Can i get my money back from builder?

[helpmepls]

Hello All,

Please I need your advice. I am new on this platform.

December 2015, we got a builder to refurished the whole house ( kitchen, bathroom, change radiator/boiler, living room and the rooms) it was meant to be a weeks job but work wasn't finshed until febuary. This was no fault of ours.

A week into the the work, builder said he lost his dad and had to travel . this meant lttle or no job was been done by the rest of the team while he was away and this went on till christmas.

Not to make this post long, he abandoned the project for 3weeks. I was always on the phone asking him to finsh the job. by the time he came back, he left the house with some minor repairs outstanding. As I was frustrated about his whole actions and delay, i told myself to live with the few things left undone.

In feb/March, the boiler start having low pressure. I called him to notify, told me he will get someone to visit but no one never turned up. I end up calling the guy that issued the gas certificate. The guy said I need to speak to my builder. For 2weeks, I was manually get water into the boiler. When I didn't get anyluck witht he builder, I notify him my intention to pay someone to rectify the problem and he will have to cover the cost.

I paid £200 to get the boiler repaired - it was leak pipe. As the builder still have £300 for me to balance, I used that money.

By mid march, the walls are cracking( he plastered the walls as part of the refurbishment) I reported this to him and he hasnt come to inspect. he's always booking appouintment with no-show.

At the time of typing this, My bathrrom is leaking( cos the ceiling wall under the bathroom have water stain), the bathroom floor tiles cracked, edge of the kitchen top by the wall spilt by the corner, almost all the door frame paints coming off the wood, the plastering in all the rooms are cracked.

I have called, text etc but no response. I am in a position where I prefer my the state of my house before refurbishment. he state of this house brings sadness to my family. We've spent almost 20k and its not value for money.

Please , how can i get my money back from the builder or how can i get him back to make best the works he did. As it stand, he dd a shabby work .

Thank you in advance

[wales01man]

Re: Can i get my money baqck from builder?

You should first put this in writing as a formal complaint to the builder giving them a chance to put things right in a reasonable amount of time then this can be taken to court but you will need reports about the work lack of it or the quality of it.

Can I ask if you paid out all the money before completion and did you have a written estimate or quote for the work and did you find the builder through one of those trust trader websites or by recomendation

[charitynjw]

Re: Can i get my money baqck from builder?

Is the builder a ltd firm or a sole trader/self employed?

Also, take pictures for evidence, & get proof of postage for any written correspondence. (The Post Office will give you a free certificate of postage).

[Ripped-Off]

Re: Can i get my money baqck from builder?

The short answer.......yes you can get your money back, but best of luck trying. As the others have inferred, if the builder is a limited company (most are) then you can kiss goodbye to your money.

The chances of ever getting him back to correct the defects where there is no contract and/or the builder is a limited company are virtually nil.

[helpmepls]

Re: Can i get my money baqck from builder?

hello all,

I really appreciate your response.

we found him on mybuilder website. Intially, we did part payment when he started the work. When he travelled for his father's death and burial, his team said the boss didn't leave money for them. as a result, they have to wait for him to return. Because my husband didn't want that to stop the repair work, he realease more fund for them to continue the work( they builder signed that he collected the money). The period when they disappeared, we got to know that some clients was owing the builder and that affected his cash flow reason they stopped the works in our house. At this stage, the house was left without radiator, boiler, cooker etc so my husband offered to use the next payment due to them to buy the things needed to get the work going. so rather than giving the builder fund, we followed the builder to order/buy the things needed. In doing that, he brought his guys back to continue the work.

At this stage, they were rushing to complete the little things left so they can vacate their tools. because they shower wasn't installed properly, they had to redo it. this means they didn't paint the celing round the shower. they installed the hot/cold water for the basin wrong but if they were to remove it will damage the tiles round the area my husband decided we should live with it.

We end up paying bulk of the money before completion as we use the money to buy things they needed to complete the repairs. By the time the finally disappeared, the remaining balance was less than £500. I must mentioned that they were expecting more money but when we told them the balance and asked for their boss to come around to balance book, he never turn up and snce we've not seen any of them. While i was chasing with phone calls, he told me all his guys are outside on the counrty and won't return until after 6months cos they are doing another project. when i insisted to get someone over, he told me to call his assistant which will be back in country soon. i did spoke with the assistant but he never visit the property.

We have a written quote. This was handy all through the repair work cos we were using it to monitor what they were doing. it's a limited company.

Do i need to send picture taken to him? how long is a reaonable time?

I look forward to read form you all. thanks x

[Ripped-Off]

Re: Can i get my money baqck from builder?

Unless you were in dispute about what was included in the price the written quote is useless to you.

Does the quote have a letterhead? If so what is the full name of the company that provided it?

[helpmepls]

Re: Can i get my money baqck from builder?

Unless you were in dispute about what was included in the price the written quote is useless to you.

Does the quote have a letterhead? If so what is the full name of the company that provided it?

Hello, the main refurbishment ( bedrooms, bathroom, landing, new radiators etc) was on letterhead paper . company name is Zekon 124 Crescent road London RM10 7HU bottom of quote says Chas accreditied contractor( if that matters) and the second quote flooring- m D&D General construction LTD 66B Markhouse Avenue, walthamstow London E17 8AZ

[Ripped-Off]

Re: Can i get my money baqck from builder?

How did you make payments, cash or cheque? If by cheque who did you make the payment to? Do you have an invoice or receipt for the payments?

Could Zekon also be this company based at 23 Rivington Court St. Mark's Place, Dagenham, Essex, England RM10 8GJ. the company number is 09503542.
The directors are BILA, Ilie Robert and PAUN, Vicentiu-Ionut.

Do any of these sound familiar?

[nemesis45]

Re: Can i get my money baqck from builder?

Sounds like scam & ripoff builders Ltd.

[helpmepls]

Re: Can i get my money baqck from builder?

How did you make payments, cash or cheque? If by cheque who did you make the payment to? Do you have an invoice or receipt for the payments?

Could Zekon also be this company based at 23 Rivington Court St. Mark's Place, Dagenham, Essex, England RM10 8GJ. the company number is 09503542.
The directors are BILA, Ilie Robert and PAUN, Vicentiu-Ionut.

Do any of these sound familiar?

hello, I do not recognise the names. I am not sure of the address but what i do know is, when they were doing our work, they did mentioned other jobs they doing in Dagenham and stratford area. Payment was by cash. when purchasing most of the items needed, we paid by card so they only got their own money by cash. unfortunately, no recept just a record/activities of how payment were made.

[Ripped-Off]

Re: Can i get my money baqck from builder?

The point that I am making is that if the company is a limited company, then your chances of coming out of this with your money back are virtually nil. You might as well give up because if you go to court and win then the company will cease trading and start up under a new name. Your debt will remain with the old company as a creditor and you will never get your money back. Moreover, if the builder is not a UK citizen, it is not unusual for them to disappear to whence they came, making it even harder to get justice.

However, if the company is not limited, and it looks to me like it isn't, then you can sue the person who owns the company directly. Before you do, you need to gather evidence, take photos of the damage, hire a building surveyor to undertake a survey and prepare a report. Once you have gathered your evidence then you can start formal proceedings leading to a court hearing if necessary.

Start by making a list of all the defective works (called a snag list) and send this to the builder including photos. Give him 7 days to respond and a further 28 days to correct the defects. If neither happens hire the building surveyor and get a full report done including the estimated cost to put the work right. Send that onto the builder and give him 7 days to respond. If he does nothing then you will have to hire someone to put the work right and recover the cost from the builder.

[Openlaw15]

Re: Can i get my money baqck from builder?

Hello All,

Please I need your advice. I am new on this platform.

December 2015, we got a builder to refurished the whole house ( kitchen, bathroom, change radiator/boiler, living room and the rooms) it was meant to be a weeks job but work wasn't finshed until febuary. This was no fault of ours.

A week into the the work, builder said he lost his dad and had to travel . this meant lttle or no job was been done by the rest of the team while he was away and this went on till christmas.

Not to make this post long, he abandoned the project for 3weeks. I was always on the phone asking him to finsh the job. by the time he came back, he left the house with some minor repairs outstanding. As I was frustrated about his whole actions and delay, i told myself to live with the few things left undone.

In feb/March, the boiler start having low pressure. I called him to notify, told me he will get someone to visit but no one never turned up. I end up calling the guy that issued the gas certificate. The guy said I need to speak to my builder. For 2weeks, I was manually get water into the boiler. When I didn't get anyluck witht he builder, I notify him my intention to pay someone to rectify the problem and he will have to cover the cost.

I paid £200 to get the boiler repaired - it was leak pipe. As the builder still have £300 for me to balance, I used that money.

By mid march, the walls are cracking( he plastered the walls as part of the refurbishment) I reported this to him and he hasnt come to inspect. he's always booking appouintment with no-show.

At the time of typing this, My bathrrom is leaking( cos the ceiling wall under the bathroom have water stain), the bathroom floor tiles cracked, edge of the kitchen top by the wall spilt by the corner, almost all the door frame paints coming off the wood, the plastering in all the rooms are cracked.

I have called, text etc but no response. I am in a position where I prefer my the state of my house before refurbishment. he state of this house brings sadness to my family. We've spent almost 20k and its not value for money.

Please , how can i get my money back from the builder or how can i get him back to make best the works he did. As it stand, he dd a shabby work .

Thank you in advance

Update

Amethyst (Sharon), posted a good article and procedure for obtaining a Charging Orders in 2008, on this website: http://legalbeagles.info/forums/show...harging-Orders

I don't know much it'll cost for a Charging Order on a company's building/ premises or for other asserts via a lawyer. If the Op does it himself it should be just the cost of the application. It's not known whether the OP is better to go after the assets or just the property itself, ie the business premises/ land, or alternative his equipment etc: CPR Part 73 See Amethyst's post above for procedure (above). You could get an interim remedy based on CPR Part 73 which should secure your interest if the company were to go bankrupt (liquidated) in the immediate future.

Get a Charge on his company assets via a court Order, so if he goes bankrupt you're a secure creditor. Whatever the amount he owes is the amount you get the charging order for. If you have a charge on his business assets or property, you'll secure your interests against the debt.

[wales01man]

Re: Can i get my money baqck from builder?

Get a Charge on his company assets via a court Order, so if he goes bankrupt you're a secure creditor. Whatever the amount he owes is the amount you get the charging order for. If you have a charge on his business assets or property, you'll secure your interests against the debt.

Good idea but how much will this cost the OP and how long will it take?

[Ripped-Off]

Re: Can i get my money baqck from builder?

Update

Get a Charge on his company assets via a court Order, so if he goes bankrupt you're a secure creditor. Whatever the amount he owes is the amount you get the charging order for. If you have a charge on his business assets or property, you'll secure your interests against the debt.

Before you can get a charging order, don't you need a judgment and before you get a judgment don't you need to build and submit your case?

Isn't this a case of running before you can walk?

[Amethyst]

Re: Can i get my money baqck from builder?

Were all the payments in cash ? No credit card payment ?

You will have to write to him listing the faults, enclosing the photographs, and the remedy you want ( ie recompense to enable you to complete the work yourself / refund of money already paid for faulty work etc ) giving him 14 days to respond/pay. You'd need to subtract of course any materials purchased by the builder that you retain that either have been fitted properly or can be re-fitted. Detail the quote and what you have paid - purchased yourself to enable them to do the job. Subtract what it cost you to put things right / replace items damaged etc. Keep a copy of that letter.

If he fails you could then bring a court claim in the county court.

Then if he failed to pay you'd have a number of options to enforce the judgment against them. You can order them to court for a means statement, send enforcement agents ( although where to I don't know as the business seems to be run from mailing address or their homes - they may have a van and some equipment/tools etc though but whether it's owned by the company or not is another matter )


A charging order doesn't seem particularly suitable in this case (the guide is help people defending against charging orders btw) - it's a limited company without premises as far as I can see. They have just set up a new company ( BuildKon - great name lol) from April 2016 so could well be winding up the original company, so be willing to negotiate with them because something now is better than everything you are owed, never.

A Stat Demand for a winding up order isn't really going to be suitable either, the debt is disputed and if the company is wanting to go under anyway, you'd just end up paying for it without actually recovering your money.