Contractor not completed work / invoice payment question

I posted on this some time ago – we had a kitchen installed and several months after they left site (without completing the snagging list I had supplied them) they still hadn’t invoiced for the last 25% the work. Well they had but I had rejected it saying they hadn’t completed the work.

Anyway, last month they got in touch again chasing for the invoice payment and I reminded them (by copying them back in on the several emails we had at the beginning of the year) that they hadn’t completed the work and this was despite my trying as hard as I could to get them on site (giving them various options of daytime/evening/weekends when they could get access). Eventually they agreed that work still needed doing and stopped chasing on the payment and said they would ‘come back next week’. That was four weeks ago and I haven’t heard a word from them again!

How long can this go on for? Is there a point where I can say ‘forget it, you’re not coming back in my house and you’re not getting another penny from me’?

Right now pretty much!
You have given them numerous opportunities to rectify their work as per the contract.
They haven’t done so.
In court they “might” win.
They might not.
I doubt they would because of the above and you can prove it.
This is the chicken dinner on your side – you have copies of all correspondence, etc and their failure to respond in a “reasonable time frame”.

One last email/letter stating a definitive period for rectification prior to either court or another contractor to finish/rectify at their cost to be taken from the balance owed under the contract.

Seek legal advice. CAB?

In lieu of that, I’d set a (reasonable) date and tell them exactly that. They have had sufficient time and opportunity to make good; if the work isn’t completed by the end of the month, you will consider their contract completed and paid in full and will employ a third party to complete the work.

In my experience of both taking contractors to court and being taken to court by a contractor – having kept detailed correspondence, etc cost them dearly.
Only once were we forced to pay out – that was only for a percentage of the balance though as we could prove everything else we had had to do because of their failure to complete works apart from one site day we’d missed.

Still no word from them.

But I don’t want to chase for fear of stirring up the nest then having to pay them the £3k I am growing fond of and would like to redistribute as a log burner for winter…

Sitting at home waiting isn’t going to move the situation along.

Write to them (not email), saying they need to be at your home to agree the work that needs to be done or you will get another firm in, within a set timeframe (2 weeks?)

If they come and agree to the work, then the clock starts again.

If they don’t you move on.

^Is what I expected to hear but didn’t want to 🙂

I feel your pain. My builder, on an agreef fixed price contract with documented and costed variations was suggesting that I pay some more money. He couldn’t actually explain why other than waving his arms around a bit. I was reasonable about it and said if you document the ask we’ll consider it. He never did but did provide a list of invoices he had paid, which was nice but nothing to do with me. Anyhow we have a retention payment due next month, we provided a physical letter and email of the snagging list which we asked to be fixed within 6 weeks, nothing happened. he did try and run me over on my bike last week though so my spidey sense thinks he isn’t overly happy ! Anyhow, I’ve given up, the snagging was all done and he’s not getting his payment and I am now about to issue a request for repayment having analysed the contract and what was done – he owes us money. This is going to be fun.
Basically all because he didn’t manage his own job.

At this point I’d no longer be trying to arrange for them to do the work – just tell them that you got someone else in and consider the matter closed.

British contractors? Probably can’t be bothered to do the rest of the work.

Get some Polish guys in. They actually want to do the work, will do it quick and do a good job. Be prepared though to be asked to pay cash 😉

The other really crazy thing is that the builder that the kitchen fitting firm subbied to do lots of the work (we had an internal wall removed etc so a bit more complex than a standard kitchen install) did a whole load more work for us directly whilst on site (re-plumbing a cloakroom, moving a water meter, creating two larger openings for windows, supplying and fitting new skirting etc.

I asked and asked for quotes and never got any and here we are (8 months as per the concurrent kitchen fitting) later and no invoice either.

I wonder how these people stay in business.

How does the cost of the snagging compare to the 3K? If you’re very much in pocket after getting it sorted by someone else, you still have to pay for what they actually did, as opposed to keeping the lot. The inconvenience of sorting another contractor doesn’t wipe that out completely.

Ie if the remedials cost 1K, you still theoretically owe them 2K.

That’s provided they actually chase you for it, of course.

Just don’t spend it yet!

@martin – good question and I reckon your figures are about what it would amount to. A few of days labour + one drawer unit that doesn’t fit correctly (which cost around £250 online).

I wonder how these people stay in business.

Indeed, I know a lot of Builders and frankly some of them are completely hopeless when it comes to the business side of things. When I did my house, I said I wanted to approve a price before any extra works were carried out. Despite continually reminding him of this, the costs never appeared, so at the end of the job he appeared with a pile of invoices saying I owed him £10k.

I said I wasn’t interested in the invoices, but suggested we sat down and went through each additional aspect and examine the time/materials spent so we could confirm a reasonable estimate of the actual costs. I paid him £5k in the end which he was happy with.