What to do if your job is left unfinished

Most home improvement projects run smoothly, leaving you with exactly what you wanted. But occasionally things don’t go to plan, and while work starts on schedule, for one reason or another it isn’t finished as it should be.

This guide looks at what you can do if you find yourself in the situation where work is left unfinished by the tradesperson you hired.

What has happened?

While the outcome - the job isn’t finished - is the same, there are several different ways in which a customer and tradesperson can end up in this situation. Some typical examples are:

The job is mostly finished aside from a few “snagging” or finishing jobs to sort out, but now the tradesperson is unavailable.
You had a disagreement over something, such as the tradesperson’s conduct or how the work was progressing, and the tradesperson has left the project.
商人声称工作已经完成，但你相信还有工作要做。
Your tradesperson has said they will come back but is making lots of excuses for why they’re not working on your project, and you’re concerned they won’t come back.
The tradesperson hasn’t given any reason for not finishing the work but now won’t respond to any attempts to contact them.

Quotes and contracts

Written contracts are rarer than they should be, and disagreements surrounding verbal contracts are all too common. But knowing when you need a written contract is not always straightforward.

Read about contracts

Key questions

Working out how to proceed when work has been left unfinished depends on two main factors:

Was there a clear agreement in place, either in the form of a written quote or a contract, about what work was to be done?
How much money have you already paid the tradesperson?

If you have a detailed quote that sets out exactly what the scope of work should be, there should be no doubt over whether a job is finished or not. If the tradesperson has clearly failed to fulfil what is in the quote, it is evidence that you can use later if you wish to make a claim against them.

Read our报价和合同指南to get the most out of them.

How much you have paid for the job up to this point is also important. If you haven’t paid anything in advance, or have only paid a small deposit, then you may be better off simply finding another tradesperson to complete the job. While inconvenient, you will not necessarily have suffered financially from the original tradesperson abandoning the job, making it difficult to make a claim against them.

If you have already paid a significant amount, either because you paid upfront or were paying in stages, you may have been left out of pocket, which can be a starting point to take action against the tradesperson.

If you have only paid a deposit and work has not yet begun, read ourdedicated article on deposits.

Attempt to contact the tradesperson

最简单和最好的结果是商人返回并以你满意的标准完成工作，所以努力联系商人，请他们纠正这个问题。

If you are struggling to make contact, you could get in touch with any trade bodies the tradesperson belongs to. Many of the trade associations, such as the Federation of Master Builders or the Guild of Builders & Contractors have mediation services that could help you settle the matter.

If you hired your tradesperson through MyBuilder, our experienced customer service team can provide impartial advice on the options you can take to help you reach a satisfactory solution with your tradesperson.

In some cases, the tradesperson will have stopped work because the company has gone bust - if that is the case, take a look at our dedicated article on what to do if this happens during your job.

然而，如果你认为你们的关系已经完全破裂，你已经被掏空了，民事诉讼可能是你唯一的选择。

Document everything

Even if you do not have a written quote or contract to work off, document everything that has happened so far with the project, including any texts or emails between you and the tradesperson, and take photographs of the work that has been done so far.

记录下你所打过的电话，或试图打给他们的电话，并记录下谈话内容。

If the work left unfinished is such that you need to hire another tradesperson to put it right, make a record of all the costs incurred as this will form part of your claim.

Making a claim

如果你无法以任何其他方式解决财务纠纷，最后的办法应该是提出民事申索。

Before starting your claim, you should send the tradesperson what is known as a letter before claim or letter before action, a formal notice that lays out your claim and what you want in return, giving them a chance to respond before you initiate action.

If they have not responded or you are unsatisfied with their response, you can then make a claim against them for the money through thegovernment’s claims portal.

You will have to pay a fee for submitting a claim, and there is no guarantee of reclaiming your money.

For more details on writing a letter before action and making a claim,read our guide on deposits.