Legal action against Builders?

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Salmon

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A friend of mine is in a bit of bother! He started building an extension for a guy about 6 months ago, while the job was going on he was always complaining about the guy he was doin the job for. The guy was forever giving out about the workmanship of other tradesmen who had worked on the job and he was a total D*ck throughout the job. His wife on the otherhand was delighted with the job and told the lads doin the work to pass no remarks on the husband. When the time came to pay the last payment for the extensions he said that he wasnt happy with the standard of the work and he wasnt paying the full price. My friend gave him 2K off the price. He was happy enough with that, but came back a couple of weeks later and said that he wasnt happy with the plastering and he was getting it re-plastered at a cost of 1.5k. My friend was understandably p*ssed off with this but agreed to give him the 1.5k to be done with it. A couple of weeks later he came back again saying he wanted 2k or he was bringing him to court. At this stage my mate decided that this guy wasnt gonna stop so he wrote up a letter describing the situation and stating that if he paid the 2k that yer man would be happy with the job and that would be the end of the matter. He paid the 2k and yer man signed the letter.

Anyway, my mate called me this evening saying that yer man had arrived at his home place and asked him to get into his car. He told him again that he wasnt happy with the work and he was going to 'bring him up the steps' to court. My mate is very worried and depressed over this at the moment. He has completed a good few jobs to date and seems to have come across a 'bad egg'. I have to admit now that I havent actually seen the work, but judging by reports from tradesmen in the area he has tried this before.

Has anyone come across this situation, from either perspective, and if so can you suggest where he can go from here?

How does my friend stand legally on this? any advice greatly apreciated
 
It certainly doesn't look good that your friend has given him 5,500 euro off the price already.

If your friend is in the right, what cause has he to be concerned?

Threatening to take him to the 'steps of the court' is a load of crap-tell him to threaten legal action via a solicitor.
 
What could he threaten legal action on? He is in the process of seeking legal help at the moment, what type of solicitor would be best to approach. As you can understand he is in a bad way over this and has told me that he would have never given back any money only he was afraid of 'blackening his reputation and name' even if it went to court and he won. I suppose a tradesmans name is everything!
 
Your friend should have thought twice before giving the reductions. In fairness, he must have been making a huge profit to agree to 5K off!! Because he has done this it appears to be an admission of some sort. Having said that, I'd tell him to go sing for his money. I'm not a solicitor, but as far as I know, this guy has to allow your friend to make reparation and he's only entitled to get someone else in if your friend refuses. I bet the place is painted and decorated already!! This guy is chancing his arm, tell him to sling his hook!!
 
Look...no householder that I know of does business by asking someone 'to get into their car'!! Your friend should go to a solicitor (any of them will do) and tell him/her, what's going on. I hope he has a paper trail of the moneys already refunded??

If I had a problem with a builder, I'd ask him to come back and look at his work. Your friend should insist on seeing what work the complaint is about. He should take photos, I would.
 
The last time he looked for money my mate thought it was a little fish so got me to draft up a letter for him to sign. Im not sure how useful this is legally but this is the text of the letter he signed:

Dear xxxxxx,
Between xx/xx/2006 and xx/xx/2006 we provided the following service to you:

Construction of extension to the rear of existing house at xxxxxx, xxxxxx. This included the following:
  • Set out, and laying of foundations (Including the laying or radon barrier and all required steel)
  • Completion of floor to finished floor level including under floor insulation.
  • Construction of walls to extension.
  • All roofing including felt and lat as well as fixing of tiles.
  • Napp finished external render.
  • Slabbed internal walls with a skimmed finish.
  • Installation of double radiator.
Note: All electrical work completed by subcontractor selected by you and paid for out of the agreed contract fee paid to us.
We are aware of our legal obligations under the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982, that the service should be carried out :
· with reasonable care and skill
· in a reasonable time
· for a reasonable price
In addition, any goods/materials supplied should be:-
· of satisfactory quality
· fit for their purpose
· as described
In light of your concerns over the quality of the work carried out, voiced on completion of the work you have already received a reduced fee of €2070 off the originally fee. We are aware that work has already commenced on the repair to the plaster, and a quotation of €1570 has been tendered for this work.
Since we moved off the job you have requested an additional €2000 refund be granted to you. We regret the fact that you are not happy with some of the work carried out but are willing pay this refund. We trust this show of goodwill will address this issue and bring this matter to an end.

Please sign this letter in the area provided below to indicate acceptance of this refund, and evidence of a satisfactory completion of the job.

Yours sincerely,



After he signed this we though that would be the end of it until low and behold he arrived at my friends parents house and asked him to 'get in to the car'!!!

Does this letter stand for anything or help his situation at all??
 
CCOVICH, Do you mean threaten him with defamation of character or slander or something to see just how serious he is?
 
Salmon said:
CCOVICH, Do you mean threaten him with defamation of character or slander or something to see just how serious he is?
Click to expand...

No.

You cannot sue someone by driving them to the steps of the court in a car.

Tell your friend to tell their customer to take any action through a solicitor if they (the customer) want more money.

Clear enough? I'm not suggesting legal action by your friend.
 
Salmon said:
Oh Right, Sorry I misunderstood!! Anyone have an opinion on the letter?
Click to expand...

I don't think that the letter negates the customer's statutory rights, i.e. if the complaint is legitimate, I don't think that the letter can shield your friend from legal action.

I am not a solicitor.
 
If the guy has been known to do this before, then he's just talking out his ass about court. And it worked, he got his deductions and carried through with the charade til the end. I must say it is unusual to see this from a builders point of view.

Has he issued your friend with a list of the specific problems he has? Like a personalised snag list. Perhaps he should ask for one to ease his own mind if he knows he has done the job right. In my opinion though like another poster said, tell him go where the sun don't shine. There is a mile between threatening legal action and carrying it out.
 
Something similar happened my husband before - nothing worse. It ended up going legal and the 'customer' dropped the case, still cost us legal fees though. Both parties appointed solicitors. They had to get an independent 3rd party out to measure up / assess quality of work against original quote / drawings etc. This quickly showed up any discrepencies. If your friend is confident of his work etc, I'd tell him to avoid all personal contact with this person and let them contact him through a solicitor. Sometimes when people see solicitors getting involved they drop their 'complaint'
 
Folks,

Just a quick update on the situation!! The builder has gone to a solicitor over this a couple of weeks back! The solicitor has told him that if the customer is to proceed any further with this he will have to get an engineer to say that the work is not up to standard, if this happens my mate is entitled to employ his own engineer to inspect the work also. The court will assess both reports and decide on it from there. My mate is a little more relaxed about this now and realises in hindsight that this guy is just trying his luck.
The solicitor has also told him that he should have come to her as soon as yer man started demanding money back under the threat of legal action, she reckons that his behaviour borders on extortion. Also he has been told to inform the gardai if there is any further 'visits' from the customer.

Thanks for your opinions on this and I will keep ye informed!!
 
Do give us an update on the situation in the months to come. It will help somebody else in he same situaton eventually
 
Rainyday,

Not sure of the total cost of the job but I think it was in the region of 20K. There hasnt been any more developments on this in a while but if I hear more i'll certainly keep ye all posted!!
 
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