I’ll be rocording it as usual and make sure there’s a 3rd party, they don’t like it when there’s a 3rd party, I’ve had my step father present before and they told him to eff off.

I’ll be interested to see what they put in this contract, might put them deeper in the s**t.

With the roof, we have to give them the opportunity to resolve any issues as it wouild look bad in court if we refused them access, but I was not happy about having them look at it, I expected the outcome to be honest. Part of the roof goes around a chimney on the side of the building, it’s this area that’s leaking.

No idea if they are a trade member, I seriously doubt it and don’t think they’d tell me if they were.

We have asked him for an itemised account of work done and materials, he gave me a hand written list of costs for some work, a total for something and said he had another amount for receipts, that’s all, not a proper breakdown, he listed a small step and corner section of concrete as £1000 whicj I thought was excessive.

Another problem is that we had a leak in the roof, I contacted him about this and he said he would get the roofers to look, they turned up on Friday along with him and his brother, the roofers were there about 10 mins before them and they were up on the roof looking at it, then the builder went up on the roof, eventually they came down and said it’s nothing to do with them and blamed my existing roof, today it’s been raining and the leak is worse than before, it wouldn’t surprise me if he went up there had a word with them and interfered with it to make it worse, My surveyor has said it wasn’t leaking before the work so it’s down to them, but I know I’ll get nowhere with them, if he was any kind of decent professional he’s have wanted to sort it out to keep his customer happy.

We feel the best thing to do is just tell them to eff off and don’t come back and get a proper builder in to finish it off, and rather spend money with someone else and we just don’t want someone like that on our property or in our house. If they feel we oew them money they can take us to court but I’ll have a pretty good reason to defend it.

Sunday morning and the brother is supposed to come around this morning expecting me to sign a contract, not signing it, no way! But my partner seems to think that we can explain the situation to him better, but I don’t think they’ll listen, they don’t seem to understand that we’re not happy with the way the cost has gone up, his unprofessional demands behaviour and threats, he doesn’t reply to our letter or requests, won’t put anything in writing, won’t negotiate or discuss things in a civil manner. We might be able to talk to the brother but if they both turn up it’s just going to be more aggression, threats and demands, so that’s when I’ll be dailing 999.

He’s only built the structure, brick and block, no electric, plumbing, plastering or finishing and he’s asking approx. £950 sq/m, but this wasn’t this figure on the original quote, this was approx. £480 sq/m, which I now know to be grossly underpriced, I totally relied upon his quote and judement on prices, I had no idea, I’m not a builder so thought he knew what he was doing? Maybe that’s how he gets work, underquote then keep adding extras and wallop you get a massive bill at the end? We did agree on a new cost, this is the problem as he has put that new cost up again by £5000

I’ve already paid for all the materials, they’ve had a large chunk of my money already, at no point did he say about extra costs as he was doing the work or keep me informed, I didn’t agree to their final cost which they informed me of at about 7pm on a Friday when they were suppose to finish the job, then proceeded to shout, swear, threaten and demand payment there and then, they are providing me with no paperwork or receipts, failing to co-operate or answer simple questions. Threatening to pull down my building, getting in my face, acting aggressively, swearing and shouting at me and my family, demanding the full payment before the work is complete … is hardly the way a decent honest professional trader operates, is it?

I’ve just got back from being out for a while, nice to meet and talk to normal people without feeling stressed or threatened although I can’t stop feeling anxious.

I’ve been recording our conversations since it all kicked off about a month ago, I’ve got a solicitor and he helped me to put together the first letter and I’ve just had a Quantity Surveyor do a site visit to write up a report. I informed the builder of all this, I think that’s why they decided to get heavy and get the brother involved. I did state in the letter that I wanted in writing what was need to complete, total cost and that we would have to agree on this before proceeding and that I would require it to be fully signed off and all guarantees, but they don’t seem to have understood this, I tried to explain this to him a few days ago and he basically said ‘f*** the letter, it doesn’t mean anything’, so I’m kind of banging my head against a brick wall here trying to deal with him.

I’ve tried to negotiate with him to meet in the middle, but he won’t have it, accordingly to the quick summary email I had from the QS he should have made a profit on what he has done and money he has had so far, so either he’s being stitched up on 3rd party work or he’s not getting trade rates for materials? As in my previous threads/posts I can only assume he’s grossly underestimated the work, we’ve already agreed a higher price but he’s upped that again and I don’t feel that this is my problem, if we had known the final cost we wouldn’t have had the work done and he’s admitted thst he ‘doesn’t know what the cost will be until it’s finished’ which just suggests he doesn’t really have a clue, and so he makes my and my partners life a misery.

Thanks for the support, I really need it at the moment.

We had a quote for a 9×3 building, the quote was good so we spoke about increrasing it by about a third to 11×3, he gave a verbal quote that we were happy with, we expected it to increase by about a 3rd on the original qoute but it has more than doubled. Problem is he was recommended by my neighbour, his mother, so we stupidly thought he would be ok.

We sent him a long letter about disputing the final costs as half way through we agreed a figure and that has now increased, we also asked for various other things such as breakdown of costs etc and we’ve just had a hand written piece of paper with some costs on it, not detailed or responding to our dispute over costs.

We have tried to negotiate with him but he won’t he just insists on having his money, he told us to sell the car, mortgage the house, get my money!

Again, thanks for some support, more please, feels like I’m getting more help and advice here than with the authorities, I need to start to feel positive and that I’m doing the right thing, I’m going out to walk the dog for a few hours as it’s driving me crazy sitting stewing on it.

IME the problem with psychos is they’re very, very manipulative. A lot of people understand very little about how they operate and fall for it without any idea what’s going on…

Yeah, I wonder what he’s telling people, and his mother, exactly what is going on? I doubt he’s told her about the money I’ve already paid, the 4 page letter he’s received and not responded to, the threats he’s made and that he wants to charge me £1000 for something that would take about 2 hours of labour. I just wonder how many little old ladies he’s been doing this to too … he’s got to be stopped!

I was wondering that too? I did think of knocking on the neighbours doors to say hello but they might think you’re a bit odd or they would probably be civil to a stranger knocking on their door anyway, and if you ask the sellers they might be trying to get away from the neighbours so will tell you it’s all ok. You could hang around to see and hear what goes on but then people might get suspecious of you and think you’re checking the street out for other reasons. I would hope that if you move to a better area your neighbours should be better? … any other suggestions?

Wow, some nightmare stories here, guess I’ve been lucky so far, but some recent events as in my other thread has got us thinking … neighbour recommends son to do some work for us, son turns out to be a pyscho con man, neighbours who have been great for 7 years and even told us they hope we never move and how happy they are having us next door, suddenly turn on us too with verbal and personal insults. It’s just bizarre, the son is trying to con us out of 1000’s and I think the neighbours support what he’s doing!

My partner moved in at the beginning of the year and she hates it here, she would have prefered for both of us to start somewhere new so now when all this hassle is over we going to put our property up for sale and move somewhere better. In a strange way we feel that all this hassle has just helped us to decide to move sooner than later, we don’t feel it’s giving in just making life better for ourselves, like many have said life’s too short to be stuck with grief, I’m just glad we have the means to get away from it. It’s just going to be a bit messy getting there.

If I’d have known what this was going to lead too they’d all be under my path 😆

Already been onto CAB and Trading Standards are investigating, his behaviour has already been noted with the police, local solicitor being very helpful, got 2 quotes from local builders and got a Quantity Surveyor coming soon, problem is legally we need to give him a chance to put things right or respond to letters, another problem is the roof leaks so I’ve had to contact him about that, the roof was done by a contractor and I’m trying to make sure only they deal with it but he’s not being very cooperative. I’m slowly making sure I’ve got my case together. I just wonder what planet he’s on, does he think I would never query anything, I wonder if his mother knows what he’s like or what he’s doing!?

Oh I have to laugh!

Well done if you’re still looking at this thread, but I’ve got a ‘breakdown of work’ from the builder, makes interesting reading, no receipts or detailed breakdown he’s just scribbled figures onto a single piece of paper, but get this … for a 6×6 ft L shaped bit of concrete path around one end of the building, and bear in mind this is materials I’d already paid for and it was left over from doing the slab floor, plus a small step using bricks I’ve already paid for and 2 of my paving slabs that were in the garden he wants to charge me £1000 … probably an hour or so’s work 😆 I have the most expensive step in the world!

Neighbours eh! 😈

Anyway, saw in the newspaper today that some animals have been poisoned on some estate somewhere, a few cats and 2 dogs have died as a result, police are asking for any info and making enquiries, but at the end of the article it did say that poisoning of animals and pets can constitute a criminal offence with six months imprisonment and/or a fine of £20,000 … might want to mention this to the neighbour

Not sure about the friendship now, can’t believe she recommended him to be honest, surely she knew what he was like? No trouble with the neighbours ever but even she and her partner joined in on the personal insults and swearing, guess she’s sticking up for her son but to be honest if any of my family spoke to someone like the builder did to me and my parents who are in their late 70’s I’d have slapped them around the face in shame, just think they showed their true colours and when they ran out of argument just resorted to swearing shouting and insults. Yes, it’s a really rubbish thing to going through, I just can’t believe the way things have turned out, it’s taken over our lives at the moment 🙁 we feel numb, and unable to get on with our lives or anything, even lost my biking mojo!

wwaswas, that’s one thing we were thinking of doing anyway, even more so if we get no receipts and guarantees and I think Trading Standards will be interested to hear this too, they’ve already opened a case on the subject and the way he’s been dealing with us, there’s just no reasoning with the man, luckily I have conversations recorded including the threat to pull it down, him admitting he knew we had a budget but that doesn’t matter to him, and all the swearing and personal insults. It’s just crazy, he shouldn’t be allowed to trade, I can’t imagine he would treat other customers differently, he keeps going on about not ripping me off and he’s never had this sort of thing before! Really?? 😯

spacemonkey, I think you’re right on both accounts, he even had the audacity to say it would cost more if he was doing it properly, ie receipts, and he would have to add 20% vat on top, it’s almost becoming a joke, especially when he said he had ‘a millionaire friend who would pay for a top solicitor’ 😀

Well, for anyone still interested, nothings’s been resolved yet, we’ve asked him for a breakdown of costs, receipts for materials and 3rd party work, receipts for money, list and costs to finish, proposed final cost and guarantees for all work, not sure he understands what we want, it was all listed out in a letter so not sure what we’ll get back from him. He came around and still insists on his cost, I’ve had others builders look and they say it should be finished to a ready to decorate finish for that price, not an empty shell, also spoke to a QS who seemed surprised it’s an empty shell based on the size and cost – he was asking if the electrics and plumbing had been done yet. Nightmare goes on …. 😐

Mine doesn’t include any electrics or plumbing, 2 double glazed windows and a single door is included, he’s had to build a soak away for the roof guttering.

It’s a difficult one, I’m willing to negotiate final cost as sometimes I think it’s too much especially when I look at the link provided by Kona TC up there ^^ where it cost about £28k for a 8x30ft extension including new kithen, electric, plumbing, plastering, flooring, windows and doors, but that’s in a different area, and sometimes I think it’s resonable. Just wait to see how he reponds to my letter and then consider getting an independent specialist if not satisfactory.

sleepless, it’s a 3 layer mineral flat roof, supposed to be finishing it off with 2 layers of insulation with an air gap as per regs, but I’m wondering if he’s now going to say that’s extra

spacemonkey, I’m on the south coast, Brighton/Eastbourne way

wwaswas, that’s what I’m doing at the moment, work has stopped and I’ve informed him I’m sending some paperwork for him to respond to where I’m just outlining my concerns, what he intends to do to finish it, the final cost and terms for final payment, I’m getting a solicitor just to check the letter to make sure it’s ok and get some further advice, would just be good to know the work/cost is fair.

Ok, so maybe I didn’t spec what thickness of cellotex to use, or when to put it in, but he said this is what I’ll do, and this is when I’ll do it, and by this week we’ll be at this stage, I thought he would know these things and at no point did he say I can’t do this without this drawing or this spec or this schedule, yes in hindsight things could have been better, he has done a good job, been very bad with communication and letting us know how things are progressing, if he had said at the start it will cost this now we would have revised things to come within budget. I’m prepared to pay a fair price but I don’t think shouting, swearing, threatening to pull it down and agressive behaviour has endeared me to deal with him in a normal manner.

Hi ajc, the builder knew I would be applying for a building notice and adhering to local building regulations, I even sent the details and drawings to the planning office to make sure it was all ok, we needed to have the building notice in place and first inspections arranged before he could start work. A surveyor, that could be helpful.

footflaps and muffin-man, our thoughts exactly, we think he’s not quoted properly in the first place and is out of pocket so bumping up the price all the time, he’s suddenly adding on every little thing. He had plans which I drew up myself, I’m used to drawing up stuff on Autocad/2D Design myself, which showed the layout and elevations with dimensions but he claims never to have had them, so I’m trying to find out if the building inspector has ever discussed the plans with him.

His original quote was near to £15k and I budgeted £18-£20k expecting some increases, then it went up to £25k, then he said £30k to finish it, this led to a big argument outside the house, it was like an episode of Eastenders but after the watershed with lots of swearing and shouting (not by me by the way), I did record this and it’s quite shocking. Hense the reason for seeing a solicitor tomorrow with all the facts to see what we can do.

Thanks everyone.

The builder has started, nearly finished, but everytime there’s been a problem, for eg. he had trouble cutting out some of the original concrete base where a prefab garage stood at the side, he’s moaned about the extra work, the extra time, the extra costs of getting equipment to cut it, and when the building inspector has said something needs to be like this and not what he thought, the same moaning again. We had a quote originally for something smaller which was good so thought we could go larger, he gave a rough estimate for extra costs of materials and work. Another problem is he was recommended by a neighbour, he’s their son, so we thought it would all be ok as we’ve known the neighbour for years and had no problems, so stupidly we trusted what he said.

Trying to nail him down to explain things has been difficult, he’s a very aggressive person and proven a real problem to deal with or talk to sensibly. I’m in the middle of writing to him to sort things out and getting some legal advice on where we can go and what to do now. He wants £30k, I’ve just measured it and it’s approx 10 x 35 feet, but that’s without plastering just bear block walls. He’s saying the extra costs are in meeting the building regs where he’s had to make a soak away, extra work for the air bricks, extra work and materials for the roof – all things I assumed he would have known about anyway before starting the job, we began to wonder if he knew what the building regs were? He keeps going on about the value it’s added to my property and we just say that’s got nothing to do with the cost of the work and it just ends up in an argument again.

But, it’s proving difficult to get other quotes, someone said that a local builder won’t want to go against another local builder. Speaking to someone else recently they said they’re having their kitchen extended by 3x3m and that’s costing £30k before they even have the kitchen put in. So it’s going to be difficult to know if this is fair or not?

Oh yes! Tyres, I’ve got a pile that if you laid them on top of each other I could stand in the middle and you wouldn’t see me – not quite, but I have a bit of a tyre fetish, I get tempted by sales. Over time I’ve upgraded my bikes but not sold the old stuff, it’s just gone into the spare room or loft so I’ve got good forks, wheels and frames as well as cassettes, saddles, cables, BB’s, chainsets, 25.4 bars and stems, old brackets, nuts and bolts, pile of old innertubes, lots of bits of brake and gear outer cable, even found some 7 speed cassettes, onza bar ends, old canti brakes and new pads, new brake cables, rim brake wheels, 7 and 8 speed sti levers and 4 complete bikes from the 90’s including a specialized road bike, lots all of it I’m never going to use again but I still keep it. But, I’m started to see sense now (SO has pointed out the error of my ways, and we need the space) and slowly getting it sorted out to sell.

I tried all the recent one’s I could find, maybe they only work up to the last Friday of the month or something, like I said mine worked yesterday but not today, when I added it on Friday it did say something like ‘voucher march/april’ so thought it’d be ok until the end of April.

organdonor, tried that one earlier, no joy so guess it’s been used already

That’d be great, please email me if you can otherwise I might miss it as I’ll be away from the pc until the evening, thanks.

Did I see something about poaching eggs in baked beans … DON’T … I tried this once, I thought ‘well I’ve got the beans going in the pan anyway so why not just drop the egg in there to save boiling up some water’, all I ended up with was burnt beans and a raw egg sitting in the middle of it, didn’t work.

Be interested to hear if it did work work for someone though?

Just done a couple of hours around the Friston area and back along the SDW, the chalky bits are all broken up and claggy now – Windover Hill, we had a bit of a frost yesterday that’s made it a mess, couple of days ago it was solid, so my bike and myself ended up covered in wet chalk that then turned solid and stopped my mechs working, wind seems to be changing from a north to an east wind so it should be behind you but it’s still bitter. So, warm clothes and a brush to unclog the bike at the water stops.

I was wondering the same thing today, anybody actually got anything yet?

I’ve not heard anything, Easton seemed keen to reply and let me know we’ll be covered here in the UK but that was 2 weeks ago, I also emailed about a week ago asking for any updates as they have my details but nothing, a bit annoying as I’m holding off buying some of their wheels until I know I can get the upgrade stuff for my current wheels and the new set 😐

I emailed direct to Easton USA last week to ask if the UK was covered as I have some Havocs and they said just give them my address and they would get them in the post, done this but haven’t heard if they’ve been dispatched or not yet.

Yetiman – what are those Easton Havens like in the 29er version, are they strong/stiff enough, what do you think of them (thinking of some of these myself) ?

I was told the same as ‘project’ by a heating engineer who’s into saving the planet as I live in a detached property and all my rads are on outside walls, but he said not to put it on the wall as it just acts as a heat exchange and that you need to have it just off of the wall.

Yeah, I’m never sure if it’s cos you have brought lots of stuff or nothing, I tend to not buy much for ages then have a bit of a spree, but never get any offers … well I get the private sale things a lot but I’d prefer a bit off

I’ll be selling some 2008/09 Reba Team Dual Air U-Turns 85-115mm soon, excellent condition, eveything works as it should and only looking for about £130 plus post, had these on my old 2004 Superlight, steerer approx 190mm, any good? Only problem is I’m off to France tonight and not back until the 16th March so can’t do anything until I’m back unless you can wait til then?

I think you’ll find the 20l pack too big, it’s a great design but unless you’re going to be carrying a lot of kit with you the 16l would be better’er and you can use that for day rides here … although that extra space was great at the end of the day for carrying the bagettes and wine back to the chalet.

My first trip to Les Gets saw on the first day someone land wrong on a purpose built tabletop, over the bars and onto their back, they laid there for a long time and were taken away in a helicopter, then saw another person go over the bars on one of the runs, landed front wheel first and flipped, I never heard anyone moan so much as they laid there. If you do come off and find yourself going backwards through the air you’ll be wondering if your back’s going to hit those trees/rocks/berms/other riders that you last glimpsed 0.5 of a second ago and to have some sort of protection can only be a good thing.

Thanks khani, there’s a lot of mechanism and bits sticking out the back of the one I’ve got so that looks better.

Great, thanks for the recommendations 🙂

My latest purchase was a 29er HT – BUT only as a winter hack.

A niggling lower back problem has kept me off a 26in HT for years and I’ve been happy with my FS bikes but getting fed up with all the gloop and mud and constant cleaning/servicing of pivots and shocks so wanted a simple hack bike I could just drag in and out without too much worry, tried a 29er and found it much more tolerable than a 26in HT, so got a 29er and it’s used just to keep up some xc mileage and fitness and nothing too technical … can’t wait til it dries out a bit so I can get back out on my Heckler for some fun …. although, I’d quite like a go on a Superlight 29er!