S J Westwood New Extension and Garden Transformation

[IanandDeb]

Hi all.

I am new here and this is my first post, I was wondering what my options are and if any advice you could provide us.

Both my Partner and I have tried at least 5 or more times to contact the builder and he's not responding to us.

We have provided him with both written and photographic evidence of the issues we have within our Garden, and as I have mentioned he is not responding back.

Yesterday we had the second builder to come out and see if they would look at rectifying the issues and he pointed out further issues, and neither would take on the job as it was as they wouldn’t be able to guarantee their work.

Including the outside levels are not complying with the building regulations, where it mentions outside level should be 150mm Minimum below DPC, ours range from 140mm down to 90mm.

He constructed a retaining wall of concrete posts and concrete gravel boards between our property and the neighbours as their garden is 3ft below ours, on the quote for the extension that was supposed to be a brick-built wall. But the builder advised that replacing this with the concrete posts and gravel boards would be an improved cosmetic look, not once did we believe this would be such an issue as it proving to be and, in our opinion, he would have known this wouldn’t be sufficient to stop the ground movement we know have.

And all the porcelain tiles in the area the movement is happening have lost their adhesive bond, so are now rocking, the job was only completed in August-22 and the posts are already 20mm out of plumb.

Looking forward to any advice you could provide us

Within his insurance documents he supplied he's was insured for £1M Public Liabilty and £10M Employers Liability.

I can attach a PDF to show the problems we have if required.

Kind regards

Ian and Deb

 

[BankFodder]

I'm afraid that your story will it isn't at all clear.

You mention a first filter but don't tell us what this builder might have done 5 years ago or what the problems are.

You've mentioned the second builder who apparently won't touch the work because of various problems.

I think you need to start off giving a pullet pointed chronology or what has happened and beginning at the beginning

[IanandDeb]

Sorry BankFodder,

I will try and explain further.

We brought the house in 2016 and decided like many to extend the house and sort out the garden, the extension and garden was done by the same company and was started 01-Jun-22 and finished mid Aug-22.

We have had some internal issues within the new extension and existing building, but the more concerning, costly, and worrying are the issues within the garden.

• We started to notice there are a lot of porcelain tiles where the grout lines between them are cracked and no longer joined to the tiles.
• The tiles have started to move, so they are no longer fixed to the underlying material, to now where they are rocking when you walk over them.
• There is a small brick retaining wall only 3 courses high and this has cracked where the movement in the ground has occurred.

But because the original builder is not returning any of our call or responding to our messages or emails.

We have contacted a couple of other builders/landscapers to come and establish how much it would cost to rectify the problems I have listed above.

When they reviewed the issues, we have they have pointed out further issues we were not aware of.

• The retaining wall made from the Concrete posts and gravel boards is moving, and so far since Aug-22 to now it is 20mm out of plumb.
• This has made the tiles within 2 metres of the above wall drop by 20 mm, cause the issues I have listed above.
• They have also pointed out the floor level outside should be 150mm minimum below the DPC course of the new extension, at the maximum it is 140mm below DPC which I would say covers 20% over the external wall, the remaining 80% is somewhere between 120mm down to 90mm.

Neither one would be willing to work on the garden in its current state, as it will continue to move, and it would do the same to their work and so they would be unable to guarantee their work.

To rectify the DPC issue, we require them to remove all the existing tiles and change the levels of the ground and reapply all the tiles, that’s if they don’t break them getting them up.

Hope this explains the situation further, we need to get this sorted, but surely this shouldn't be at our cost again, we paid for a job that wasn’t done correctly and does not meet the Building Regulations and I would say this is falls within Poor Workmanship.

Best Regards

Ian and Deb

[BankFodder]

What is the name of the builder and do you know if he is still in business?

You will certainly need an expert report to identify all the problems and to suggest remedial action and even whether the previous work needs to be completely replaced and the cost of all of that.

How much did you pay your first builder

[IanandDeb]

Yes he is still in business, he's a local builder

In total for the Garden wascirca £11K but I would say £8K/£9K would cover the area in question.

We believe we would need to be as the levels are not correct, what would happen if we tried to sell the house as it is with all the issues that are going to get worse IMHO.

 

[BankFodder]

Telling us he's a local builder doesn't tell us who he is. Please will you name the builder.

Is he self-employed or is he part of a firm? Do you know where he lives or where he is based?

Did you pay him cash? Against an invoice? Did you get a receipt? Was there an initial written quotation?

You will definitely to get at least one expert report to begin with and a quotation for the remedial work to the standard width which you will be satisfied.

[IanandDeb]

The builder is  S J Westwood Building and Civil contractor

I believe he is self employed but has someone working with him permanently and then uses someone else when the job requires.

No we recieved a quote and we paid via bank trasfer and he provided a receipt of money received for those payments.

We are awiting a builder to come out and provide us with a quote to rectify the work to our standard.

Do you recomend what type of survey I should get?

[BankFodder]

Well begin with the builder who is coming out. But you will need in writing – you will have to itemise the defects he finds and the remedial work you proposes and the cost.

I would suggest that you don't mention the dispute because they don't like doing this and sometimes I think that they are just being asked to quote and not getting the job. If he wants money for the quotation then you should pay and you will recover it.

Have you got an address for SJ Westwood?

 

 

[IanandDeb]

Hi,

No its not the same one.

Sorry I'm new here, but why has the name of my post changed to include the builders name?

And why would you need his address?

Ian

[Nicky Boy]

It's useful for search engines to send people here if other people have problems with them.

[dx100uk]

its called name and shame, so thats not the one who is?

dx

[BankFodder]

So please will you identify the correct one and give us the address.

It also helps us to help you because we may be able to do some research on top of what you have done and discover useful information

[BankFodder]

I'm also mystified why you are anxious to protect the identity of somebody who apparently did a very poor job on your property, charged you a load of money and then declines to respond to your very reasonable approaches about the quality of the work which had been carried out.