Issues with tradesmen while building a house via direct labour

donkey10

Hi all,

I need an peoples views on a big issue. My sister is building a house on her own via direct labour. She originally got Plumber X to quote a price in the last 2 years and then decided to go with the quote with the cash price they agreed.

Anyways PLumber X started the work but then he said that he was diagnosed with cancer and passed the work onto his nephew who is Plumber Y. That was grand - no issues in terms of the quote price. Obviously the same quote stood. All money was paid up front (cash) when Plumber X had started the work - and he would have been overpaid for the amount of work he had done when he passed the rest onto his nephew.

In the meantime plumber Y came onto the job - I think the three of them met when the work was being passed over to Plumber Y.

In the meantime it seemed to be pretty difficult to get hold of Plumber Y as time went on - often she could be ringing for days and no answer so she would have to text him to let him know the next stage of the plumbing was ready.

When he did arrive he suggested that she change to gas as a heating system for the house and it would cost the same in terms of the installation as the original quote price. But then he started adding on extra prices. We also found out after that the reason he told her go for the gas was because he was getting a cut from CALOR for installing it.

During this year coincidentally my husband started acting as a subcontractor for Plumber Y so this was obviously going to cause issues whereby my sister didnt want to basically raise her voice to Plumber Y because of this etc etc

Plumber Y's employees did numerous things wrong in the house - hung radiators crooked - but it was blamed on the level. Yet when they finally came back to change them again Plumber Y blamed it on the "bad level~" and he then got a "new level" and they ended up being crooked again. His employees cracked tiles in the showers when installing the shower doors, they couldnt install the shower doors correctly and then scraped all her tiles at the front door when he dragged in a cyclinder to be put into the hot press upstairs. Yet Plumber Y refused to admit that he would rectify the mistakes.

The gas tank is also at the house now but the gas hasnt been installed into the house so Calor are sending her a bill every month as a standing charge for gas she doesnt even have connected to the house!!

He has now refused to answer any of her calls - only responds to her texts when he feels like it.
He was supposed to source solar panels but he has realised that these panels are costing a bit extra than the original quote. So yesterday he texted her saying she owed him 2k - which included 900€ for the cyclinder that was installed (even though this is part of the original plumbing fittings) and the remaining plumbing in the house - which is very very small. So basically he is adding on money to cover his own backside re the solar panels. Also the solar panels are extra - these havent been paid for yet.

Yesterday he also said he was doing her a "favour" coming in on the job for his uncle - you would swear the way he was talking he never got paid - despite the fact the 3 of them were together when it was being passed over. Obviously my
sister didnt know how much his uncle paid to him at the time when she would have overpaid him for work he hadnt done at that stage.

So he is basically not coming back in to finish off the remaining plumbing unless he gets the 2k. He also contradicted himself by firstly saying do you want me to continue sourcing the solar panels, then he said its not my job to source the solar panels and then saying i cannot source the panels - in three different texts.

What do you do with someone like this?? He is operating under a company, is registered with the RGII. It is extremely frustrating that some people operate like this.

Any help would be appreciated

jmBuildExt

Not much help to you now, but she should never have paid the entire price up front.

As regards fixing the problem, is there anything in writing from original plumber or the second guy?

donkey10

jmBuildExt wrote: »

Not much help to you now, but she should never have paid the entire price up front.

As regards fixing the problem, is there anything in writing from original plumber or the second guy?

Yes when the three of them met up last May and it is in one of the plumbers handwriting

BryanF

the quote was two years ago. That’s worrying. if this this is a current matter.

She’d paid up front. self-building is a tough business

Your husband who works for him needs to sort it out.

Speak to him about the deal that was made. And get receipts for the extra over cost of solar. A quote is rarely valid for more than six months

donkey10

He is an extremely difficult person to deal with - he no longer answers her calls (only responds when he feels like it to her texts) and neither does the original plumber who took on the contract.

Also difficult for husband to deal with it when it was initially nothing to do with him in terms of the contract - plus when he is a subcontractor with him he still works a couple of days for him.

the quote was reviewed back in May of this year and a number of things were changed - namely a lot of the items that were included in the original quote were no longer included so really she lost out on that too