Last August, I commisssioned work to replaced my rotted timber conservatory with a spanking new one. Ground works were done quickly. First fix of the electrics were done (leaving me with half of my plugs not working for various reasons). The conservatory was supposed to be up by Christmas. Then an outbreak of COVID at the conservatory factory. Then shortage of parts. Then pent up demand. They factory layoffs. Then factory recruiting. Delays due to things like COVID were force majeure, nothing I could do much about. Staged payments have been made, with relatively small payments upon completion.
Now the conservatory factory is turning around and saying they forgot to include glass in their quote to the builder, and can they have Ā£1200 please. Its ridiculous. Its a small sum in the grand scheme of things, but I donāt feel like paying this. Have I got a leg to stand on? Or should I just pay up.
I donāt really want to be left with a building site for a garden, and go through the hassle of retrieving the costs to date through courts. The ācontractā is some typed A4, listing the works, and payments, and requiring my mark. Nothing about E&O.
At the moment, Iāve left it with the builder to see if he can get the factory to absorb at least part of that.
To be honest it sounds just ānormal builderā bollocks with usual excuses, how could a company literally forget the glass? At the end of the day it affects your life in a big way so it is down to how much you value your personal peace over the money but also will the additional money actually fix the problem. If not, then stand up for it.
If itās any help I have a friend who has been in the dg industry for 30 years whoās just quoted me āaround Ā£100ā for a replacement 8āx7ā toughened sealed unit, supply only.
I guess what Iām trying to say is the glass units are actually quite inexpensive.
Personally Iād try and negotiate with them - itās not worth getting legal over Ā£1k, plus itāll probably just p%ss people off which isnāt great when you have an unfinished project.
Best of luck with it.
Is your ācontractā with the builder for the complete job or did you order the materials from the dg company then contract the builder to do the assembly? If your ācontractā is with the builder then itās his problem. If you ordered the materials then you need to deal with the supplier. Your recourse may depend on what the paperwork says. Best of luck.
We had a solid roof put on our conservatory (5m x 3m) last Christmas. We got a fixed price from the company we engaged to do the job for Ā£7k. The job ended up taking 5 days longer than scheduled for, and their miscalculation of materials meant the job should have been valued at about Ā£10k. It was our fixed price contract that saved us from suffering the escalating costs, and it helped that buildings regulations were involved, so they couldnāt cut any corners to get it completed properly. I knew they would be out of pocket, but as we didnāt have the best experience once they took out deposit (waiting 3 months before they actually started - quoted 4 weeks), I wasnāt inclined to offer to pay more. I guess in the building game, you win some and you loose some. The owner turned up a few times in various expensive cars, so I knew theyād won more times than they lost. Not the best experience, but thrilled with the work now itās complete. Lesson - get a fixed price and agree a payment schedule thatās mutually acceptable.
I also got insurance against the job, cover for workmanship and materials - 10 years on both components. Not sure itās worth the paper itās written on, but I felt more confident the work would be done to a good standard. If anything fails, leaks, tiles fall off or discolouration occurs, I have somewhere to go to get it fixed without needing to use house insurance.
The contract is with the builder, and as per original post, there is not a lot in the contract. I donāt really know my statutory rights.
Logically, yes, it should be the builderās problem, not mine. The email from the factory to the builder suggested though that the factory thinks the costs should be passed onto me. As NickD implied, Iām probably going to have to cough up for peace of mind, and find another builder for future projects (like garages, this is a minefield of worthless recommendations from acquaintances).
CAB have some advice but if you as you say you donāt want to go down the litigation route, and I can understand why, then may see if you can go 50/50 which I think probably feels fair?
A fixed price and payment schedule is what I had. About 70% of the overall cost has been paid to date.
When its up the conservatory will come with the usual warranty etc.
Started off with 3 written quotes; during a pandemic, I found it was hard to get people to cme out and give quotes. One was very professional, full booklet of drawings but also a lot of padding about how great a company they were, having built the QE bridge etc (this was during first lock down, when they promised armies of builders for whom digging out a garden was super easy, barely an inconvenience.
Another quote also came in from a semi-national builder, but the estimator came armed with laser measuring devices, not a tape. Ridiculous quote on account of the estimator adding 1 meter to the width of the conservatory. When I pointed this out, and the other quotes, the bloke blew a fuse and moaned about never trusting family owned firm. Never actually gave me a corrected quote when I gave him the chance. The one I went with was a local family owned firm, I checked them out for any online complaints etc. Seemed as good as any. Owner turned up in a modest new Mondeo, doesnāt jangle with jewelry; doesnāt mean anything I suppose.
Iād stand your ground mate, Ā£1200 is Ā£1200 and if you have a fixed price for a new conservatory, thereās no way they didnāt include glass in the quote. Sounds to me like they are trying to take advantage of you, and earn another Ā£1.2k on the job.
This is exactly what Iām pushing for. In the end, Ā£1200 isnāt that much money (spent more on the last Jag service), but Iām offering Ā£600, and for the factory to push forward the delivery a few weeks (I donāt understand why any manufacturing facility canāt give a definite date for completion of a manufacture, rather than vague guesses).
What is extraordinary, during the quote process, we went through how many fixed windows I wanted, how many openers, style of door, and then on the end facing my fence, I didnāt fancy looking at a fence, and specced polycarbonate panels (or whatever the plastic is), and all this was conveyed to the factory. Its bizarre.
Ironically, at the time, I contemplated an extension instead of a replacement conservatory. But discounted that as I didnāt want builders hanging around too long. The irony is, during the Pandemic, there has never been a shortage of bricks and cement.
Hi Saz,
I tend to agree with NickM0864, I canāt see any way on earth that a quote for a āconservatoryā would not include the glass, after all what is a āconservatoryā other than glass sheets held in position by framework!
Fight the good fight!
Good luck.
Roger
PS: Oxford Dictionary of Architecture describes a Conservatory as:-
āGrander and more ornamental version of a glasshouse or greenhouse either a detached
structure or one joined to a dwellingā.
Like you I had several quotes. Generally they will be āaroundā the same price. So if your current company is around Ā£1200 different, then that could be a genuine mistake? (Maybe not).
Does seem daft that glass was not included though.
A quote is legally binding, BUT your installer could genuinely argue that ā theyā were mis quoted.
Courts are never a good idea really as itās you that has to put up with the hassle.
I agreed to pay the builder direct for the footings and brick work. Then the company once the conservatory was up. Then a final payment once all completed,( i.e. floor electrics, plaster, radiator etc).
Personally, although very frustrating and annoying I would keep talking and come to a happy trustworthy compromise for all of you.
Good luck.
The DG units & enclosed frames form part of the structure.
They are extremely heavy, and such would need engineered in as the structure evolved.
How anyone, as part of a team or directly customer facing, could possibly miss them out defies belief.
One thing that does spring to mind isā¦in the overall scheme of things, Ā£1,200 is not really a lot to these people, abut may indicate they are going hand to mouth just now.
In which case, caveat emptor into plugging in more cash to potentially aid their survival.
Same process as me. But there was a huge spread of prices. The idiot who measured wrong came up with Ā£40k, but conservatory and groundworks only. The middle of the road national; Ā£27k, but that included new garage roof, and free fitting of interor tiles (me to supply tiles). Present lot; Ā£22k (4x5m Gable Ended), with groundworks and garage roof. The actual ordered cost of the conservatory was Ā£3500. I will ask the installer, given that his business is all about fitting conservatories, if that struck him as unusually low. If an āexpertā didnāt spot it was low, how could I?
I dug out the āproperā contract with all the small print. Nothing there about Errors and Ommissions.
An added complication, as part of the overall job, the contractor is also sorting me out with a new garage roof, as the present one is leaking like a sieve (and I made the mistake of puttng the Mazda away a few days ago with the roof up, but window unzipped. Recent deluge has resulted in a soaked deck carpet).
Willing to compromise, even though I shouldnāt need to, but there needs to be some give from someone.
Thanks for sharing and hope it all comes out in the wash, (as difficult as it is).
Totally agree as others have said that you shouldnāt have to budge etc.
But life isnāt as simple as that.
Again good luck and please let us all know how it goes.
Sorry to wind you up but we ordered a new conservatory in march this year with a national company and are sitting in it now. Very pleased with it and the company that built it and itās got glass in the sides and roof!
The conservatory supplier is Crystal Direct (group turnover Ā£9m per year). They are essentially a āhubā, with the doors, glass etc coming from various suppliers, and bundled by them. Crystal essentially just make the frames. They have blamed COVID and a worldwide shortage of supplies for the delays, which I donāt entirely buy. In order to proceed, they have, essentially demanded a payment of Ā£1287. By way of compensation for their error, they have offered a discount of Ā£100 (frankly, an insult), claiming they make no profit on the glass.
Being pragmatic, I have reached an accomodation with the builder, where he puts a bit in, and I put Ā£900 in. As part of the overall job, I was also getting a new rubber flatroof for the garage as well (Ā£2900, Ā£1100 already paid). Going to cancel that job, and get a quote for a flat bitumen roof (standard single garage; the bitumen roof will outlast any time I will have in this house, and the one on it right now looks like its an original 1975 job), hopefully around Ā£1500, but if not, just cancel it, get the Ā£1100 back, and decide on what I want to do with the leaky roof.
In emails to the builder shared with me, the supplier claims if they can get the payment from me, they can get the glass ordered and have a better chance of delivering the conservatory by 23rd July; this was a conservatory 24th August 2020!
Does anyone know, if I chose to, whether I can pursue reimbursement from Crystal of the Ā£900 paid to cover their mistake. Their contract to supply was with the builder, not with me. Or am I wasting my time. Compiling a caustic email to the muppet behind this, ccāing their Marketing Director, seems to be about all I can do.
It still feels like you are paying for Crystal Directās mistake, I donāt suppose you are a Which member? Even if you are not they may be able to help, or try the CAB?
I would be careful about sending ācausticā emails just keep concise and to the point and be polite. Have you actually got proof that they forgot to add the glass or have prices just gone up ( or lost work: I really donāt want to add to your woes but have you looked them up on trust pilot? There seems to be others in a similar situation to you Edit: there seems to be companies with a similar name so it may or may not be the same group?) and they are trying to recoup a loss, did the builder give you access to their original quote, I canāt see you mentioned it anywhere.
Once you have paid the money trying to get it back will probably be a nightmare and potentially not worth the stress and time taken out of your life.
Iām really sorry you are in this situation where you know that ārocking the boatā is going to cause issues and its being used to put you āover a barrelā. Itās easy for us looking on to give our suggestions and advice where we are not in the thick of it, at the end of the day it is your decision and how you feel thatās important.
What I would say is whatever you agree get it in writing including the delivery date before you pay and maybe you can pay 50% now and 50% on meeting the delivery target?
As an aside with the garage roof, did they check the timbers? Make sure any contract includes the state of the timbers as you might get āadditionalā costs when they lift the roof and āfindā the timbers also need replacing which leads to unexpected costs!
I really hope this get sorted someway towards your satisfaction.
