Cowboy builder

meenu puri

Does anyone know what I can do if I had a guy come renovate and the things are now either leaking or not working and also he didn't leave a clean finish to the job. I feel he over charged me at the time. He saves on taxes ect and gave a hand written recipt. I have been asking him to come fix the things that are not working properly but he keeps making excuses.

Boards.ie: Mark

Moved to Accommodation & Property where people may be better equipped to help with your query.

The_Conductor

Honestly- the only sane advice anyone can give you- is to find a decent local builder- and get them to come and fix the mess that the last guy left.

Your thread is titled accurately- the original guy you got in- was/is a cowboy- who by your admission gave you a good price because he was working on the black market and not paying tax.

Unfortunately- you fell for an age old ruse.

You can pursue the guy in the small claims court- if you like- however, I strongly suspect it would be a waste of your time- and as for the dodgy work he did (or rather didn't) do- get a competent builder to rectify it.

myshirt

Buy cheap, buy twice, unfortunately.

A lot of people gave out about lack of lending to small builders in favour of large well capitalised, and sophisticated builders.
This is one of the reasons.

This type of builder needs to be shut out of the Irish market. Even man, his son, and his cousin were builders at one point. We need to move on from that culture.

Sleeper12

People get confused with the term "builder".

A builder will build you a home or extention. He will contract in all the trades, plumber, electrician etc.

If your "builder" did all the jobs himself then you are dealing with a handyman and not a builder. While there are some good handymen most aren't. If you have plumbing work get a plumber, electric work get an electrician etc.

You are entitled to a numbered invoice /receipt.

The_Conductor

There are good websites out there- who have reputable tradespeople who bid for specific jobs- such as www.tradesmen.ie (among others- google the specific trades you need- and make sure you get references this time!!!)
Unfortunately- it sounds like you may need a few people in to fix the mess you've been left with.

meenu puri

Sleeper12 wrote: »

People get confused with the term "builder".

A builder will build you a home or extention. He will contract in all the trades, plumber, electrician etc.

If your "builder" did all the jobs himself then you are dealing with a handyman and not a builder. While there are some good handymen most aren't. If you have plumbing work get a plumber, electric work get an electrician etc.

You are entitled to a numbered invoice /receipt.

Thankyou, he says as he dosent pay vat ect he didn't charge me vat so can't give an numbers invoice. But looking at the price he charged vat is Inc also the furniture put in was from a magazine and I paid the price on the mag so think that would normally Inc vat.

meenu puri

The_Conductor wrote: »

Honestly- the only sane advice anyone can give you- is to find a decent local builder- and get them to come and fix the mess that the last guy left.

Your thread is titled accurately- the original guy you got in- was/is a cowboy- who by your admission gave you a good price because he was working on the black market and not paying tax.

Unfortunately- you fell for an age old ruse.

You can pursue the guy in the small claims court- if you like- however, I strongly suspect it would be a waste of your time- and as for the dodgy work he did (or rather didn't) do- get a competent builder to rectify it.

Thanks, it is just upsetting as that money was hard earned and I can't believe people like that get away with such. He's probably not even qualified ect but me not looking Irish when I ask someone the just get pissed off at me saying what do you think I am cheating you. But that is how I feel. With the attitude he has I wish I had the time and guts to take him to small courts.
But to get another to come fix his errors how do I trust someone now?

meenu puri

The_Conductor wrote: »

Honestly- the only sane advice anyone can give you- is to find a decent local builder- and get them to come and fix the mess that the last guy left.

Your thread is titled accurately- the original guy you got in- was/is a cowboy- who by your admission gave you a good price because he was working on the black market and not paying tax.

Unfortunately- you fell for an age old ruse.

You can pursue the guy in the small claims court- if you like- however, I strongly suspect it would be a waste of your time- and as for the dodgy work he did (or rather didn't) do- get a competent builder to rectify it.

Thanks, it is just upsetting as that money was hard earned and I can't believe people like that get away with such. He's probably not even qualified ect but me not looking Irish when I ask someone the just get pissed off at me saying what do you think I am cheating you. But that is how I feel. With the attitude he has I wish I had the time and guts to take him to small courts.
But to get another to come fix his errors how do I trust someone now?

meenu puri

myshirt wrote: »

Buy cheap, buy twice, unfortunately.

A lot of people gave out about lack of lending to small builders in favour of large well capitalised, and sophisticated builders.
This is one of the reasons.

This type of builder needs to be shut out of the Irish market. Even man, his son, and his cousin were builders at one point. We need to move on from that culture.

I don't feel he was cheap esp for the hours he put in and the quality of his job and really for the attitude he has. He knows I can't take him to court as I don't have an itemized bill. I have a small paper with amount and what he did. He is still out there mocking ppl. I wish the country had some sort of rule or somewhere one could upload his information to warn people ect but nope. I think I will just have to live with it so.

The_Conductor

The_Conductor wrote: »

There are good websites out there- who have reputable tradespeople who bid for specific jobs- such as www.tradesmen.ie (among others- google the specific trades you need- and make sure you get references this time!!!)
Unfortunately- it sounds like you may need a few people in to fix the mess you've been left with.

I disagree.. I used that www.tradesmens.ie website and I had a similar bad experience. There was no comeback and the website didn't offer anything in way of resolving the problem or covering any of the costs.

The_Conductor

reick wrote: »

I disagree.. I used that www.tradesmens.ie website and I had a similar bad experience. There was no comeback and the website didn't offer anything in way of resolving the problem or covering any of the costs.

That's why its so important to get references from people who have had work done by the person- it means you're not dealing with a totally unknown quantity.

The_Conductor

The_Conductor wrote: »

That's why its so important to get references from people who have had work done by the person- it means you're not dealing with a totally unknown quantity.

In addition, personally I found anyone that is good is so in demand that then do not need to use a 3rd party site.

The_Conductor

reick wrote: »

In addition, personally I found anyone that is good is so in demand that then do not need to use a 3rd party site.

Yes- and local newsletters are often a good source of personnel too.

meenu puri

The_Conductor wrote: »

That's why its so important to get references from people who have had work done by the person- it means you're not dealing with a totally unknown quantity.

Unfortunately the guy I got was referred, and I let him get on with the stuff thinking he will make sure it's done properly as his friend is like my best friend. Who isn't any more. So you say one should get contact references. But what if they give their friends and family as reference. That's still no good then. He was unprofessional, late every day, not on time, on the phone the whole day, making excuses for everything as if it was my fault that the house was built the way it was. Is there any place that gives a guarantee?

April 73

I had a very bad experience with a bathroom fitting company. Not a cowboy organisation - registered, recommended & I checked their work at a previous job.

All talk & no ability in the end though. He walked off the job leaving all the bathrooms half finished. Emailed to apologise & admitted the job was very poorly executed & offered me my money back to complete the job with another contractor.

That was the last contact I had with him & despite his written admittance, photographic evidence & a surveyor's report I got nowhere persuing the legal route - except more stress, time and cost.
The law in Ireland makes these shysters almost impossible to hold to account. All in all it was a horrible experience.

tradesman

I was called out to a customers house who had an extension built to check it over. The "builder" had 3 rows of roof tiles fitted. I ended up taking the roof off down to the wall plate and the back wall was leaning outwards by 2" below the wall plate. The "builder" was also recommended by a friend who had work done by the same fella! It is hard to get someone who is good at the job.

fishy_fishy

Get yourself an engineer.

And if you have no luck getting anything off the cowboy, report him to revenue.

meenu puri

fishy_fishy wrote: »

Get yourself an engineer.

And if you have no luck getting anything off the cowboy, report him to revenue.

To report someone to the revenue, one needs to provide the whole bio data of the person. Address of the person and they car colour type reg if they have one. Do you know if one can only give name and number and what work they do. Have yiu done skmething like this ckmplaint?

fishy_fishy

meenu puri wrote: »

To report someone to the revenue, one needs to provide the whole bio data of the person. Address of the person and they car colour type reg if they have one. Do you know if one can only give name and number and what work they do. Have yiu done skmething like this ckmplaint?

OP already said they're a friend of a friend. Sounds like their information can be obtained.

Sleeper12

fishy_fishy wrote: »

OP already said they're a friend of a friend. Sounds like their information can be obtained.

I wouldn't waste my time reporting this to the revenue but this information can be used to bring him to the small claims court if op wants to

fishy_fishy

Sleeper12 wrote: »

I wouldn't waste my time reporting this to the revenue but this information can be used to bring him to the small claims court if op wants to

Well the thing is, she can't claim the home renovation incentive scheme tax credit unless he issues a VAT receipt. So I think if I was in that position I'd be on to Revenue... apart from everything else he's done, he's denying her a tax credit of 13.5% of what she paid. There's no reason why he wouldn't provide a proper receipt if he was above board. He's robbing every tax payer in the country.

And going talking to revenue doesn't prevent her from taking him to court to recover costs spent on putting the work right - at which point I'd reiterate that OP needs an engineer to look at the work. Engineer will decide what's wrong and will know decent contractors who can put it right. (And if OP wants to pursue the cowboy, will write reports as evidence of what was done wrong).

The_Conductor

fishy_fishy wrote: »

Well the thing is, she can't claim the home renovation incentive scheme tax credit unless he issues a VAT receipt. So I think if I was in that position I'd be on to Revenue... apart from everything else he's done, he's denying her a tax credit of 13.5% of what she paid. There's no reason why he wouldn't provide a proper receipt if he was above board. He's robbing every tax payer in the country.

And going talking to revenue doesn't prevent her from taking him to court to recover costs spent on putting the work right - at which point I'd reiterate that OP needs an engineer to look at the work. Engineer will decide what's wrong and will know decent contractors who can put it right. (And if OP wants to pursue the cowboy, will write reports as evidence of what was done wrong).

He (the builder) needs a C2 tax clearance cert- for the work to qualify.

Sleeper12

fishy_fishy wrote:

Well the thing is, she can't claim the home renovation incentive scheme tax credit unless he issues a VAT receipt. So I think if I was in that position I'd be on to Revenue... apart from everything else he's done, he's denying her a tax credit of 13.5% of what she paid. There's no reason why he wouldn't provide a proper receipt if he was above board. He's robbing every tax payer in the country.

To claim from this scheme the homeowner has to ask BEFORE any work starts is the tradesmen vat registered. Not all tradesmen have to be registered. It depends on the your turnover. There's nothing illegal about a tradesman not being vat registered. It's illegal to be vat registered and not charge vat

For the home improvement scheme the tradesman has to enter your details with revenue. You always need the discuss the scheme with the tradesmen first. Not after the job is done

Fol20

fishy_fishy wrote: »

Well the thing is, she can't claim the home renovation incentive scheme tax credit unless he issues a VAT receipt. So I think if I was in that position I'd be on to Revenue... apart from everything else he's done, he's denying her a tax credit of 13.5% of what she paid. There's no reason why he wouldn't provide a proper receipt if he was above board. He's robbing every tax payer in the country.

And going talking to revenue doesn't prevent her from taking him to court to recover costs spent on putting the work right - at which point I'd reiterate that OP needs an engineer to look at the work. Engineer will decide what's wrong and will know decent contractors who can put it right. (And if OP wants to pursue the cowboy, will write reports as evidence of what was done wrong).

I can only assume when they were agreeing a deal they may have known VAT wasn’t included for such a deal and price may have reflected this. Unfortunately if you go for these types of deal, you don’t have as much protection