Sacked Dodgy Building firm - I want to reclaim costs to complete project

[ekoforshow]

Hi,

 

I'll start with the history....

 

I signed a JCT contract with an Architect (who also acted as Consultant and Contractor) to complete an extension incorporating a new kitchen and toilet). Payments were phased in installments and the final 5% payable upon completion.

 

From the first week there were problems and the Contractor (as I will call the firm) attempted to increase the cost by 50% after the visit by the local building inspector. We haggled this down and subcontracted part of the work out to another firm who quoted less than 45% of the contractors estimate to carry out the additional work.

 

The contractor got rid of the first set of builders because of problems between the Contractor, the builders and ourselves and brought in another set of builders, these too were got rid of because of problems between the contractor and builders. The 4 to 6 week estmate to finish the project had by now gone on to 8 weeks and by this time we were not on speaking terms with the Contractor who plodded on with the job, getting a third set of builders in. Problems included weekly progress meetings that we insisted on not being finished because of tempers flaring, the contractor getting unqualified people to carry out elements of the work (against the law) and not resolving problems that we raise sometimes for upto two weeks.

 

We finally wrote to the contractor to bring the contract to an end primarily because they had attempted to break some agreements that we had made previously and safety concerns. The project was approximately 70% complete by this time.

 

We eventually project managed the construction to completion, getting our own people in to complete the job and this cost us several thousand pounds. We want to reclaim this money back from the builders (who by the way have stated that they do not owe us anything as we brought the contract to an end without their consent.

 

We plan to engage the contractor to arbitration via a professional body that they belong to and if this does not work then small claims court.

 

Now the questions....

 

Is there a timescale from completion that we need to stick to for small claims court (Job started in March, terminated in May and we completed in July).

 

What is the best way to tackle this bearing in mind that the contractor will probably ty to fight this every step of the way (I've kept all the text messages, voicemail messages, letters and emails) I've also followed up all meetings and agreements with an email detailing agreements made.

 

I've tried to keep the story short because there is a lot of information to go through, and will expand as questions and queries come in.

 

I look forward to hearing responses

[BankFodder]

you seem to be doing all the right things in terms of record-keeping and general organisation. You should also make sure that you record any telephone calls. Always record your calls.

 

You have six years from the date of the alleged breaches to bring a contract action in the small claims court. However you should realise if you have submitted to arbitration, then if the result of the arbitration is not satisfactory to you and you decide to go to court, it may be that the other side will rely on the findings of the arbiter as part of their defence. The charge will want to give some recognition of the arbitration decision and unless that arbitration decision is wholly wrong in law, he may well hold it. For instance, if the arbitration reaches the right decision that simply makes an award that you are unhappy with, unless the award is grossly and patently wrong, the judge is very likely to be persuaded by the arbitration decision.

 

County Court judges like people to go to independent arbiters and they do not want to get a reputation for the County courts as being a place to go simply if the losing party in the arbitration proceedings feels disgruntled.

 

What I'm saying is that to a certain extent, by submitting to arbitration you are likely to be giving up some of your rights in the County Court.

 

I think you have to make a clear decision which way to jump -- County Court or arbitration -- and to great extent this will be an economic decision as to the costs and likely benefits of each action.

 

If you are claiming more than £5000 including interest then it may well be that you are at risk of some costs if you lose. If you are claiming all and £15,000 then the losing party will have to face the possibility of paying all the costs of the other side.

 

If you win in the County Court then you may well be able to claim the cost of making good any damage and having the work we've done even if the cost of that is greater than the original contract had cost. The idea in contract is that you should be placed into the position that you would have been had the contract been fully executed correctly.

 

Are you seeing the contract personally or as a limited liability company? This is a serious question because a limited liability company can easily go out of business and leave you with nothing. Of course this risk exists which ever path you decide to follow

[ekoforshow]

Thanks Bankfodder,

 

I have not submited to either the court arbitration yet, it was my understanding that the courts would like to be seen as the last resort and not the first port of call, however, your reply seems to contradict this.

 

In any case, the fees for arbitration are similar to that for the court option and I do not mind either path. My main path was going to be arbitration then court (as I think the firm would default on arbitration findings anyway). The arbitration body is independent of the contractor (RIBA) and I had a good chat with their advice team.

 

The doubt in my mind is, I have sent a request for payment to the contractor. This comprises materials and labour that we paid them for and that they did not supply, as well as damage to my property that resulted from their work (including broken windows etc) that we have asked them to payfor, as well as other costs for example gas safety checks that became neccessary. Is this a legitimate claim considering that we terminated the contract unilaterally and without discussion. We also invited the contractor to supply materials that they have ordered specifically for our project, however, they simply turned up to collect their tools. The cotractor stated that they do not owe us anything as the decision to terminate the contract was taken unilaterally, they however have asked for invoices and receipt to back up our claim, but I want to keep these as evidence to present at either arbitation or court. I intend in my next correspondence to include a shedule of works that we carried out on their behalf after the contract was terminated