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December 16, 2013
3 minute read
Nancy and her husband Sid recently purchased a new house for their growing family. They have children aged 8 and 4 and a new baby of 3 months. Nancy is a banker with a big City firm and Sid is in IT and travels a lot. A few months after they moved in it became obvious to Nancy and Sid that they needed more space and they decided to build kitchen extension. They got a couple of quotes from builders and went with Gary, a builder whose family firm, Extensions-R-Us Ltd, had been recommended by a neighbour.
Gary and his team moved in in August, they stripped out the kitchen and knocked out walls. The work was slower than Gary had promised and in addition they had to wait for Local Authority Building Inspectors on several occasions.
As the kitchen progressed Nancy decided on new, costly energy-saving lighting and chose more expensive wall and floor tiling than had previously been agreed. Nancy and Sid had been paying Gary stage-payments for his work and were shocked and upset when he presented them with his final bill for all the extra work which they felt was unreasonably large. They say they feel ‘taken for a ride’.
Nancy and Sid wanted to settle their dispute with the least fuss possible but were determined to ‘have it out’ with Gary. They felt misled and that they were being unfairly treated by someone who presented himself as a professional. Nancy knew about mediation and contacted a mediator through Property Law UK/Mediators. The mediator talked confidentially with both parties and, as they both agreed, set up a mediation date. They met for three hours and came to an agreement about Gary’s bill. The cost of the mediation was shared between them.
March 25, 2025 
