Someone recently had quite a lot of building house work done and also had a very expensive fireplace surround installed (talking here about several thousand pounds).
The subcontractors who installed it turned out to be muppets and have damaged, dented and scratched it. They then made a very rough job of filling and retouching. They are returning to have another go, but everyone already knows from their whole attitude and standard of work on the first attempt that its very unlikely to be a satisfactory job.
The person having the work done has not yet released all the money due to the main builder and this sum is in total is a couple of thousand pounds short of the cost to buy a new fireplace surround.
An estimation to have repair work done professionally at a guess is probably easily up to 800 pounds or so.
What would be the normal way for the client to proceed in a situation like this? The subcontractors already are wanting to say there is nothing wrong. Should the client say, I will have it professionally repaired and take that from what I owe you. Or say get me a new one ? If she held out for a new replacement, what would a court's view likely be on such a move? Having it repaired is always going to be a less preferred option.
The client is not vindictive, they have already overlooked some mistakes in the build, and would like a fair way of going about this issue; for all concerned.
But is unwilling to go along with the sub contractors who say that nothing is wrong with their retouching work. The view that it is not good enough is a view that is agreed on by others who have seen the mess made on what was an expensive bit of kit and a showpiece for the room that it is in.
What would be the usual way for the client to try to resolve such an issue ? Thanks.