How do you avoid employing a cowboy builder?
Well for starters you could visit some of the useful sites we mention on our links page by clicking on the title. These will give you very good advice regarding things to look out for when obtaining quotes for the work.
However, there are occasions when even if you follow all these tips to a rule you will still fall foul to incomplete and defective work.
The point I'm trying to make is that even good builders can become cowboys (not that ours ever was good by all accounts).
This can be for all sorts of reasons e.g. trouble in their domestic life, the Yosser Hughes syndrome ( 'I can do that') of taking on work they've never done before, staffing problems with employees, poor work from sub-contractors for which they are responsible, outside commitments to other work or businesses which leads to loss of focus to the work in progress, the list goes on and on......
Ours is such a story..... You can read the start of it in my next post
Do I know where hell is? Hell is in hello
Thursday, 22 February 2007
Wanted DOA - Cowboy Builders
Hello Everyone,
Ours is a simple story of getting an extension built to our house to accommodate our growing family. Pretty normal I'd say and something that many of you out there may have had done or are considering. By the way we live in the UK and work in Insurance.
About eighteen months ago we employed what turned out to be a 'cowboy builder' to build the extension. Although there has since been a dispute over the contract price and scope of the work - this simple extension costing less than £30,000 has cost us so far in excess of £170,000 - caused us stress and inconvenience and forced us out of the home we have happily lived in for twelve years, in fear due to harrassment and intimidation.
We have been completely let down by the legal system even though we won all the major points of law in the ensuing court case. Our case has effectively become a licence for cowboy builders!
Before our lives are completely ruined we have decided to fight back.
We are launching a new website called http://www.cowboy-builders.com
This site which is currently under construction will contain information on how to avoid employing a cowboy builder in the first place, and information on how to resolve the situation without having to go down the path that has led us to the brink of ruin. The site will contain a forum where 'victims' can exchange information and ideas.
You will be amazed at how the British legal system will work against you!
If you have any questions about cowboy builders or a story to tell regarding cowboy builders then you can either email to this blog or join the forum we will set up on the website. For legal reasons we may not be able to publish many of your accounts in full - but send them in anyway!
Over the next few months you'll hear first on this blog how the website is progressing.
Don't despair - help is just around the corner!
Ours is a simple story of getting an extension built to our house to accommodate our growing family. Pretty normal I'd say and something that many of you out there may have had done or are considering. By the way we live in the UK and work in Insurance.
About eighteen months ago we employed what turned out to be a 'cowboy builder' to build the extension. Although there has since been a dispute over the contract price and scope of the work - this simple extension costing less than £30,000 has cost us so far in excess of £170,000 - caused us stress and inconvenience and forced us out of the home we have happily lived in for twelve years, in fear due to harrassment and intimidation.
We have been completely let down by the legal system even though we won all the major points of law in the ensuing court case. Our case has effectively become a licence for cowboy builders!
Before our lives are completely ruined we have decided to fight back.
We are launching a new website called http://www.cowboy-builders.com
This site which is currently under construction will contain information on how to avoid employing a cowboy builder in the first place, and information on how to resolve the situation without having to go down the path that has led us to the brink of ruin. The site will contain a forum where 'victims' can exchange information and ideas.
You will be amazed at how the British legal system will work against you!
If you have any questions about cowboy builders or a story to tell regarding cowboy builders then you can either email to this blog or join the forum we will set up on the website. For legal reasons we may not be able to publish many of your accounts in full - but send them in anyway!
Over the next few months you'll hear first on this blog how the website is progressing.
Don't despair - help is just around the corner!
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