Paid a kitchen fitter who never came back to finish you can usually claim the money back
You paid in full, trusted him, and now the kitchen sits half-done with a flooded floor or a dishwasher that doesn't work. If he's stopped answering and stopped turning up, you can typically take him to the small claims court for the cost of finishing the job and repairing any damage. No solicitor, no hearing in most cases — just the paperwork done properly.
Courts may award simple interest on money you are owed — commonly 8% a year under the County Courts Act 1984, at the court's discretion rather than automatically — usually running from the date the money fell due. Court fees are typically added to a successful claim.
These are the exact situations that bring people to us.
The sorts of things people tell us about this kind of dispute. 5 cases like it have come to us.
What a builder owes you, legally
Building work for a homeowner sits under consumer law as well as ordinary contract law. These are the provisions that usually decide unfinished and defective work.
ActConsumer Rights Act 2015, ss.49 & 57Services must be carried out with reasonable care and skill.
Section 49 implies a term into every contract where a trader supplies a service to a consumer: it must be carried out with reasonable care and skill. Section 57 limits how far a trader can exclude or restrict that term, so a line in a quote generally won't remove it. Work falling below the standard a competent tradesperson would meet is normally a breach, whether or not anything was written down.
Read it on legislation.gov.uk ↗ActConsumer Rights Act 2015, ss.51–52Where no price or deadline was fixed, both must be reasonable.
If the job was agreed without a firm completion date, the law fills the gap: it must be carried out within a reasonable time. What counts as reasonable generally depends on the scope of the work, agreed sequencing, access, supply problems and any variations — which is what answers a flat "there was never a deadline".
Read it on legislation.gov.uk ↗ActConsumer Rights Act 2015, ss.54–56Repeat performance, price reduction — and damages alongside.
The statutory service remedies are repeat performance (the trader putting the work right at their own cost, within a reasonable time and without significant inconvenience) and, where that isn't possible or doesn't happen, a price reduction which can run up to the full amount paid. Section 54 preserves other remedies too, including damages, so this is not always a rigid sequence. Evidence of the opportunity given to the trader is typically something courts consider.
Read it on legislation.gov.uk ↗Case lawDamages — the cost of putting it rightThe usual measure is what it costs to get the work finished properly.
Contract damages generally aim to put you in the position you would have been in had the work been done properly, and the usual starting point is the reasonable cost of completing and correcting it. Courts may also weigh proportionality, betterment and mitigation — where a remedial cost is out of all proportion, the measure can instead reflect the reduction in value. A written quote from another trader is typically central either way.
Case lawFailure of basis — money paid for work never doneA deposit taken for work that never happened is usually recoverable as a debt in restitution.
Where you paid for something and received essentially nothing in return, the law of unjust enrichment generally allows recovery of the payment on the ground that the basis for it failed totally. It typically runs alongside a breach-of-contract claim and can be simpler where a trader took a deposit, never started, and then disappeared — there is little to argue about beyond the fact of payment.
ActLimitation Act 1980, s.5Six years from the breach, as a general rule.
Time generally runs from the breach rather than from when you noticed it, so defects that surface years later can raise harder limitation questions. Evidence — quotes, messages, photographs — also tends to be easier to assemble while the work is recent.
Read it on legislation.gov.uk ↗General information about the law of England and Wales, not advice on your case. Different rules can apply to work done for a business rather than a household.
What he might say, and what usually holds up
If he's said this for weeks or months without showing up, courts often look at what actually happened rather than what was promised. Keep a note of every promised date that came and went — it usually helps show the delay was unreasonable.
A written contract helps, but it isn't the only evidence that matters. Bank transfers, texts, WhatsApp messages agreeing the work and price, and photos of the unfinished kitchen can typically stand in for a formal agreement.
If the damage happened during his work — a leak from a pipe he connected, a flooded floor from unfinished plumbing — that's usually treated as part of the same claim, not a separate issue. Photos and any repair quotes help show the cost.
Going quiet doesn't stop a claim. Courts have a process for cases where the other side doesn't respond, and a claim can often still proceed and be decided even if he ignores it.
Three steps, no solicitor
Your side, your words
What happened, what was agreed, what you are out of pocket. We ask what a court would ask.
A formal demand
A letter before action with a deadline, setting out what is owed and why. Many disputes end here.
Court claim, prepared
If they will not engage: a small claim drafted, checked and filed. We do the paperwork; the decision is the court’s.
What JustClaim is: we prepare and file the paperwork for your claim, for a fixed price shown before you pay. We're not a law firm, this isn't legal advice, and no outcome is ever guaranteed — what you get is the strongest honest version of your case, properly made.
Questions people in this exact spot ask
He's gone completely silent — can I still claim if I don't know where he is now?
You typically need a name and an address to start a claim, but that can be a home address, a business address, or wherever he's registered if he's a limited company. If you genuinely have no way to trace him, that can make things harder, so it's worth checking any paperwork, invoices, or his van signage for a business name first.
I paid him in full with no written contract — is that a problem?
It's not ideal, but it isn't usually fatal to a claim. Bank transfer records, text messages, and photos of the work can often be used together to show what was agreed and what was paid. Courts are used to dealing with informal trade agreements.
He caused a flood and damaged my dishwasher — can I claim for that too, not just the unfinished work?
Often yes. If the damage happened because of work he did or left unsafe, it's usually treated as part of the same dispute rather than something separate. It helps to have photos of the damage and a repair or replacement quote.
What if I have to pay someone else to finish the kitchen — can I claim that cost?
Typically yes, if you get a reasonable quote for finishing the work to the standard originally agreed. Courts often look at the difference between what you paid the original fitter and what it now costs to complete the job properly.
The kitchen fitter is a limited company, not a person — does that change anything?
It can affect who you're claiming against. If he traded as a limited company, the claim is usually against the company rather than him personally, unless there's a reason to look through that. Checking the company details on any invoice is a useful first step.
Start getting the paperwork moving
Tell us what happened with the kitchen fitter and we'll help you put together a claim that's ready to file — usually without needing a solicitor or a court hearing.
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