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OK. I thought I'd update this. It's a bit mammoth already. But... We were in the process of drafting our Letter Before Action (LBA) over the next day or so and we got a "Money Claim" notification in our email. He was demanding we pay him £2,000 (+£105) for "5 weeks labour". Cheeky bugger! He...

Hello, I've been following this thread. I'm sorry to see that it's got this far, but glad you've not had to wait too long for the courts, CCJ and action. I'd like to apologise for me saying that the money isn't mind blowing. I guess I mispoke, but my intention was to say something more like...

Have you calmly and politely spoken to your neighbour about the strange behaviour? You may only need to tell him that you're concerned about your privacy and the cameras overlooking your property and want to increase the height of your fences and would like him to show you what he can see on the...

I've had a patio poorly laid by some contractors which is just indian sandstone on sharp sand. The sub-grade is clay-based. It has ended up with the sand filling with water and it either washing away or causing some form of liquifaction effect where the slabs sink in strange areas. See...

It's a shame over something like this. I mean it's not a trivial amount, but it's not something mind blowing. The letter before action is reasonable. Speak to Citizens Advice. They can record the conversations, report it to trading standards (if you wish) and give you sample documents and...

So hilarity ensures. It's completely broken down now and they're refusing to work or even speak to us. We were calm and polite and wanted to resolve some of the issue they were having. It seems pretty clear they had no intention of starting work as they didn't bring any tools and came in a car...

I'll give it a go for sure! I've got most of the stuff I know I want doing and I've learned so much over the past few months. It'll be better to get it all done and signed so it's clear and then we won't add extra things (so they don't have that fear) and we can hold them to account.

There should be no requirement to pay upfront for materials. In fact, this is a common "red-flag" (usually alongside other things). Other red flags include no landline number, no website, no registered company, no address, bad time-keeping, cancelling, disappearing in the middle of jobs...

Yet another update in this saga. So the builders haven't admitted they've done anything wrong, but it looks like they've got tired of arguing about minor details. We've stuck to our original arguments that it's the major stuff that is wrong. They've agreed to deconstruct the entire load of...

So an update... We offered for the builder to come back and rectify the work or give us a refund if he doesn't think he can do it within the bounds of the original quote and our contract. He's deflected all of that and not addressed it directly and only responded with "confusion" as to why we...

Unfortunately I've had to undo some of the "work" such as clearing the drains out already, and some of it is downright unsafe such as the steps, path and patio. I'm reluctant to spend money in the meantime as it'll be hard if there are complications in the case/complaint, but some of it more or...

Oh I'll definitely put out there that the neighbour cat has laid a deuce on my car bonnet once (caught on camera too). The neighbour was horrified when shown. It wasn't the end of the world and we laughed about it. Scratches would annoy me, but isn't a cat (and fox) a "free spirit"?

I regularly get cat paw prints on my car... rarely a scratch. Maybe a camera to prove who/what it is might help? Maybe it is a neighbour... a fox can climb, but cats have retractable claws and can grip without them. Otherwise most "deterrents" don't work other than getting your own cat or a...

No, there was no edging other than gravel infill. Slabs were able to move toward the edges and water will go where water must, so there will always be some form of incline - either on top your slabs or underneath them. I've got a thread on here about the poor work done...

So the original builder's idea of what needs to be done to have the garden done to reasonable skill and care is... "To take off slabs from bottom wall and replace them with engineering bricks and a tile crease to prevent water running down the facing brick. To expose 2 drains To re-set step on...

I can 100% state that having had a patio laid by a "professional" with just sand below it and between the slabs, it has just washed away and I have sinking patio slabs which are dangerous, uneven and need to be relaid. I suppose what happens underneath depends on how the ground is already...

Thank you all for your words and help on this! I'm not expecting this to be resolved quickly (unless of course just refunds us what we've already paid, which I guess is unlikely). I'd accept that just to get it over and done with and start again. We've received advice from Citizens Advice and...

So had the independent report. Wow. He said it's the worst job he's ever seen. Essentially the patio and walls need to come out and it needs to be done again from scratch. The only materials that can be recovered are the slabs and most of the outer bricks if they're removed carefully. He's not...

yeah there was a concrete/cement layer. I'm guessing around 2-3 inches deep (from the depth of the holes) and across the bottom of the walls. They put that there, let it set and cure and carried on with the walls the next days later. They didn't do all of the concrete at once as they left the...

No (undue) criticism taken. We had around 5 quotes. This was the middle priced one, with two of them being in the £9k to £10k range and one being around the same and another being around £4k. The cheaper one's I just didn't trust (I don't know why I trusted this guy). I do appreciate that the...