Actual court experience - small claims

[Ericonabike]

Hi. First post, so please be gentle!
I have a dispute with a flood engineering firm, after their installation failed. I am minded to use the small claims court, after having my claim refused by them. But...
I am comfortable representing myself, having done a lot of quasi-legal work in previous careers. But I wonder how much time and attention is given to a case by the judge? I can imagine investing a lot of my time in preparing the case (for £500) for it only to be given a cursory hearing and scant time, given the state of the courts at present. Could anyone here assist with lived experience?

[atticus]

Judges give sufficient attention to the issues and evidence to enable them to make a decision.

[Monday]

I sued a travel company for the full cost of a two person holiday during covid.....and won! £2500 approx).

My mistake, which cost time and extra court fees, was not completing the online forms properly and providing full evidence at that time. Filling out the online court application, I failed to understand the purpose of a dropdown box (which was to provide evidence at the time) and the form didn't allow me to go back and correct my error. So the case couldn't be decided online and would have required a court appearance, and therefore two sets of court fees (one fee for the online application and one fee for the court application). In the event, the travel company settled out of court for the full amount of the holidays and two sets of court fees.

My advice, as a non legal person, would be to carefully construct your case, evidence and skeleton argument before you attempt the court application (would have saved me time and money).

I also won a case some years ago for rent that my daughter's boyfriend would not refund her when he 'threw' her out of their shared flat. That required a personal appearance to clarify the situation. I recall that the person deciding the case was fair and considerate of the fact that this was my and my daughter's first appearance in court. We were there for about an hour.

[Pezza54]

Please read "Pre-Action Protocol For Construction and Engineering Disputes 2nd Edition"
In particular :
5 Proportionality
6 Overview of the Protocol
7 The Letter of Claim
9 Pre-Action Meeting

The engineering firm will not want to appoint a solicitor to defend a claim this size in court, because of the non recoverable legal costs that the defendant will face

A carefully worded Letter of Claim may result in a settlement agreed at the Pre-Action Meeting between parties, thus avoiding costly court action