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Original poster

Builder potentially not coming back to finish the work and have paid upfront - is there anything you can do in the situation?

44 replies

Biosblbay · 14/02/2026 07:59

I could be wrong here but we haven’t heard from our builder in a while, we chased him up yesterday morning via WhatsApp and haven’t heard back from him and he has been online since, and my husband has messaged him again just now so fingers crossed we do get a response. No work has been done since Tuesday 3rd February due to rain (as it’s our garden being completely re done) and then he come down with the flu so has been off sick. This is all fine and understandable but just worried that we are being ignored on purpose. He even said he was going to come last Saturday (7th) to catch up but never turned up and didn’t message us to let us know. We have paid £8k upfront for the work to be done and we have even said to him we have a lot more work for him upcoming as there is a lot to do in our house, including our front garden, new fences, new bathroom and potentially a new kitchen so there is more money here for him. This job started on Wednesday 28th January and was told the job would be done in 10 days so it has already longer than expected and is only half done.

If we have been messed about and he has no intention of coming back, what do we do? Is there anything we can do? Thanks in advance

OP posts:
AllJoyAndNoFun · 14/02/2026 08:13

Don’t message- call. The squeaky wheel gets the oil.

Lindy2 · 14/02/2026 08:44

That's a lot of money to have paid upfront. Did you pay for the full job in advance? You probably already know it but that wasn't very wise.

Phone him - but not at the weekend. Call on a weekday morning. If he doesn't answer use a different phone to call him. He might be screening your phone number.

Is he a member of check a trade or trust a trader etc? You can message through there or leave a review saying that he won't reply to you and hasn't completed the work. That would be publically damaging to his business so he'd want that resolved.

parkezvous · 14/02/2026 09:04

Phone him Monday. If no response all day I’d be knocking on his door. Do you have his address?

catipuss · 14/02/2026 09:08

In the end it's small claims court, if you get no luck talking to him send him a letter outlining your complaints and say if you don't hear back within x days you will be taking it to the small claims court.

MotherOfCrocodiles · 14/02/2026 09:12

that is extremely annoying but I wouldn’t assume he isn’t coming back. I am working on my own garden at the moment and has reached the point I simply cannot do anything if it is raining because the ground is mud soup.

the pack of response is poor but not unusual for builders unfortunately. I agree with those that say ring him. I don’t like ringing people to complain so DH does it. Seems fair enough to me as I do most of the other legwork on home stuff.

Bulldog01 · 14/02/2026 09:35

Maybe January/February is not the best time to have work carried out in the Garden!

Sadcafe · 14/02/2026 09:40

Dont pay upfront for any sort of building work, agreeing an amount for materials/ initial labour is one thing, paying the lot just seems to be asking for trouble. That said, working in a garden in the current weather conditions isn’t really going to happen

Marinel · 14/02/2026 09:45

I wouldn't assume he's not coming back.

My gardener was ill for most of January and said he'd get in touch, and eventually did a week later than he said. The delay was partly because he was still ill, and partly because the weather was so bad he couldn't do any work anyway. He is going to do a landscaping job for us but said he can't start until the ground has dried out a bit - as another poster said, it's like mud soup.

I would never pay the whole job up front. Some trades ask for 50% up front/ staged payments, but some don't ask for payment till it's finished.

Original poster
Biosblbay · 14/02/2026 10:12

@Lindy2 we paid upfront because he said he had to pay his other two workers. I found him on bark, had good reviews and that’s as much digging as I done. I will look into it further. He did reply this morning saying he felt much better, my husband asked when he would be back but he has read and ignored that

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Original poster
Biosblbay · 14/02/2026 10:14

@parkezvous we don’t know his exact address but know the area he lives but I think we could maybe find this on companies house if he has used his house address as his registered address maybe.

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Original poster
Biosblbay · 14/02/2026 10:15

@catipuss thank you, I think we will give him until Sunday evening to get back to us with an update on what’s going on. He did end up replying back this morning to my husbands message saying he feels a lot better now but he still ignored when my husband asked when he would be coming back

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MistressRoydon · 14/02/2026 10:16

he may have several jobs banked up due to his sickness - I would call too, but given the weather he may need to delay it to get the best result for you. How was he when he was working? Did you have confidence in him? Has the work to date been of good standard?

Original poster
Biosblbay · 14/02/2026 10:32

@Marinel I hope this is the case! The majority of the paving has already been laid, there’s still some to do, then the grouting and then the artificial grass and a picket fence. Once this has been done we was going to get him to quote for the next jobs.

I just hope he is genuine and won’t put us in a horrible situation. I wish he would have told us to wait until the weather picked up, but now we know to never give the full amount upfront until the job has finished, he just told us he had to be paid to pay his workers

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Original poster
Biosblbay · 14/02/2026 10:35

@MistressRoydon he told us he didn’t have much work and his next job wasn’t until March. The work so far is good, we are pleased with it. We had lots of confidence in him, good reviews on Bark, his work looked amazing, he is a family man with 5 young children and we have 2 young kids ourselves so that made us feel like he wouldn’t let us down.

one thing I should have mentioned, there are a few tools left here and a skip, but it’s only a few shovels and a cement mixer, not sure if these are cheap enough to replace if he has decided not to come back.

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LottieMary · 14/02/2026 11:02

Biosblbay · 14/02/2026 10:15

@catipuss thank you, I think we will give him until Sunday evening to get back to us with an update on what’s going on. He did end up replying back this morning to my husbands message saying he feels a lot better now but he still ignored when my husband asked when he would be coming back

I’d give him until Tuesday - why assume that he’s on call all weekend?

Original poster
Biosblbay · 14/02/2026 13:21

@LottieMary very true. Maybe Wednesday at the latest and then we will call him and take it from there

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MatronPomfrey · 14/02/2026 15:09

I would expect better communication. If he’s ill or weather means the work can’t be done that fine, but keep your customer up to date. Paying his staff isn’t your issue, never pay full amount in advance. It would be small claims court if he doesn’t return.

Aethelred · 14/02/2026 15:11

If you send a message saying that you understand that he has been ill and unable to work but you just wanted a quick update on the plan so you can work around it. Say you know he can't work if he is ill but it would help, now he was feeling better, if he could let you know when he was likely to be well enough to start work again etcetera.

Shamsie24 · 14/02/2026 15:18

Paid a couple of hundred pounds for the kitchen back door to be replaced before the work was done - builder said he needed the cash to buy materials. He ripped the back door off, smashed the surround and then left. Slept on the kitchen floor for two nights as had small children in the house and no physical barrier to the outside other than a tarpaulin. DH was working away. Original builder turned up two weeks later by which time we'd employed another person to put the frame and door back on - he took us to Court and we lost as the Judge ruled that giving him money implied a 'contract' - still don't understand the judgement. That was in England, judicial system different in Scotland.

catownerofthenorth · 14/02/2026 15:18

Good builders do not have no work between January and March. You never pay all up front for work like that. I suspect it will get done but it will be slow. He will want the tools. Are they in a secure area? If not move (obvs not the skip) to one. Otherwise there’s a risk he will come back and take them or somebody will nick them. Neither situation will help with your works.

Shamsie24 · 14/02/2026 15:21

Stuff that - he's had £8k of your money - threaten to put him and his business all over the internet, alert the local Press and the Trading Standards Office. His problems are not your problems.

Shamsie24 · 14/02/2026 15:23

Take legal advice first before you go down that route - see my previous post where a Judge ruled that paying money indicated a contract had been entered into. The fact that the builder hasn't honoured his side of the contract was deemed irrelevant. If you can't afford legal advice, at least consult the CAB.

Original poster
Biosblbay · 14/02/2026 19:12

OP HERE AND UPDATE* After a LOT of research he is a cowboy builder from Mersea. He has done this to multiple people. I have spoken to a lady on Facebook who was conned of £20k, started in June 2025, lots of excuses and never went back. She is left with a half built extension. She is trying to get her money back but she doesn’t think she will despite the evidence she has.

if anyone has any ideas on what we can do please send them my way!! I don’t even know where to start. Now it makes sense why you cannot find him on companies house.

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Followthesunshine · 14/02/2026 19:19

Sorry that's awful but you are never getting that money back - a very expensive lesson

SheIsMyMother · 14/02/2026 19:22

Biosblbay · 14/02/2026 10:12

@Lindy2 we paid upfront because he said he had to pay his other two workers. I found him on bark, had good reviews and that’s as much digging as I done. I will look into it further. He did reply this morning saying he felt much better, my husband asked when he would be back but he has read and ignored that

That’s his problem. Never EVER pay it all upfront. Honestly.