Snag list not done & final payment??

[chucky36]

Hi,

I had an extension done which was finished roughly end of June. My builder left when the kitchen was being fitted and only returned to collect payment for the kitchen as he purchased it. He asked if we had a snag list and we said we had only a "few minor" issues that needed attention. He never got in touch for weeks and just seemed to wash his hands off the job. When we had problems with the kitchen measurements and installation (all his recommendation of people doing the fitting) he tried to blame us for it and i basically said he could whistle for his money and he should never have blamed us or spoken to us how he had done. He was here within the hour all nice and sweet because he wanted his money. Back to the snag list...we had the building reg guy around to issue us with our certificate but it failed due to the builder and electrician making a cock up with the ventilation in the kitchen. We emailed our builder and told him and he called that afternoon saying he would get the elec. to get onto it and he would be over to go through the snag list on the Tuesday.Well nearly a week later we are still waiting for the builder to come over. We have decided to go and do the snag list ourselves now as it is just being put off and we want this all finished so we can just get on with our new extension and enjoy it. We still owe the builder £380 for the final payment, the whole thing cost £16,000 + a few extras totalling £1500 roughly. My gripe is i do not want to part with this £380 now as we are doing it all ourselves. This is my time and i feel like charging him for it. We have had some problems during the build of the extension and we have always been willing to go with his errors in a positive way ie. delivery of window took 2 weeks longer then it was the wrong size, much bigger than we wanted, but to save the hassle of having to wait another 2 weeks we said just put that one in, scaffolding not turning up for ages then having it all taken down by the builder to save him costs and it sits in the garden for weeks. Many other little issues but we have always been "nice" about them and not gone off into one. Also a big gap in a doorway (2" wide x 5ft long) at the top which my Dad is having to fix for us as he hasn't.
My question being is do i pay the £380 or am i within my rights to keep it and tell him that i have done the snag list? I feel really fed up now and feel he has taken us for a ride slightly. He would also go off to do another job whilst doing ours which he said at the beginning he wouldn't do as he feels this isn't the way to work. Can anyone give any advice on this matter? I do hope so.

Thanks

Chucky

[Tony]

This is not really appropriate for this site as it is for new build homes. However, to answer your question you cannot retain the £380 unless you have a retention clause in the contract for snagging. If you don't pay you will be in breach of contract and the builder can sue you.

Tony

[zednine]

Originally Posted by Tony

This is not really appropriate for this site as it is for new build homes. However, to answer your question you cannot retain the £380 unless you have a retention clause in the contract for snagging. If you don't pay you will be in breach of contract and the builder can sue you.

Tony

keep it ... i doubt he will bother to sue you, even if he does it will take ages...

i try to sue many customers and still cant get final payments out of them...last one was £12k and he decided to go bust, another bloke for £2k he just refused to pay so i sued him and the court balifes said he had no money so hard luck.. and so it goes on...