Legal Advice Needed

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29 Oct 2012
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Location
Bristol
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United Kingdom
Hi All,

Need some help please, does anyone know if there is any sort of free or cheap legal advice available to tradesmen?

I've got a customer who is holding back about £12,500 net from me based on some spurious level that has never been given to me.....

I've built a garage and run my slab in at the same level as the house DPC - and they are now saying that they wanted it built higher than this. Apparently for the rest of the project (a large extension etc) they are looking to level a site out that already runs out by about 800mm - and that everything has to be lower because of the garage being lower. Apparently they don't want any steps on the ground at all or within the new extension.

I had a meeting with them and the project manager yesterday and he is angling for a release of some money but not all.....I don't understand how they can do this? During the conversation they kept referring to this particular step as a datum point where everything would work back from, I kept pretty cool and didn't really say a lot (because I didn't want to loose it), but just pointed out at the end that no one had ever discussed a datum with me, the woman then agreed that this particular point was not actually a datum and that they were looking for an 'optimum level' for the whole site - surely if they still don't know what this is then how can I? There was a ground survey done before the project started, but even the architect has confirmed that no reference to the survey has been made within the plans and in his opinion the garage was independent of any levelling of the site anyway. Even the PM has said that he can see no evidence of a datum mentioned......

Essentially they are saying they will release some money until they decide that the levels work or don't work....hopefully the PM will prove that they do and it will blow over, but even if they don't how can this be my fault?

Surely if he wanted it another 3ft higher (just for example) he couldn't just do this as planning would object to the ridge being much higher....

The joke is he said that he loves the job that we have done?!!

Any help or advice would be gratefully appreciated, I can't eat or sleep at the moment, i'm sick to my stomach!

Although my turnover is quite high I can't really swallow the loss of this magnitude from my cashflow.
 
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You could try turn the card on them. Agree to raise it 3ft higher on receipt of payment, once cleared make a dispute.
 
If you have built to architects drawings, which his/her client must have agreed, then they have no comeback. Also, I dought that building regs would allow a garage floor level with house floor.
 
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The update is that they ended up releasing some money, but ironically the general consensus was that if I didn't finish the job, I would then be in breach of contract so grudgingly I had to go back and finish a few things off - all done now - but they are still £3,500 owing - the PM has authorised my final invoice in total now, as far as he's concerned everything we have done is correct so i'm crossing my fingers.
 
30 days send statement for overdue £3.5k then send final letter 14 days later stating that if payment not received in 14 days then Legal proceedings may be comenced for the outstanding amount plus costs incurred as a result

be prepared to go to small claims court if the time comes and GOOD LUCK!
 
We lost 18k on a job once back in 1986.
Structural crack appeared in the blockwork (after a foundation had failed) shortly after construction was completed.

Was our own fault for not compacting the ground correctly and not using enough re-bar.
Sh@t happens.
We never went back and just took the loss. Probaly equates to about £30k in todays money.

It would have cost us about £5k to have rectified it and still the risk of not getting another penny was there.

We were real cowboys back then.lol :LOL:
 
Hi Guys - i've ended up about 1k down - I've just given up hope of seeing it, I haven't got time for all the nonsense that goes with court etc. I figure i'll be more productive getting on with other work without going back and forth to meetings / court etc.

They must have been one of those customers though, the PM has ended up walking away without anything!

Thankfully I didn't sign the contract for phase 2 which was a 150k extension - at least i'm not tied in.
 
150k for an extension?

You could build a top class new home here in NI for that amount.
 
Lol! The modification work to the main house was a further 40k and some conversion work to the original garage was 12k ish - it was about £250k inc the VAT all together.

Funny thing is the original house isn't that nice - would be worth razing to the ground IMO
 
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