A builder was hired by our client to tile the roof of our client's new garage. The works were completed to a very poor and unprofessional standard.

Background

A builder had initially been hired to carry out excavation and construction work at our client's property, which included a new garage.

The builder also offered to carry out roofing works, including tiling, which our client agreed to. As work progressed, however, our client became more and more concerned about an apparent poor standard, the slow rate of work, and the main contractor's increasing absence from the property.

Our client tried to resolve matters in correspondence and in person and gave ample opportunity for rectification to take place, but such were our client's concerns that it was necessary to request the builder and his workers leave the site.

When an independent surveyor was requested by our client to inspect the quality of the builder's works, in particular to the roof, the surveyor formed the view that the tiling didn't look like look it had had been done by a roofing professional. The recommendation was that the roof covering be stripped down and started again.

What we did

We advised on the legal implications of the expert evidence and how the report could be improved to fully support a case against the builder.

We helped ensure the right documents were obtained to support a claim for the costs of completing the roofing works to the proper standard required in the first place.

We then prepared a detailed Letter of Claim and presented it to the builder, setting out the case and making a demand for payment.

How did it help?

Having built a strong case from the outset, gathering the right evidence and documents to support a claim for repair work in excess of £12,000, the case was concluded swiftly.

The builder was left with few options for contesting the allegations, and a settlement followed within a few weeks, with our client recovering the estimated costs of repairs in full, plus his legal fees.

The money recovered enabled our client to look to repair the sub-standard roofing works that had left the property incomplete and looking like a building site.

Case handler

Luke Andruszewski is a Fellow of the Institute of Legal Executives and specialises in litigation procedure and dispute resolution, advising and assisting in claims involving contract matters, consumer rights and business disputes.

Case handler comments

Our client had made a real effort to try and sort matters out on site when things started to go wrong and had worked hard to mitigate his losses. Ultimately, though, he had paid the builder for a professional service that wasn't delivered and was being left to pay more to put things right.

I was pleased to help resolve a dispute that had caused so much stress and concern for our client, whose family for so long couldn't properly use their home, and which had left it in an unsafe and unsightly state.

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