Problem: Building dispute over damage to a garden feature
In July last year, a client asked me to build a garden wall. I employed sub-contractors to do the work, which was completed without any problems and the customer was happy.
During the time that the customer’s garden wall was being built, she asked one of my sub-contractors to rebuild her waterfall feature. He said he could and gave me a price which I then copied and sent to the customer. The customer did not ask me to rebuild the waterfall, and all I done was to sort out the money between the customer and the sub-contractor.
Some weeks after the work was completed and we had left the site, the customer made a complaint about the standard of the waterfall build, which I relayed back to the sub-contractor. The sub-contractor did not accept the complaint and I informed the customer of this, and all went quiet.
Unfortunately, in February of this year, my limited company cease trading. Then in March, the customer contacted me again, but this time demanded £3,500 from me which was the sum she had incurred for another contractor to make good the alleged defects in the waterfall feature. She has said that if I do not pay up, she will take me to court and also give me bad reviews.
I do not have that sort of money. Any help would be grateful with this building dispute.
Response: Advice for contractor facing damages for building defects:
Firstly, it must be established who did the customer contract with for her water feature.
Your limited company was the party that entered into the contract for construction of the garden wall. However, although the waterfall feature could have been a variation to the garden wall contract, there is some doubt because your sub-contractor submitted a price, not your [then] company.
For a contract to be binding, there must be certain essential elements present. There must be an offer, there must be an acceptance, there must be consideration, there must be an intention to create legal relations and there must be certainty.
At first glance, there is a tendency to say that the contract is between your sub-contractor and the customer, simply because your sub-contractor wrote out the quotation / offer which was passed to the customer via you, which the customer accepted. However, this is on the basis that the quotation was addressed to the customer, as an offer can only be accepted by the offeree and no one else. If therefore the sub-contractor addressed the quotation to your limited company, then the customer has a strong argument that it was your limited company that she has entered into a contract with.
But, even if the contract is between the customer and your limited company, your customer’s cause of action is against your limited company which has now ceased trading. Privity of contract would prevent your customer from pursuing you for the building damages for this construction dispute.
In relation to any bad reviews that the customer has threatened to leave, you only need to be vigilant if the reviews are against you personally.
© Michael P. Gerard
The advice provided is intended to be of a general guide only and should not be viewed as providing a definitive legal analysis.