Good morningWe contracted a builder for ...

Asked by the Customer on 03-12-2020 05:26:44
Question posted in the Consumer Protection Law category relating to Western Cape

Good morning

We contracted a builder for extensions to our exising residential property in the Western Cape and he sent us numerous quotes for various tasks (such as building a boundary wall, cleaning and painting the roof, extensions to the existing garage, etc.). After accepting the quotes, we paid money in advance for him to buy materials, and we also paid for labour costs. Some projects were finished, others are not complete yet, though he received advance payment to buy the materials. We asked several times to receive all invoices for materials bought, and he promised to submit it, but never did. After enquiring several times when we will receive the materials or when it will be delivererd, he accused us of doubting him and he just stayed away. We tried to contact him several times, but he ignores any communication. He has received advance payments of over R100 000 and there are no materials to show for this payment, neither do we have any receipts for any purchases made.

We have decided not to use his services any longer, and we want recourse to get our advance payments back for all the materials and labour costs paid, but not delivered.

What legal steps can we take?

Thanks.

Jacques Jansen

Message from the Attorney

Posted by Att. Patrick on 03-12-2020 09:34:00

Hi there and thank you for your question, 

I am a practicing attorney based in South Africa and I will assist you with your question. Please feel free to ask as many follow up questions in order to clarify your question. If you have a new question, you must please open a new thread. 

Unless it was agreed with him that you would be entitled to receive the invoices for the materials which he bought, you can't demand copies of those invoices. It all depends on what the agreement was. 

Sometimes the agreement might be:- I will pay for the cost price of the materials; I will pay you a 10% markup on the cost price of the materials; I will pay you for the labour and supervising costs. 

But, sometimes the agreement might be:- I will pay you the quote of R200,000 for you to build the garage; I will give you R50,000 in advance to buy the material, and then the balance of R150,000.

In the second instance, you can't demand copies of the invoices for the materials. It's not your business. In the first example, you can. 

If he is now messing you around, and not communicating with you, and not coming back to site, I think that you've got an issue which you need to deal with! 

What you need to do is to cancel his contract with him. I think that you would almost need to give him a written demand in respect of each of the outstanding quotes, giving him 7 days notice to continue working, failing which you are going to hold him in breach and cancel the contracts. (You need to give him notice and time to rectify the breach before you can cancel)

Then, if he still doesn't react, then you must send a second letter cancelling the contracts. 

Then, you'll need to issue a summons out of the Magistrates Court and sue him for the return of the R100,000 that you paid him previously.  The Small Claims Court only deals with amounts less than R25,000, so that won't assist you. 

In order to issue a summons out of the Magistrates Court, I would suggest that you use a lawyer to assist you in drafting the summons and the statement of claim.

If there is a part of the answer which you need more advice on, or clarity please continue in this same thread instead of opening a new question. 

Att. Patrick 

Please remember this is a dialog if you have follow up questions please use the REPLY button and ask. If I did not answer the question you thought you were asking, please respond with the specific question you wanted answered. I hope you found my answer helpful, and you have finished asking your questions, please click on the GREEN ACCEPT button in order to mark the question as closed.

If you would like to view the entire answer, you will need to either login or register a FREE account.

Disclaimer

DISCLAIMER: Advice or answers from Lawyers on South African Legal Advice are not substitutes for the proper advice of an Lawyer. South African Legal Advice is a public forum and questions and responses are not private or confidential or protected by the attorney-client privilege. The Lawyer who assists with your question is not your Lawyer, and the response above is not to be considered to be legal advice. You should not read this response to propose specific action or address specific circumstances, but only to give you a sense of general principles of law that might affect the situation you describe. Application of these general principles to particular circumstances must be done by a lawyer who has spoken with you in confidence, learned all relevant information, and explored various options. Before acting on these general principles, you should hire a lawyer licensed to practice law in the jurisdiction to which your question pertains. The responses above are from individual Lawyers, not South African Legal Advice. The site and services are provided “as is”. This site is not for emergency questions which should be directed immediately by telephone or in-person to qualified professionals. Please carefully read the Terms of Service.