Kitchen Renovation Nightmare

in january this year my mum organised a "builder" to renovate our kitchen. unfortunately mum did not ask for a written quote has he was a friend of an old friend. He started the kitchen and we made progressive payments so that the new cupboards etc. could be built and installed - that was fine but then he continued to ask for more money and no work was being done.

To date we have a fridge and freezer space with barely fits the fridge and freezer side by side (these were existing and measured) but no skirting or architrave around the laundry door next to the freezer. We do not have a flue cupboard above the rangehood and no skirting on the dinning room side of the bench. Not to mention the overhead cupboard door the fell off.

The "builder" has requested a further $4,500 before the will complete the outstanding work however we have requested on numerous occassions that he finish the kitchen and then we'll pay him. this has been going on for months. So we asked for his builder's licence to take the issue to the Building Commission but as it turns out he doesn't have one now he is threatening legal action if we don't pay up.

does anyone have any advise on how we can handle this?

who was the 'friend'...
go talk to them
pass the message on...etc. or was he a 'tip' from a friend?
Protocol etc...

Make some notes, write down everything... try and put it in order (cronological)
Note invoices and payments, comments and phone calls.
Work dates on site etc( might recall these when dates happened ie birthday dates, annivers')
The more you have the better.

No emotion.
just fact.
Then you will be able to look at it and see if there is reason to get angry (from anothers' point of view)
For a bit of balance... not that you aren't
Post a photo or 2... we love em

What paperwork exists ? If you can't sort this out by talking then the paperwork will be the decider in any further action.

From what you say it seems like the payments were progressive and therefore you may be up to date with paying him for what's been done so far (never mind the issue about quality).

If he simply wants to be paid in advance for further work then I'd just tell him that the project is ended and you don't want any more work done on the kitchen. Goodbye.

Did you get receipts for the money given to him so far? If not then as was pointed out in another thread recently you can dob him into the ATO!

I dont know where you are but the Office of Fair Trading take a dim view of working without a licence.

Personally I would call his bluff about going to court. Should he do so take photos and have all your paperwork in order.

The photos of the unfinished areas are in the link below:

http://s774.photobucket.com/albums/yy28 ... mview=grid

there weren't any invoices just "i need more money" which in the end got a bit ridiculous and no contracts where signed.



we were paying him as the work was completed and on a number of occassions we did tell him that we wouldn't pay him anymore until the job was completed.

That is really sad I don't know what you can do without invoices to say what you have paid. Still I would ring Fair Trading and see what they say. Really disgusting work

You really need some kind of paper trail - you havent got anything at all?

I don't see how he can threaten you with legal action if there's no contract and he hasn't given you receipts. It sounds like it's time to let him deal with his own financial problems and get someone else to fix the kitchen.

Lack of a paper trail is no problem if you just want to stop using his services. He needs to prove that you owe him money, and it doesn't sound like he can do that.

Bugger the office of fair trading

ATO sounds a better alternative. Cut your losses

[quote="Bam"]You really need some kind of paper trail - you havent got anything at all? /quote]

it was all done by cash. the only real paper trail we have is emails between him and myself. i took over dealing with him after a couple of months without any further work being done. he got very annoyed as i am a bit more forceful than my mum and really put my foot down when he asked for the additional $4,500 then he decided to charge an extra $250 for a breakfast bench which we accepted until he wanted to charge an extra $100 for delivery needless to say we're now not having a breakfast bench.

we have got someone else in to provide a quote on the repairs - this time i'm using a guy we use at work so i know his licenced but of course all the depends on what he quotes us.

i am thinking about the ATO. i did talk to the building commission at one stage and they basically said that without a builders licence there isn't too much they can do and i will definately talk to the office of fair trading to see what they have to say - though might not be much if it's not a legitimate business.

Unless you feel that you've been severely ripped off I'd just put it down to experience and move on. Otherwise it's just adding more stress and history to an unhappy experience.

Move on and chalk it up to experience? Why?

Name and shame the ********. Crucify him with the ATO if possible.

I for one would like all bad apples removed from the basket. It would make life so much better if all tradies were honest and punctual and most importantly skillful, but the sad thing is that they are not and the more they get scrutinized/exposed/crusified the better. The good ones will benefit from this by having bucket loads of work and the bad ones.....well what can I say, unemployable.

Jack

A good start to avoiding the "bad apples" is to engage trades in a legitimate manner, i.e. with a written agreement that refers to the complete scope of works to be delivered at what price - Including G.S.T.

Not that this will guarantee that the work will be done to your expectations but at least this way you have documentation if something goes wrong.

Invoices from trades have the businesses A.B.N, A.C.N (if appropriate) and assorted licensing details on them.
Anyone not willing to furnish this information would automatically be on my suspect list before they even come in my door.

I appreciate that this "tradesman" came referred by a friend and that you took him at his word.
It is unfortunate that the job has bogged down in the way it has; sadly I see too much of this sort of thing.
For projects of this size (and cost) I can't see the justification of saving some money by doing it under the table.

When I provide a service for an invoiced price I have to stand behind that invoice.
The whole "cashie culture" and the problems it can cause is the reason I don't do jobs for friends - and you can believe me that these problems can cut BOTH ways.
I don't know about anyone else, but someone crying to the A.T.O. when they have been complicit in tax evasion wouldn't exactly strike a sympathetic chord with me.

From what I understand of your job you have at least received a fair amount of what you paid for and I agree with the others who say that the best thing you can do is move on.
I think we all get burned by something like this at some stage; for some the lesson is more expensive than others.

The sooner you find someone to finish the work for you - on your terms - the sooner you can enjoy your new kitchen and forget about the painful parts.

Cheers.

Earl