Advice sought regarding a work situation

[rowdy]

After being made redundant at the start of April, my wife persuaded me to go into business as a handyman, so this is what I have been doing for the last few months.
So far everything has been going well, until a job last week.
Customer wanted a shed base put down and a shed that he had bought erected. Not a problem, I've put a few together in my time but prefer making my own from scratch as bought ones are usually shyte.
Custom tells me the base doesn't need to be anything special and just put one down thats flat and level. After giving him a few options he settles on me digging the base, putting in some shuttering and laying pavers on half a ton of ballast and sand.
This was done and the following day I returned to put the shed up.
Upon reaching the point of the roof going on, it was evident that the shed was of terrible quality and things were starting to prove problematic, but never the less I managed to get the job done. I leave an invoice as he was not in and the following working day I receive a phone call from him telling me he is not happy.
After looking at several review websites that afternoon it becomes clear to me that the shed causes all sorts of problems, not just for the general diy'er, but also for builders, carpenters, and even qualified joiners.
So yesterday I go back to see if I can resolve the problem, but the blame for the quality of the shed is shifted on to me, that I should have told the customer it was a crap shed, and that he wanted someone to come round and put the shed together and be able to do a better job than he could.
He then suggested if he had put it together it would have been pretty much perfect, even though he has never put a shed together in his life, but he is great with ikea furniture! lol.
He then suggested that I hadn't followed the instructions, but when I said I had he called me a liar.
Tried telling me it was wrong because the central roof support did not look like the one on the instructions, which in fairness it didn't but is designed to do exactly the same job, again not my fault I can only use what has been supplied.
The main problem is that the rear panel is slightly wider than the front panel, so at the rear of the shed the roof doesn't line up properly, so there is about an inch gap at the top, which is covered by roofing felt anyway, so will not leak. There are also many other manufacturing problems with the shed that I had to try to overcome and are also widely reported on the internet.
He then shifted his attention on the shed base, because one of the lengths of wood shuttering was half an inch longer than the rest. Ok, that was a slight oversight on my behalf but not the end of the world I thought for a base that didn't need to be anything special just flat and level.
He also moaned that the base is slightly bigger than the shed that sits on it, but I had no way of telling the actual footprint of the shed before I had put it together, and as it was described as a 6x6 shed I used 6' lengths of shuttering and 16 x 450mm pavers to make a 6x6 base.

Anyway, after that essay, I have told him I will sort the shuttering out and make my own, slightly ****ed to fit, roof panel so there is no gap, but to be honest after his attitude, and calling me a liar and trying to pass the blame for a very poor quality shed that he bought on to me, I would rather tell him to shove his money up his ar5e, as long as I don't here from him again, but I am worried if there would be any comeback on me for the work that I have done, albeit for nothing.
Can I be held accountable for what is in effect a bad quality product, which is well known to be of bad quality on the internet?

Tell him if he's not happy and is being funny about paying that you'll take it down. You've nothing to lose and if he's not paying at least he'll have to get it erected again.

[Littlepeahead]

OK, here's my advice, take a deep breath.... and another.

Right you should first off print out the web reviews you have found and take them round to show him in a friendly, 'look mate you weren't to know you were buying a rubbish product but hey ho too late now let's see what we can do' way. I know that is hard after he has accused you of all sorts but say to him that you are a good handyman and you want to leave the customer happy. Give him a plan of what it will take to get the shed usable using your skills and goodwill.

Now if we are talking an hour or two of work I would suggest you say that you will do it for free, or if it is more time tell him how much that would normally cost but offer a discounted rate.

If he agrees the outcome should be that he gets a shed he is happy with and also he'll tell friends and neighbours that despite this shed being utter rubbish you are skilled enough to make it usable. Glowing references.

Also suggest that you can write to the shed company or whoever sold it to him with a report and photos of what you had to do to make is usable and suggest they offer him a partial refund as the product wasn't fit for purpose.

(Of course if the guy is just a total kn0b I would just do as suggested in the first reply!)

word of mouth is king as a handyman.

I definitely think you should be pointing him at the shed company but that you messed up a little when you continued erecting a shed that was clearly faulty. If it was yours I have no doubt you'd have sent it back (I know it's easy to say this after the fact but I've been there and made the same mistake.)

[yorkie_chris]

Originally Posted by Littlepeahead

OK, here's my advice, take a deep breath.... and another.

Right you should first off print out the web reviews you have found and take them round to show him in a friendly, 'look mate you weren't to know you were buying a rubbish product but hey ho too late now let's see what we can do' way. I know that is hard after he has accused you of all sorts but say to him that you are a good handyman and you want to leave the customer happy. Give him a plan of what it will take to get the shed usable using your skills and goodwill.

Now if we are talking an hour or two of work I would suggest you say that you will do it for free, or if it is more time tell him how much that would normally cost but offer a discounted rate.

If he agrees the outcome should be that he gets a shed he is happy with and also he'll tell friends and neighbours that despite this shed being utter rubbish you are skilled enough to make it usable. Glowing references.

Also suggest that you can write to the shed company or whoever sold it to him with a report and photos of what you had to do to make is usable and suggest they offer him a partial refund as the product wasn't fit for purpose.

(Of course if the guy is just a total kn0b I would just do as suggested in the first reply!)

Yup that's about as good as you were going to make the situation.


If he carries on being a cnut then dismantle the shed (under auspices of "fixing it") leave it in bits and then invite him to do a better job

[Bibio]

get used to it, it wont be the first and wont be the last. a lot of people phone 'handymen' as they think of them as easy targets for non payment. i done it for a while but found that i was getting the jobs 'tradesmen' would not touch.

i ALWAYS asked for a deposit first and the deposit was to cover materials in case of non payment. no deposit then no work. also if you think the job is going to be a mare double the price and if they still agree then DONT DO THE WORK as they have no intention of paying.

[Wideboy]

In all fairness I would have adjusted the panel to suit and corrected the faults (within reason) as I went along. Also pointed it out to the customer.

Anyway regardless of that, in most trades its all down to word of mouth for future work and this won't be the only customer you'll have that won't be happy. I would do what has been said, show the customer the complaints and offer to rectify it (if you're able to) but not for free. If he still refuses to pay just take the shed down.

Originally Posted by Wideboy

If he still refuses to pay just take the shed down.

...and advise he sends it back to the manufacturer.

[Wideboy]

Well if you want to go that far. Personally I'd take it down and pack it all up back the way I found it. He doesn't want to pay for the work so I'll take the work back.

I've had this countless times over the years, with bathrooms, kitchens, etc etc, if I don't supply the materials, I make it very clear I won't be offering any warranty on them, I can only work with what I get supplied.

This is a general comment I know but the Asians are the worse for this, they will buy some cheap see through bath and wafer thin tiles off some equally cheap asian shop and expect the end result to look like a palace, it just don't happen.

Don't spend too long trying to correct this, you may get it perfect and he still won't be happy and not pay, I've had this too.

Point out the reviews on this shed, remind him you're not a charity and you did the best you could with the poor materials supplied and see how you get on.

Don't even waste your time taking it down if there's an issue, cut your losses and don't waste your time anymore.

Btw, they do recommend that the base is slightly larger than the shed, around 50mm all the way round normally.