:D There is a place quite close to me that you wouldn't make it out of alive if you had a bit of green on you. In fact, they had to repaint a few shops in the town which were green because they were having hastle.

One of the reasons I'm not into football. And most of them don't even know what they're fighting about...the thick cnuts.

send em a bill for the outstanding balance to start with.

They have already told him he will not be getting the money.

You said your father did actually damage the materials, does he have any idea what the replacement value of these would be and how that compares to the deduction made?

Maybe the company needed to order the replacement materials before they knew the final cost of damage implication.

Hindsight: Wouldn't your dad have been better to push this a bit more at the time and possibly involve his own insurance if necessary.

I agree, it does seem very underhand method to get their financial loss back. Normally I would have expected a meeting to establish actual cost of damage/replacement, any consequential loss and possible ways to repay.

Does he expect the company to cover the cost for the damage?

Let them know you will be taking legal action,first, and give them a couple of weeks to pay, or your case will probably be thrown out.
Just the threat is often enough.
It ,might be worth reminding them that his liability insurance will deal with it.
Good luck, and let us know the outcome.
Nick

How were the materials damaged?
I take the view that if I supply the materials, and I F up, it's down to me. If my client supplies the materials, and I F up, it's down to them! Saves arguing about the quality of the materials, etc...

Good point, I don't know. I am reading that they were maybe other materials, stock or even WIP, not necessarily materials his father was going to use.

If we damaged property during our work I would expect to sort things out either by payment, replacement or using my insurance.

My brother in law is a site manager of a reputable building company that have done loads of major work at Kings Mill hospital Nottingham, Notts new police HQ, new fire stations and are currently doing an approx £14m building at a local University, he generally controls dozens of contractors every day.

I could ask him how they would resolve it. Maybe a few facts would help like trade, what materials and who supplied them, how they got damaged etc.

I suspect that a claim will result in a counter claim that could potential get out of hand.

The damaged material was 1 concrete panel, which he was fitting.

As stated in earlier posts: he was fully expecting the cost of it to be deducted from the agreed price. It was nothing to do with the second job(months later), which was completed perfectly, and since ordering the replacement panel during the first job there had been no mention of it. Just deducted from price of second job with nothing in writing.

Thanks for all the input, but this thread really has so many different opinons on it now that it's becoming confusing. We have also been in touch with the citizens advice bureau, and they recommend going through the small claims process as well, so that is exactly what we're going to do.


Thanks again for all the help. I'll update this thread with how it all turns out.

They have it logged or they wouldn't have brought it up.

How is the fact that you/he thought he had got off scott free but been stung in the end underhand

You're joking right?

Tricked? WTF! its not cheaper for them they had to replace the materials, listen, in the building game timespan is nowadays king, deadline is everything.
If your man had his final account settled and the damaged goods were brought up then yes, this would be out of order, if it was never brought up then its still fair game as the debt is not settled.

How can he be tripped up?
You are starting to come across as a bit whiny tbh, no offense, but if your mate hadn't damaged the goods then none of this wouldn't matter

Thats money wasted then

You're welcome :)


You can probably tell I work for a principal contractor :thumb: ;)
At the end of shift, your mate has a choice, accept the work and conditions or go down the road, it IS his choice but I can assure you that in the current climate there are a dozen more skins waiting in the wings to take the job if he doesn't like it.
It may seem harsh but its the truth, I turn away at least half a dozen guys a day asking for work, its a labour rich environment at the moment.


What this seems to boil down to is that your mate thought he got off scott free but go busted later on for it after he blew the bit of cash he squirreled aside was spunked ;)

Tell him that it comes down to the settled final account, end of.
If the damage is noted and not costed then he is in the clear, if nothing mentioned then he has the choice to accept his next final account with deduction, or try to fight it and lose the money and any chance of another contract with the firm.

All I can say again is that I will post the outcome.

You have very little understanding of what is going on here. Well, let's face it, after posting the senseless drivel above you can't expect me to take you seriously?