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Getting building work done can be really kind of difficult. If things go wrong it can be
very costly and it can be quite personal with the builder being in your house. In fact it's
the second most complained about category of all to Consumer Direct in 2011. Sixty five
thousand complaints across the year.
Second only to second hand cars. We asked which members who used a builder in the last
year to tell us about the problems they had. 850 told us about all the issues they'd encountered.
And here are the top five with advice from Which? Legal Service lawyer Joanne Lesmore,
about what you can do to get yourself out of trouble.
First, at number five: poor communication. When you have a builder working for you, most
of them are very proud of the work they do. And if there's a problem they want to put
it right. Far too often, what happens is people may see things are going wrong. Don't say
something and then may say it when the job is complete or when it's a mammoth task to
put it right.
Speak to your builders. Always try and keep a good relationship. Be open and honest. So
if there is a problem, tell them what the problem is. Also be clear about what you want
them to do about the problem and how you want them to put it right. If you're unfortunate
enough to find that you're in a position where you've only got a telephone number or you've
only got a name and you're having trouble communicating or getting hold of a builder,
contact your local trading standards.
Because very often your local trading standards officer may be able to contact them on your
behalf and then force them to contact you or at least force them to give you all of
their contact details.
At 4, rubbish being left behind.
It's not implied into a building contract that rubbish will be taken away, so what you
want to do is find out who is going to be responsible for the rubbish. And even if the
builder is going to be responsible for the rubbish, depending on the size of the work,
find out how they're going to actually dispose off the rubbish.
Will is be a skip on your drive, or in the roadway, or is it something you're going to
have to be looking at for three weeks before it's actually disposed off. At three, a poor
quality job.
Tell the builder clearly, this is the problem, this is what I expect and get them to confirm
in writing, preferably, how they're going to put it right, when they're going to put
it right. What you don't want to do is, if you see things are going wrong, allow it to
continue, and then find that you've got a huge dispute at the end.
The other thing is, especially if you're having some sort of stage payments in a contract.
If you're not happy at a specific stage, don't pay it. The worst thing you can do is pay
someone by way of check, and then try cancelling the cheque later, it can cause huge problems,
not only because it would be deemed you accepted the work, its also very hard to defend in
court a cancelled cheque.
At two: the cost was more than the original quote.
There's two things here. First, before even going into the contract make sure that you've
got written down by way of quote all of the work that is going to be undertaken and how
much that is going to cost. The reality is that there is not much difference between
an estimate and a quote, but generally it's deemed a quote is a fixed price this is how
much it is going to be.
An estimate gives you a rough idea though it can go up, so always try to get the quote.
And at number one the most commonly experienced problem - timing issues. Jobs taking longer
than planned, work starting later than planned, jobs not being completed on time. First of
all this is something that even from the outset that there's two things.
One, you need to be realistic of how long things are going to take. But also you need
to find out from your builder how long something is going to take and actually have it within
the quote that the work will be completed within a certain amount of time. And what
you can do, even at the outset or during the contract is do something that we call making
time of the essence.
In other words, saying to your builder, "You've had so many weeks, you told me it was going
to be this amount of time. It's reasonable for you complete in another two, I'm going
to make time is of the essence, and if you don't complete it at that time, you're going
to be in breach of contract."
So those are the top five problems Which members have experienced.
But there are other very important things to look out for.
Never make payment up front. It's ok and it's acceptable to agree to stage payment. This
is a relationship built on trust and the builder has to to trust that you're going to pay him
as much as you're trusting that he's doing the work. Stage payments should be set out
clearly in writing as to the amount of the payment and what is to be completed within
that time and always make sure that there's sufficient amount at the end to cover any
snagging works.
Verbal contracts have been going on for hundreds of years. The problem is, if there's a dispute
and you're asking a judge to decide, he or she has only got the evidence in front of
them and one word against the other.
Therefore you should always try and get a contract with your builder. The contract should
set out all of the work going to be carried out, the price, when payment should be, and
any other core terms. Make sure you've had the opportunity to read those terms before
you actually agree to them. If things start going wrong, the first thing consumers need
to do is sit down and discuss things with the builder where you can.
And don't ever think that just because you're unhappy you can say to the builder, like that's
it, go away, I don't want the work completed, because then you may find that you're in breach
of contract.
When doing your research, head to Which? Local, where you can read reviews of hundreds of
builders posted by Which? members. Or to get expert legal advice go to : whichlegalservice.co.uk.
As well as Which? Local and Which? Legal Service, you can get more information and advice on
how to use builders and other trade people from which.co.uk/homeimprovements.