Disaster kitchen installation

My neighbour spent a fortune getting an extension done to make into a very large kitchen. They bought beautiful and expensive marbel tiles and they were put in before the new kitchen was installed. on the day the kitchen was due she put cardboard down to protect the tiles from scratches! When she came home the cardboard had been flung outside and there was deep cuts into her tiles where the installers had there saw cutting the wood! Its completely ruined but they wont take responsibility and they say another builder did it even tho no other builder was in the house!

The sink she bought is also a deep ceramic one and it has a large chip in of the front of it. they refuse to replace it!

She still owes them €3,000!

What should she do? I suggested not paying the balance until they replace the cost of the tiles and the cost of getting them fit again and the replacement of the sink! Any other suggestions?

Your friend should get some photos taken of the damage straight away and document in detail any converstions or correspondence with the installer. The 3 grand should go some way towards correcting the damage although I'm very surprised that an installer wouldn't take precautions to prevent such damage in the first place. Kitchen fitting is a relatively clean job and there really is no excuse for the damage you describe. If this work was carried out under a building contract (under the supervision of an architect, surveyor or engineer) your friend would have significant recourse. If not a solicitor will probably have to be consulted.

In the business myself and there is absolutely no excuse for what has happened.

As carpenter suggested, photos and document everything. However you are going to have to prove that the floor was in perfect nic before they started - they could quite easily say you put the card down to cover the damage etc etc. Same with the sink, they'll say it was delivered from showroom like that.

Don't hand over money, but get ready for plenty of abuse and legal threats but stand firm. Quite simply, if it costs less than 3000 to do the work the builder will eventually do it, but if over 3000 he'll cut his losses and run