Builder dodging paying money

K

kingspoofer

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hello,
My friend was working C2 doing carpentary for this building firm and is owed 5K for work.They are giving him excuse after excuses,oh we didnt get paid yet ,you didnt have insurance,etc. now they wont answer the phone full stop and refuse to pay him what can he do?Going to court is expensive.Is there a small claims court he can take them to?Any replys would be great.
 
Solicitors letter, or has he access to where he carried out the work, could he go and threatening to take out say doors or what ever the carpentry work was. I heard of a guy doing this recently and he got paid straight away.
 
The contract is between him & the builder. Presuming the work is fine, it is not your friends problem if they are not being paid.

The next excuse will be that there are snags that they are not happy with, standard of work is poor. Sorry cant get access.etc.

If the place is occupied go knock on the door to say you have materials to collect that you havnt been paid for. Owner / occupier very quick onto builder. Do same with foreman if there is no occupancy.

No more excuses, court is a waster of time & more money. I currently have one builder in the high court, will never get a penny after solicitors take (they will push for settlement) and another is going through examinership. Give them 60 days on invoice and they remove your materials.
 
have to agree - uncle had to take a large amount of scaffolding / fencing / etc in lieu of payment.
 
Dont forget to add interest for late payment - which is allowed under law.
 
For €5k, get a solicitor.

It sounds very much like the builder is under pressure financially, and you need to be the one who gets their money out before a liquidation.
 
You would be mad to consider a solicitor, as soon as you send a solicitor letter the builder will laugh and ride off knowing that it will be at least 2 years before you get him to court.
Go to your local Circuit Court, speak to the clerks there about lodging a claim for non payment of debt, they are there to advise and are free. You can represent your own claim.
 
Sconhome said:
You would be mad to consider a solicitor, as soon as you send a solicitor letter the builder will laugh and ride off knowing that it will be at least 2 years before you get him to court.
Go to your local Circuit Court, speak to the clerks there about lodging a claim for non payment of debt, they are there to advise and are free. You can represent your own claim.
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I don't get that. If it takes a solicitor 2 years ( very unlikely) to get the case into court, how will a lay litigant do it any quicker?

And it would be the District Court for 5K.

mf
 
mf, sorry you are corect on the 5k, the limit in district court is in region of €6,350, the Circuit court up to €38k, then High Court. Circuit court on my mind!

I have found through experience, once you instruct a solicitor to issue proceedings it becomes a game of delay where the interval between issuance of a letter and reply by the other party (who usually can not be contacted, or refuses post) stretches out over a longer period.

When you get to proceed to apply for the judgement most likely the defendant will lodge a claim to defence, citing bad workmanship, incomplete snags, lost invoices or that they have a counterclaim for 'completing' the work. These excuses will appear one after the other with 6-10 week intervals for compiling the reasons and then tying you up countering the claim.

I didnt intend to infer that a lay litigant would do it quicker, the advice & guidance from the clerks is free. You will not have any outlay, where-as you accumulate solicitors fees which you will end up paying even if your case fails.

Until there is a fast track solution in this country to settle small business matters like this, many of our self-employed small buisness owners are at the mercy of the big companies who can afford to do this to people.
 
Sorry to be so blunt to all above, but due to the fact that I am a construction industry professional working (lucky!!), I have to be the first to inform you that the replies so far are slightly innocent and naive, I know because I am owed money and people I work for owe money..but there is, due to the economic crisis none in circulation, and all the insolvency companies and solicitor letters are at the moment of writing very much money for old rope having little or no effect, the mantra unfortunately is join the queue of Creditors.. the big guys will get paid first the small money last if at all.. to be in the bunkers and seeing it and being in communication with other professionals and subbies its a fact.. I would be very pessimistic
 
ccbkd said:
the replies so far are slightly innocent and naive,
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There is nothing innocent or niave about having to let 12 staff go and face your suppliers with nothing to show but the broken promises of developers and large construction companies.

I lost a home because my company didnt get paid, 3 years later I am still waiting to get into court.
 
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