Next step advice as regards issue with builder/developer

J

JimmyCorkhill

Registered User
Messages
64
Hi,

We purchased a house in a new build estate off a well known builder/developer - one of the biggest in the country.

Upon receiving the keys, the garden had been recently seeded but you could see the topsoil, if it was even that, was not great as there were a number of large stones and even a piece of food wrapper protruding from the soil.

Eventually the grass germinated but it was bare in patches and poor growth in others. Spoke to the foreman a few times as they were on site for another number of months and he kept saying you need to give it the year and stick a fork into the lawn at regular intervals to help the grass grow.

Anyway a year had passed and over that time I improved the garden as best I could - aerating, adding fertiliser, adding sand to help the drainage, adding the same grass seed the builder used, getting advice from online gardening forums and even getting professional gardener in at one stage for advice.

In short, the lawn is crap - lots of moss, extremely damp soil, which floods in a particular patch when there is any bit of rain, have come across some large stones beneath the surface and it just looks crap.
The professional said you have poor draining, compacted soil and I would be best off ripping up the garden and starting again with proper drainage, sand, topsoil etc.

I spoke with a few neighbours and it turned out they complained about their lawn and the builder came back out and ripped it up and put down new soil, sand, addressed the drainage and put down rolls of turf.

So after the year I contacted the builder and they asked for pics which I shared and they sent someone from their aftercare team to inspect the garden who took a couple of pics. He said he would report back to management and they would be in touch.

Nearly two months later and despite numerous phone calls and emails, I am none the wiser and they now just ignore my emails.
Initially when I followed up they said someone would be out to discuss the next steps, which sounded to me like they were going to do something. Since then radio silence, I rang up yesterday and asked to speak to someone senior and they went off looking for someone and said they were all busy and one of them would ring me back and nobody did, surprise surprise.

What do I do next? The garden is small as it’s a new build estate, they are clearly aware the contractors did shoddy work in the estate gardens. It wouldn’t cost them much to come out and fix it.

Any suggestions? Could I go to the small claims court and even look for the maximum payout and use that to get a professional in to fix the lawn.

The size of the garden and the cost associated with a solicitor would make it not worth my while going to a solicitor.

Thanks
 
Sue Ellen said:
How much did this professional say it would cost to put it right?
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He just said, I’m wasting my time doing all I had done already and said it could be €1,000 - €2,000 as will need to tear up garden, remove soil there, see what sort of drainage they installed as it isn’t working, labour, rolls of turf etcI told him in advance I wasn’t looking for him to do that job as I was hoping builder would do it, so he wasn’t angling for a job with his estimates.
 
JimmyCorkhill said:
Could I go to the small claims court and even look for the maximum payout and use that to get a professional in to fix the lawn.
Click to expand...

Suppose you really need to establish if they will pursue this type of claim and the Registrar should be able to confirm this for you.

If you establish that you can go ahead then you could try writing to the builder maybe by registered post and let them know your intentions and that may make them sit up and pay attention. If they don't do anything then its worth spending the €25 for the claim.
 
In short, this is breach of contract.
Specifically, you did not get what you paid for. Therefore, there has been a failure of consideration.
In terms of quantum, you are entitled to the cost of making good the deficiencies so that you receive what you paid for.

The Small Claims Court jurisdiction is €2,000. So, if your claim is worth more than €2,000 you can only receive that amount at most.
If the claim is going to be significantly over €2,000 - say €3,000 plus - you have to go to the District Court.

Link to Small Claims Court https://www.courts.ie/small-claims
 
Thank you, I emailed the court registrar for small claims just now, they were not available to take a call.

I had contacted the Construction Industry Federation and Consumer Protection (CCPC) in the hope they could do something but no joy. CCPC said as it is an immovable item it does not fall under them.

Very frustrating that there does not seem to be a building regulator or ombudsman for folk to complain too. The advice from CCPC was to engage a solicitor, as if most people can afford a solicitor to get what they should have got when they first paid.
 
For what its worth, I think you are on a hiding to nothing with the builder.

On a new development, its not at all unusual for top soil to be removed and sold off site. Gardens in new builds are generally rubbish.

You can buy a small electric rotovator fairly cheap. Rotovate, pick out stones, get some manure from the local stables, plant the entire garden with spuds, eat the spuds, compost the tops.

And then start laying out your new garden.
 
Thank you, I contacted the small claims court to understand is there any reason why this would not fall under a small claims case but waiting to hear back from them.
 
Oh most likely on a hiding to nothing but the garden is crap, the show house garden I saw is nothing like what we ended up with. I at least expect it to be something similar I get.

They have set a precedent in my eyes by fixing a few neighbours gardens, so why be allowed fob me off now?

If more people in the estate knew that some people got their gardens fixed a lot more would be onto the developer demanding theirs gets fixed too. Already they had to come out and check and in a number of instants replace pipes due to a plumbing issue in kitchens, they only came to address it when enough people complained.
 

They’ll fob you off unless you annoy them enough that they’ll do something about it. Try posting on their social media accounts with photos, get some local newspaper / radio plug. Call to their offices and confront them directly. Find your inner debt collector. And do the small claims at the same time.
The noisiest cog gets the oil.
 
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