if they want to engage in ADR and to reply within 7 days and they have acknowledged the email but not responded.

So my question is what is our best option to proceed?

1. Pay another builder and take existing builder to small claims court
2. Instruct a solicitor. We would only do this if we would stand a good chance of getting compensation for stress, inconvenience and loss of enjoyment as well as costs. What are our chances of being able to claim for this?

Additional information - we have a contract of works but it doesn’t mention timeline. But we do have a later written guarantee they would complete the works by July 2025.

I gave birth 7 weeks ago, so had the stress of a potentially unfinished building (it is not liveable), and I was painting/sanding/ decorating etc right up until my due date.

The stress contributed to my husbands mental health problems to the extent he is now in therapy and on medication.

Many thanks for any advice/suggestions.

woud trading standards help you.https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/get-more-help/report-to-trading-standards/

I do think it's worth weighing up though how much you want to move on from this in terms of your and your husband's health. Can you write it off and afford to pay to get it finished by someone else.

It sounds like the builder is in a bit of trouble financially so your chances of getting much back is not great. Get it finished by another builder and then claim the extra expenses in small claims court and hope they can pay.

Thanks for your replies, these both seem to be the most sensible ways forward.

We have also contacted a solicitor just to understand their fees and opinion.

Just to update as well the building company did reply to us, saying in they were going to counter sue us for c£20-£30k for ground works which cost more than their original budgeting but they didn’t pass on the costs to us. I assume since they never asked us for money at the time this is not something they can retrospectively do now and they are just making up accusations!