Roofer From Hell:What to do?

We had a small occasional leak in our kitchen.
Got a roofer to come who said he could fix it.

Dh had already hose-tested it and identified exactly where the leak was.(top of the outlet pipe which runs down through the kitchen...roof falls back towards house)
Anyhow these guys came on Friday had to leave because of heavy rain...leaving the leak worse. But easily managed by a bucket.

They came this morning to finish the job and dh hose-tested it again before paying them and it was worse if anything. Roofer said there was no more he could do...dh refused to pay. Roofer wanted money for materials...dh said no.

Fast-forward a few hours later and we have waterfalls in the kitchen. The rain is flowing in....the wooden floor is under 1 cm of water. Dh and I get up on the roof and there is a lake up there....we bail and brush it off and dh checks the outlet pipe to find a blockage. After much effort he finally pulls a t-shirt covered in bitumen out of the outlet pipe. Clearly a malicious parting shot on the part of the roofer. It remains to be seen if our wooden floor survives....highly unlikely given the amount of water. The whole ground floor is one room and will have to be replaced....costing ???thousands. We've already had 2 claims in this house, both more than 3 years ago ...one for a burglary and one for a heating pipe leak which was pierced when laying this floor. So very reluctant to claim again...if it can be avoided at all.

I reported it to the gardai as criminal damage.
But I don't know if there is any point in doing anything else.

This guy gave us details of his public liability insurance...Quinns ...anypoint in contacting them??

Advice???

Ring him up and ask him for his VAT number - it won't fix your roof, but it might make him think it worthwhile to come back and fix your roof. See what Quinn will do for you, mind you, if they see what a shoddy worker he is, they may load his premium next year. Roofers have a hard enough job getting insurance as it is.

Plenty of photos of the damage and the 'repair'.

Write to the roofer and write to his insurance company and any other preofessional organisations he is a member of, outlining your issues and get an independent claims assessor in to evaluate the damage.

Most importantly do it now and get an emergency cover over the entire roof to minimise any further damage to your home.

If he's registered then Bluebell's advice should get results. But my gut feeling is that he is a cowboy - mobile number, no address and multiple adverts. A reputable tradesperson knows what he is doing, understands the lay of the land and would have enough experience to take all eventualities into consideration. There may even be a criminal damage case here.

Once we pulled the bitumen soaked t -shirt out of the outlet pipe the leak reverted to the normal few drops when the rain comes from a certain direction ...but the damage is significant...the walls are all stained from the waterfall...the floor looks ok this morning, I'm just praying it stays that way as it dries.

You need to use a de-humidifier to draw all the moisture from the floor, walls and roof. This will mitigate any further loss. Of course you should contact Quinns -- you are not claiming from your own Policy but a tradesman's policy. This is the first job you should do in the morning. Do not attempt to call the same contractor back or else there will be more damage.

Mommah said:

They came this morning to finish the job and dh hose-tested it again before paying them and it was worse if anything. Roofer said there was no more he could do...dh refused to pay. Roofer wanted money for materials...dh said no.

Fast-forward a few hours later and we have waterfalls in the kitchen. The rain is flowing in....the wooden floor is under 1 cm of water. Dh and I get up on the roof and there is a lake up there....we bail and brush it off and dh checks the outlet pipe to find a blockage. After much effort he finally pulls a t-shirt covered in bitumen out of the outlet pipe. Clearly a malicious parting shot on the part of the roofer.

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Did they have access to the roof after your hubby refused to pay?

If they are this bad, I'd be surprised if they really have any insurance in place. Did you get to check that the policy was valid?

Why did your husband refuse to pay them for at least their materials?

Hubby refused to pay for their materials as they had not fixed the problem, in fact had made it worse and also used up a day and a half of his time with their carry on.

Mommah said:

Hubby refused to pay for their materials as they had not fixed the problem, in fact had made it worse and also used up a day and a half of his time with their carry on.

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What was the full price supposed to be and what was the cost of materials?

Full price was around €500. He gave them €50 cash...not sure what the materials cost.