Advice on walking off site

[htgeng]

Just a few points of view.
1. If he hasn't paid your invoice then he is in breach of any contract so *think* you are ok to refuse to do any further work.
2. If anything came of it, then the sparky is going to be on your side at as your witness assuming he is still owed £11k.
3. I wouldn't do anymore work and and still chase up the £1.5k.
4. What did you sign/agree with him when started. When was he supposed to pay you?

 

[Biggles..]

If you don't have a contract have you agreed stage payment.

Bounced cheques and breach of contract is a hard one to prove,you have to prove he had no money in the account and knowingly issued a cheque( it's also a criminal offence to do that).

If you settle get it in writtingvthsts it's full and final settlement fir your services

 

[onlyfitidealboilers]

signed just my invoice. no formal contract.

i never agreed when he was going to pay me but when i got the tip off off the electrician the alarm bells started ringing so iinvoiced him for the work iv done already. an he refused to pay. then ad the cheek to insist i return to site or he will sue me.

 

[skenk]

Did you not agree payment terms in advance?

 

[onlyfitidealboilers]

nope! bit daft i know but iv not worked for a builder before.

 

[Alfredo]

In which case you do have a problem.

Even so, there must be a generally accepted practice for paying subbies, and in the absence of a written agreement I think you are entitled to expect to be paid in line with the normal practice. I've never worked as a subby..so i can't tell you what that normal practice is..except that subbies who worked for the co I used to work for were expected to present either a weekly invoice, or an invoice when a particular install or phase of a job was completed. They were then paid, with a 10% retension to cover call backs, the balance being paid at the end of the next month after teething troubles had been ironed out.(Except that mugs like me ended up fixing the glitches half the time on call outs.. )

I can't recall if you have invoiced him, but let say, if you have effectively completed one install..which represents let say 1/5 of the work, then invoice him for that 1/5 with terms of payment attached. If your invoice is not paid..which sadly seems likely..then put in writing that whilst you are happy to continue working this is dependant on you being able to cover your costs, and non payment makes this impossible for you to pay for further materials and therefore you are unable to continue until payment is made.

If he refuses to pay you can always put a charge on his property..but I'm not a lawyer and it might be worth a quick chat with a lawyer to clarify that what you are doing is OK. Don't let the lawyer start writing letters for you, it'l cost you a fortune and won't work.

best of luck

Alfredo

 

[fazedup71]

I hate freeking builders, you got my sympathy mate and i hope you work this out, I wont work for builders either, fingers burned, lesson learned, builders are up there with ******!

 

[namsag]

AS you have been told stop listening to barrack room lawyers and seek proper advice.
He sounds the sort that is just not your average c##t but knows how to pull the proper strings.

 

[Corgigrouch]

Owch.... I had problems with a builder too a couple of years ago, took ages to get back the 10K he owed me. I managed to sort the little weasel in a less conventional way. My initial reaction would be to take the £800 and run like hell but the wise and correct course of action is to find a decent solicitor just to make sure that the guy doesn't come back on you.....

 

[Whitespirit66]

I hate freeking builders, you got my sympathy mate and i hope you work this out, I wont work for builders either, fingers burned, lesson learned, builders are up there with ******!

Yes, when I started out on my own, my uncle (a builder) said never to work for builders. Or landlords.

Too many I know of in the trade been caught out.

 

[advice]

Firstly you must have a contract in place. This would be a written contract which you have both signed and dated etc. A court must have access to the original contract, not a photo copy. If there is a contract in place, then the person must have suffered losses to be able to claim money in the courts. He can’t just say you didn’t do the work, I want money. The builder must take all reasonable action to limit his losses, so he must be trying to find another plumber quickly to finish the work, he must also be able to demonstrate this to a court. If he does take you to court, there will be weeks and weeks of paperwork for him to go through, he must send you lots of letters and he must be prepared to accept less then he initially try’s to claim. If you are due money under the contract and he has failed to pay this money within a reasonable time frame then the contract has been breached, your defence will be that he breached the contract first, and you considered it is null and void, it would be wise to write to him asking for the money and offering to return to work once he has paid, sending the letter 1st class. He could end up owing you money in addition to what he already owes you. A court will understand that you go to work to get paid, if he doesn’t pay you then you wouldn’t go to work, this will be you limiting your losses for when you claim in the courts for the money you are owed (the judge will expect you to take some responsibility for your losses and trying to limit them), however if he was only going to pay at the end of the job and because you heard a whisper that he owes someone money and you started to demand it now and he has offered to pay some and you refused to take it then your likely to fail, but I would be amazed if he really would take you to court. If a person gives a cheque, knowing that it will “bounce” then he has committed fraud, this is a “criminal wrong” not that the police will do much about it as with little investigation a presumed defence would be that it was a mistake and therefore the police won’t waste their time. Now if what really happened was that the builder came on site and had a go at you, put you in fear of violence and told you to go away and not to come back then I can’t see how he could make a successful claim in the courts.

 

[Lochy]

Subbed for Builders for years mate.

Under Scottish law if you do any work then that's a contract. Get your money(£800) quick, cause that tw.t is going down. Tell him you'll return to site tomorrow & pick up £800 cash, if you don't get it, lift as much of his tools, material & plant as you can get in your van. Go mob handed, to 'restrain' him if he objects. Then, after the cover of darkness go back & lift some more.

Don't mess around any more, tell the Spark what you are doing.

If he's handing out rubber cheques mate, he's going down it's only a matter of time, going to a brief will take days if not weeks, you need to act NOW!!

If you Subby work from Builders get everything in writing, cause if any dispute, of any kind, goes to court you need everything well documented. It's a tough game, so you act tough.

We have done all sorts to get paid; Take a Passy to his van tyres & leave a note under the wiper, that normally gets you a cheque. With a bigger outfit, sit in their office reception area all day until they stump up.

 

[joinerjohn]

Years ago, I worked for a builder as a subbie. He paid up every week, stopping 20% tax out of my wages. At the end of the tax year I was chasing him for SC60 cert. Got into a big argument with the taxman over the missing certs. Eventually, the taxman wrote to me saying Mr xxxxx. doesn't have you as a sub contractor on his tax returns. Turned out he was the one fiddling his tax returns, but I was the one initially investigated by Inland Revenue.
After I'd been interviewed by the tax office, I received threats from "friends" of the builder, eventually having to report these to the police.

Builders?? I'd steer well clear of them.

 

[Beerlover]

Builder? or a just a labourer who's saved up for a van?

When they tell you "we are always looking for a good plumber" they mean a new victim.

Get in quick, rob them on the 1st job and f### them first.

Walked from many never had any comebacks - good luck

Cheers

 

[Lochy]

Builder? or a just a labourer who's saved up for a van?

When they tell you "we are always looking for a good plumber" they mean a new victim.

Get in quick, rob them on the 1st job and f### them first.

Walked from many never had any comebacks - good luck

Cheers

We will always be Subby Plumbers, it's in the blood & love working on sites. Good Builders that pay their Subbies will always get the best Tradesmen and thankfully there's a few good Builders.

I've a mate that's a Builder, lovely big guy & as straight as a die. He has the best tradesmen on the books & the best Subbies working for him. Believe me they're not all dodgy.