Hi all -
Hoping someone can help with a dispute I have going on. I have a builder and a small team of apprentices and labourers working on a kitchen extension project for my home. The project involved knocking out two external walls, and when the building inspector came to site to view everything up to wall plate (so by this time foundations & walls were done) he said we'd need a structural engineer to draw up plans for the steel supports for the wall removals. I was never told about this at the start and the builder is saying there was no way he could know that would be required, so while I had to find a structural engineer and sort out fabrication he has gone off on other jobs and now says he is unable to return the project till the new year, blaming me for the delays. The original agreement was that he would stay on site until project is done, and while i understand it wouldn't be ideal for him to sit around and do nothing, i cant help but feel he should have known we'd need an engineer and to get him in before the project started (he delayed the start of the project himself, so this would have been an ideal time).
So my question is should he have known we needed a structural engineer or is it right for him to say those delays are outside of his control?
Thanks
Hoping someone can help with a dispute I have going on. I have a builder and a small team of apprentices and labourers working on a kitchen extension project for my home. The project involved knocking out two external walls, and when the building inspector came to site to view everything up to wall plate (so by this time foundations & walls were done) he said we'd need a structural engineer to draw up plans for the steel supports for the wall removals. I was never told about this at the start and the builder is saying there was no way he could know that would be required, so while I had to find a structural engineer and sort out fabrication he has gone off on other jobs and now says he is unable to return the project till the new year, blaming me for the delays. The original agreement was that he would stay on site until project is done, and while i understand it wouldn't be ideal for him to sit around and do nothing, i cant help but feel he should have known we'd need an engineer and to get him in before the project started (he delayed the start of the project himself, so this would have been an ideal time).
So my question is should he have known we needed a structural engineer or is it right for him to say those delays are outside of his control?
Thanks