I’m complaining about bad building works

Overview

Whatever your particular experience, if you’ve been let down by someone doing building or construction work for you, we’ll help you get it resolved, including fair compensation for the harm it’s caused you. There are many causes of disputes with builders, the most common ones being defective or poor quality workmanship, design problems, failure to follow plans or instructions, delay on finishing up and/or, in some cases, not finishing at all.

These can be stressful situations, especially if it’s your business property that’s at stake and the harm caused by the builder disrupts your ability to trade properly or puts your workers at risk. And if the property is a residential one that puts your or your tenant’s safety at risk, for example, the consequences for you can be severe.

It’s important not to hang about in complaining about building works and this is for several reasons. Evidence of negligence or bad workmanship can sometimes become less easy to prove as time goes on, delaying may expose you to counter-accusations of causing the harm or damage yourself and you want the building business to still be in business to compensate you - there’s always the possibility that if you’re not happy, you won’t be the first of their customers to feel this way and if there’s a queue of complainants in front of you and the builder goes out of business, you’re highly unlikely to get fair compensation for what you’ve suffered.

The best outcome is often a negotiated remedy and/or compensation settlement because it avoids the stress and cost of court proceedings. And if you’ve used a builder who cares about his/her reputation and wants to stay in business, you’ve generally got fair prospects of reaching an agreement without court involvement. We’ll examine what’s right for you and we’ll swiftly outline your options and recommend the best approach.

On this page we’ll show you exactly what’s involved in each stage of a typical building works dispute process, and how long you should expect each stage.

Your next stages
  • To find out precisely what happens during each stage of the process - and for average timings and costs - click on the section below.
  • Overview
  • Stage 1 A full review and analysis
  • Stage 2 Getting expert evidence
  • Stage 3 Taking the first steps for court
  • Stage 4 Starting the court process
  • Stage 5 Dealing with the evidence
  • Stage 6 Preparations and going to court
  • Stage 7 Closing the file