Making a claim against a flooring company - do I need an expert witness?

[connie_cat]

Hi,

We had a floor installed by a local flooring company. They floor is not level in that dining room chairs wobble, in many places around the room. The unlevel-ness is also visible in a few places by the skirting board. Unfortunately we paid for the job before we moved in (and before we put furniture on it) because standing up looking at the floor, it looks great.

The installer says the problem is due to our builder which we disagree with. The manufacturer has inspected the floor and said that this is due to insufficient sub floor preparation (by installer). There is a British Standard (BS 8203, and specifically SR1) which says that the floor level should not be more than 3mm out every 2m.

The local flooring installing is refusing to accept there is a problem and we intend to go to small claims.

I have:

• the manufacturers installation saying to prepare the subfloor according to BS 8203.
• a letter/report from manufacturers to say the customer's problems are due to "insufficient subfloor preparation". This 'report' is more like a letter, without many specific measurements.

Do I need anything else, such as an expert witness to provide a report? With detailed measurements, etc?

I want to make sure that I am fully prepared for the small claims court ... I suspect that this flooring company will be used to defending these situations.

Thank you.

[pt2537]

Hi,

We had a floor installed by a local flooring company. They floor is not level in that dining room chairs wobble, in many places around the room. The unlevel-ness is also visible in a few places by the skirting board. Unfortunately we paid for the job before we moved in (and before we put furniture on it) because standing up looking at the floor, it looks great.

The installer says the problem is due to our builder which we disagree with. The manufacturer has inspected the floor and said that this is due to insufficient sub floor preparation (by installer). There is a British Standard (BS 8203, and specifically SR1) which says that the floor level should not be more than 3mm out every 2m.

The local flooring installing is refusing to accept there is a problem and we intend to go to small claims.

I have:

• the manufacturers installation saying to prepare the subfloor according to BS 8203.
• a letter/report from manufacturers to say the customer's problems are due to "insufficient subfloor preparation". This 'report' is more like a letter, without many specific measurements.

Do I need anything else, such as an expert witness to provide a report? With detailed measurements, etc?

I want to make sure that I am fully prepared for the small claims court ... I suspect that this flooring company will be used to defending these situations.

Thank you.

you may need an expert report as the Judge most likely wont be a flooring expert, so will need guiding through what has gone wrong and whether that is truly attributed to the works of the company failing to prepare.

[connie_cat]

Thank you PT. I have been quoted £400-500 as the cost of a flooring expert witness producing a report. Can I add this cost to the claim being made?

[pt2537]

Thank you PT. I have been quoted £400-500 as the cost of a flooring expert witness producing a report. Can I add this cost to the claim being made?

costs such as expert fees should be recoverable if you win the claim,

[connie_cat]

Edited