Hi folks.
I'm looking for advice: I hired a trader to build a lean-to between my house and an adjacent structure. Initial description I gave him included guttering at the bottom of the sloped roof (sloping away from my house), running to an existing down-pipe. After he'd been engaged and started work (and after I'd agreed to pay (and paid) 50% up front for materials), he changed the design to build the roof flush against the adjacent structure with watertight flashing between, at a very slight angle, the thought being rainwater would flow towards the existing downpipe. He assured me this would work. It doesn't.
The structure itself is fine and I'm happy with the way it looks, however rainwater gathers at the bottom of the sloped lean-to roof, then runs down the wall of the adjacent structure, and actually dripping through knots in the timber the lean-to is constructed from. The angle towards the existing down-pipe isn't acute enough, the waterproofing not strong enough and I believe the design fundamentally flawed. The trader believes he's done everything he can and has finished the job, and is asking for the remaining 50% of the fee. Unless he can stop the leaking and gathering water, I won't be satisfied. However, this may mean completely disassembling the lean-to and rebuilding from scratch, with the guttering as originally agreed - I doubt he'd do this unless the invoice was increased (again something I wouldn't be happy with).
At this stage I can only see a few options:
1) Press him to fix with the existing design, withhold the cash until watertight (which I doubt he'll be able to achieve).
2) Ask him to strip it down and change the design to add guttering as originally agreed (which he'd undoubtedly ask for more cash to do, which I wouldn't be happy to agree to)
3) Refuse to pay the remaining fee as the finished article isn't what was agreed (which I don't particularly want to do)
4) Suck it up, admit I've hired a chump and I gave his ridiculous design change the OK, based on his claims of success, and pay him the remainder of the cash.
Any advice appreciated, I'm not used to dealing with mess-ups like this!
Cheers
I'm looking for advice: I hired a trader to build a lean-to between my house and an adjacent structure. Initial description I gave him included guttering at the bottom of the sloped roof (sloping away from my house), running to an existing down-pipe. After he'd been engaged and started work (and after I'd agreed to pay (and paid) 50% up front for materials), he changed the design to build the roof flush against the adjacent structure with watertight flashing between, at a very slight angle, the thought being rainwater would flow towards the existing downpipe. He assured me this would work. It doesn't.
The structure itself is fine and I'm happy with the way it looks, however rainwater gathers at the bottom of the sloped lean-to roof, then runs down the wall of the adjacent structure, and actually dripping through knots in the timber the lean-to is constructed from. The angle towards the existing down-pipe isn't acute enough, the waterproofing not strong enough and I believe the design fundamentally flawed. The trader believes he's done everything he can and has finished the job, and is asking for the remaining 50% of the fee. Unless he can stop the leaking and gathering water, I won't be satisfied. However, this may mean completely disassembling the lean-to and rebuilding from scratch, with the guttering as originally agreed - I doubt he'd do this unless the invoice was increased (again something I wouldn't be happy with).
At this stage I can only see a few options:
1) Press him to fix with the existing design, withhold the cash until watertight (which I doubt he'll be able to achieve).
2) Ask him to strip it down and change the design to add guttering as originally agreed (which he'd undoubtedly ask for more cash to do, which I wouldn't be happy to agree to)
3) Refuse to pay the remaining fee as the finished article isn't what was agreed (which I don't particularly want to do)
4) Suck it up, admit I've hired a chump and I gave his ridiculous design change the OK, based on his claims of success, and pay him the remainder of the cash.
Any advice appreciated, I'm not used to dealing with mess-ups like this!
Cheers