Our Builder has gone bankrupt

FastEddie

Just sent you a DM.

SPECTRUM001

Hi there,

As before, thanks for all the replies, advice and well wishes. 

We are trying to keep some momentum going and have found a couple of new contractors who may be able to help with a few jobs, albeit at much higher prices (scattering the work seems to add a premium).

I took some very useful legal advice this morning from our home insurers. Whilst my policy does not afford cover to actually make a legal claim, they were more than helpful and researched the parties involved as far as they could. 

With regard to the scaffolding - as already mentioned, it is owned by the sister company to our bankrupt builder. So it is either now subject to their insolvency and will be claimed by the liquidator's appointed team, or it is still (if they were separate legal entities) owned by the sister company.

If the latter (per the lawyer I spoke to) we are able to deny access to our property until a court injunction is logged and approved against us. We certainly cannot sell or damage it without liability - but we can subsequently negotiate an offer (ahead of an injunction) they can enter our property to remove for an agreed price. Conversely, if they refuse to remove it, we can give them reasonable warning that unless they remove by a specified date, we will remove ourselves (by selling it).

I guess it will depend on how much they want it back. Right now it is useful to have it on site as we may have found a roofer to finish the upper floor repairs.

What is definite, is that we are looking at an additional six to nine months before we get to the end of the project, and we are going to have to be far more resourceful, flexible and dig in financially.

@FastEddie - Thanks for your message - I have left my details with David's office, and waiting to see if he has any thoughts

@Dominic - Our builder is not currently in contact with us, so am happy to say we've had no problems yet (and we've changed our locks). Don't think there will be much to discuss until he wants the ladders and scaffolding. Reckon you are right though - and most of these guys are probably all bluster, so I was certainly boosted by your story.........until you were stabbed in the penultimate sentence ! 

Sporky

SPECTRUM001 said:

I was certainly boosted by your story.........until you were stabbed in the penultimate sentence ! 

That's a painful place to get stabbed. 

Jono111

I was thinking that is you still need the scaffolding to be as quiet as possible and use it as much as you can for free

Kittyfrisk

Sporky said:

SPECTRUM001 said:

I was certainly boosted by your story.........until you were stabbed in the penultimate sentence ! 

That's a painful place to get stabbed. 

They don't like it up 'em!

* Hmmm... this might be better off moved to the 'TV catch phrases just for fun' thread.

Hattigol

Unless you are the World's Hardest Man, and you intend to guard your house 24/7, I suspect you might find it quite difficult to prevent the scaffolding from being taken away when the company decide they want it back.

SpoonMan

I'm really sorry for your troubles OP, but I've not laughed this hard in ages! 

SPECTRUM001

Hattigol said:

Unless you are the World's Hardest Man, and you intend to guard your house 24/7, I suspect you might find it quite difficult to prevent the scaffolding from being taken away when the company decide they want it back.

Although I am the World’s Hardest Man, I totally agree and am not looking forward to when this time comes.

However, the scaffold is at the back of the house, with very little access other than through the property. 

In that sense, @Dominic is right - they would have to actively break the law by assaulting us and breaking & entering. And it will take about an hour to move it all (I was present when it went in) by which time we would have the police round.

Aside from that, given the scaffolding is probably owned by their sister company (and no doubt they are busy setting up the new company after ripping us and others off), I’m not sure they would want that kind of negative PR. 

But, no, cannot imagine standing in a scaffolders way…

Dominic

Seriously , nobody is going to risk assaulting you and a prison term for £400 of scaffold tube .
It costs the best part of a day labour for 2 guys to take it down ......in reality it's worth cock-all to them .
I wouldn't give it a second thought.......your biggest concern is that it is removed carefully and diligently......it's actually very easy even with good intent to chip stone sills , break windows and damage patio slabs when removing scaffold .

Hurling_Fruitmig

Dominic said:

I thought I saw the OP said it was the builder's own plant.
We had a situation some time ago where a scaffolding was left on 4 storeys of a building in London .....builder had gone bust and scaffold company hadn't been paid . When we asked them nicely to remove it as the works were very close to finish they started being uncooperative and trying to be clever about it.......
"Someone's gotta pay mate ....'cos it's staying there til were paid .......understand about builder but you'll have to pay if you want it off your building ......get us the £4000 and we'll take it down "
They were pretty nasty ......I offered to pay them a small amount for an easy life and was told to Fuck off .
Next day , I loosened some of the cleats on the legers and removed some of the Monaflex then phoned the Borough Engineers Office with my concerns about the unstable and potentially dangerous scaffold . They had somebody there within a few hours ,contacted the scaffolders (whose board was on the front ) ......it was taken down the next day.
Sadly not without damage to some York Slabs where they dropped the clips from a height but £300 of slab replacement was better than paying them.

If it had been left for some time it would have been easier to bring the out of date record tag to the attention of the local authority inspector. I'm fairly sure they can compel them to either make it fully safe, or take it down. The latter would presumably have ben easier for the scaffolder in this case.

Dominic

^ was before those days .....and before Pavement licence tags too

SPECTRUM001

I owe an update on this thread, as unbelievably - we finished !!!!

Nearly two years from the start, and aside from some teething, our refurb is done. The bankrupt b*stard builder (BBB) left us in the lurch last August, and since then we self managed, bringing in roofers, plumbers, electricians, stonemasons, ironwork specialists and a lifesaver decorator - whom we personally employed full time for over eight months.

Never heard from BBB again, although he is still in the area. With regard to the scaffold, BBB's son got in touch to reclaim it, albeit we held him at arm's length whilst the (new) roofers finished flashing repairs and the stonemason finished pointing. Further to @Dominic's warning regarding damage during removal, we supervised (mainly with cups of tea) so that nothing went wrong when it was eventually taken back through the house.

A final scare with the carpeting (the company we had prepaid went under) was alleviated by their ex-fitter retrieving our Sisal and installing for us - he had seen what we'd been through and was a saint.

We are still sorting out a few snags, but boxes are finally unpacked and my music system working again (three years without my record collection). Had the (very patient) neighbours over for dinner - who said they can hardly hear my guitar - fantastic news and a testament to solid bathstone construction !

My anger has really subsided, and whilst we were around £10k down via BBB, we clawed back most of the losses during the self-managed period. We do need to apply for retro-active buildings regs, fingers crossed the skylight was installed to standard (I think it is ok, albeit would not know if it is "22mm too close to the ridge line" etc).

Thank for the comments above, most of all I am surprised how much we were able top push for once we had to. I guess that's an indication of reacting to pressure when needed.

Here are a couple of shots of front and back - and pleased to say we can hear the local owl's again... 

Sporky

Excellent news - enjoy your house.

boogieman

Great to hear you finally got it all sorted out. And well done for not collapsing into a quivering heap faced with all the nonsense that was going on. Sit back and enjoy your house now. 

Brio

Result! Well done.

Kittyfrisk

Phew! I'll bet that 'relief' doesn't come close to how you'll be feeling. Well done for keeping on despite everything.
Hope that you haven't forgotten how to relax   

russpm

Wow this is truly awful, so sorry to hear it.
Do you have a specification & drawings for the work and is there a contract in place such as a JCT Minor Works?
If so I would contact a construction legal firm who specialise in these matters.
Really hope you get this resolved.

Dominic

JCT or not , Company is in Liquidation , ' Legal firm who specialise in Construction Law '  etc 
@SPECTRUM001 has defined quantum of initial loss at Circa £10k 
The equation looks like a formula to turn the £10k loss into a £50k loss

DrCornelius

What a beautiful house - I hope all of the stress you went through feels worth it, it certainly looks like it from those photos  !

SPECTRUM001

Thanks chaps - we always knew it had the potential, so has been gratifying to see the house finally make the grade.

Has also been a learning process to realise that not everything goes to plan (eg our engineered wood floor in the kitchen has lifted and clicks), but that's ok !

Surprisingly (for me) I have found that if enough has worked out well and the bigger picture is positive, it turned around my perfectionism into an acceptance. 

@russpm - yes, it has been a really stressful experience and there are varying issues that cannot be resolved without serious financial input. However we are not in a position to legally challenge (insolvency is not a crime), nor wish to as we are now in a happier place having completed the work.

I have looked at the velux fitting and am happy the trimmers and joists were reinforced - whether or not it will pass buildings regs remains to be seen. My first question will be what is the ramification of not applying (probably not a lot until we come to sell). That is one for my solicitor.

As a footnote, I am now enjoying Bath even more than when we moved here - as if I am finally able to relax and see it more clearly.