How To Give Builders A Bad Name

[agent_zed]

My brother is having a house built and so far has been screwed over by 2 completely different builders both locals and both with family/friend connections.

 

First builder has been a family friend for years. Was barely on site to manage his lazy workers who laid less that 40 blocks a day on really simple straight runs. Ran over a barrow in the digger and buried it to hide it from the boss. My brother thought it had been nicked so contacted the police. Turned up months later under a pile of soil. Ran well over budget and wanted more an more money without any guarantees of finish date. When asked how much it was going to cost to finish the shell they came and took all their stuff off site and said they 'couldn't work under these conditions' WTF??? They are still claiming my Brother owes them money as their invoices show 10% vat??? also charged for a load of tools like rakes and trowels?? shouldn't they have their own? isn't that what he is paying for? Oh a few bits like a velux window kit which was surprising as the house didn't even have a roof let alone a velux window.

 

Second builder started well (friend of my other brother friend). Agreed a price for block work and was done to reasonable standard. So my Brother continued to get them to do the roof, agreed a price of £6k. Job nearing completion gets a text saying he owes another £8k on top of the original £6k as the job took longer?! The builder and his dad came to my Brother the other day and threatened to take the roof off and basically threatened to physically harm him if he didn't pay. How crap a builder do you have to be to underestimate by over 100% and then threaten to beat someone up. If he had said when he got to a certain point that it was costing that much my Brother would have put the tiles up himself as its a pretty easy job (my Brother and father-in-law had carried most of the tiles up the scaffold anyway). The builder and his dad are lucky they cornered my brother by himself, if i had been there too i would have told them where to stick it.

 

2 for 2. Hoping the next one is better....

[Mitch]

is this a job for Phil Shelton !!! ??

 

[philshelton]

Always get a quote not a estimate and also make sure you get 3 of them and that they are all quoting on the same things. Always ask for references, it amazes me how few do. the only unknown on a build is the footings and they can increase by thousands but once out the ground that should be it. Remember to outline everything you require like sockets light points etc when they are quoting. winds me up when i hear things like this.

 

rant over

[Guest Tim Norman]

What does your brother's Contract say?

[Guest mark little]

This always annoys me something rotten, another case of somebody giving our game a bad name, like Phil says always get a quotation and references or ask to see some of their previous work.

[speedtripledan]

Bunch of idiots! I hope he didnt pay and contacted the police re the threats.

[Guest 2b cruising]

Sounds a bit like the travelling community to me. Fit the missing words Meat *** lock and ***

[agent_zed]

Well I think he is going to pay as technically they did the work. It was vastly underestimated though and a decent builder should have flagged that up not just carried on as my brother could have then either done it himself or budgeted for it. To get a bill for 8k when u ain't expecting it doesn't help either party.

 

Trouble is not paying is the house is very remote and no one on site most of the time easy for accidents to happen.

 

Stupid thing is this is only the shell and roof so loads more work to do, this builder has now burnt his bridges and won't be getting any more work.

 

My brother is an idiot though as mostly done on a handshake as the first part was done well and to quoted cost.

 

Heard this evening that the first lot of builders, who were a family business, have decided to part ways so sounds like they weren't happy within their own company

[Guest 2b cruising]

Good news about the first lot of builders.

Unfortunately decent people do trust the word of others. It's just in our nature.

[Guest mark little]

Tell your brother to speak to the local building regulations department, they inspect work day in, day out and will be able to recommend good local builders.

[Andi]

I think I would set my phone to record any further meetings. Legal or not as it may be

 

Andi