In early January we started looking for a bathroom installer who could refit our bathroom for us. We found a guy who talked very knowledgeably and gave a great impression, we agreed a price, a start date in mid-February, and agreed it would take up to two weeks for the work. He worked on the bathroom for one week and one day, at which point he had removed the old bathroom, rerouted some plumbing, installed some insulation on an external wall, installed a shower tray, and fitted the first six tiles. Since then we have not seen him. It appears that he decided that the tiles we wanted (large format porcelain) were too much hassle for him, and he didn't want to finish the job. We paid him 50% of the fee for the work, and all materials as we went. We also procured the tiles, shower tray, and other big ticket items before he started. Since he abandoned the project, we found many problems with the work he did. The shower tray was not correctly sealed to the wall, the plumbing was very unsafe, the plaster work was flaking from the wall, the insulation was uneven and poorly fixed, and the tiles were barely holding to the wall. Basically the only thing he did correctly was removing the old bathroom, which was (at most) one day of work. We have since found other people to complete the work, but the bathroom is still incomplete. This has been a huge source stress, since it is our only bathroom and we have been without a shower and sink (except for kitchen sink) since this began six weeks ago today. We wrote a letter asking that he return to the site and complete the work agreed with due care and attention. This got us some promises but no action. We wrote another letter demanding that he reimburse us for work not completed, or not completed with due care and attention, and for materials wasted; this was basically everything we had paid for labour, minus 200 for the one day of actual work done. This got an angry phone call in response, along with a very low offer (around 1/7th what we asked for). Last week we sent a letter before action, which got a response by text this morning (offering less than 1/3rd what we asked for). We rejected that offer, also by text message, and he responded with "See you in court then". He is a sole trader, working under a business name (not a limited company). I want to know if there is anything we should do right away, or should we wait for 30 days before commencing court action. We gave 28 days for him to respond to the letter, but I am not sure if his text message constitutes this response. Finally, can we do anything to strengthen our case, we have numerous photographs and so on of the work. We have kept a log of what work was carried out and when, and when he has been on site. Lastly, there are now several reviews of this trader online which tell a similar story of incompetent and incomplete work. Many thanks. C