Looking for some clarity if possible!

[mabeybaby]

Thanks so much to all of you who have taken the time to respond. This really is a difficult case and i dont know where to go with it.
So much so because it is causing me a huge amount of worry and anxiety, that i am considering sending the defendant a settlement proposal.

I would very much like this whole process to end now as it has dragged on for nearly a year. I feel that if i offered the defendant a settlement proposal of paying 50% of the outstanding bill that maybe acceptable to him? I have no idea and he may just refuse or ignore it completely, but i also feel that even if he refuses, the judge will be able to see that we have tried to settle before the court date.

I know that if i use the "without prejudice" phrase then it cannot be brought into court, but i actually think it would be beneficial for the judge to be aware that we were open to this. Any advice on settlement /offer procedure would be helpful. I think i would need to make an OPEN OFFER - is that correct?

[mabeybaby]

The judge should give you the opportunity to reply to the counterclaim, but the time may be limited to 2 weeks

In your thread you stated that the customer suggested that he could arrange for another contractor to complete the work and you agreed. At that point there was no agreement to how much of your quote you should be paid for the work you had carried out.

The customer is arguing that the builder employed to complete the work found defects in your work that required rectifying? The customer is stating that the cost of correcting defective work should be deducted from the contract value of work you had carried out? You are claiming you weren't given the opportunity to inspect the defects and make good so the customer is not entitled to deduct any money

In short the dispute is over the value of the work you completed using quoted/contract prices and whether the customer is entitled to make a reasonable price reduction for making good defective work

I understand your points but the facts are a little skewed - mainly my fault. To clarify - because we were unable to finish initially (due to the non appearance of the plumber & electrician) there was finishing work to do in the kitchen and snagging. The defendant suggested that he could do the snagging (we drew up a list of everything we were agreeing to) and deducted £500 from the outstanding bill - it was no more than 2 days work for 1 person.

We asked the defendant to confirm his agreement with this but he never replied and we've not heard from him since.

After many weeks of us trying to get in touch with him and him ignoring us - we took him to court. Once he received the court paperwork and had to respond, he has then created a completely different list of "issues" nothing to do with the initial snagging that we had agreed. This new list was nothing we had ever heard of previously and had never been reported to us - the first time we were hearing of it was in the defence paperwork. Also contained in this paperwork was his admission that he had gone ahead and had these so called issues fixed.

Thats really my whole point in this - the issues contained in the defence were never reported to us prior to the defence stage. No knowledge whatsoever. So to hear about them but also the fact they had been fixed already - is just unbelievable. This is the exact reason why we felt that the defence should/could be struck out because it is totally unreasonable - does that make sense?

Surely the defendant has a responsibility to at least tell us about a problem and give us the opportunity to fix it or at least see it before he gets someone else to fix it?

[Pezza54]

My understanding regarding the Consumer rights act 2015 is that is doesn't apply to business to business contracts - is that correct? If so is there an equivalent law?
The correct protocol for stopping a contractor returning to site should be to advise the contractor in writing that you do not wish them to return, giving the reasons why, and to allow them to collect any tools or materials from site and take photos of how it was left in case of repercussions. Clearly this did not happen at all but i dont know if there is a law that says something like this or whether this is like an unwritten best practise situation?
How would a judge view that?

But in para 5 of your post you stated you agreed with the customer that he could arrange for another contractor to complete the work. Could you have removed your tools, leaving materials on that day? Have you included for the loss of tools in your claim?

The Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 still applies to business to business contracts

[mabeybaby]

But in para 5 of your post you stated you agreed with the customer that he could arrange for another contractor to complete the work. Could you have removed your tools, leaving materials on that day? Have you included for the loss of tools in your claim?

The Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 still applies to business to business contracts

Apologies for any confusion! When we left site we genuinely thought we would be returning within a short time frame to complete the works and do the snagging (once the plumber & electrician had been) and so did not think at this stage that there was a need to remove tools. The lost tools are minimal.

The main issue (i did just respond to your other post) was that we later agreed for the defendant to complete the snagging work only.

Many weeks later once the defendant had received the court papers - he came up with a different list of problems none of which we knew about and were not told of them until they appeared in his defence. This completely different list had also been "fixed" by the defendant and his staff. These fixes are what the defendants counterclaim is about - getting us to pay for works he had done, even though he never told us about any of it in the first place!

[Pezza54]

I am sorry but I agree with Atticus post 4
The judge is most likely to want to read and hear the versions from both parties before making a decision

I do agree though that the customer should have given you the chance to correct any defects that were unknown to you. The judge may decide an independent expert such as a qualified building surveyor be appointed to prepare a report on work undertaken and value by both contractors and a schedule of defects with costings