builder gone for a burton

[shazzzz]

after knowing my builder as a friend for the past twenty years.i met up with him a while ago well about two months.well the job is three quaters finished, and he wants more money as i ,have payed the agreed price ,as he had fallen on hard times,i gave it up front .i always new he liked a drink ,but drinks like billy o now he has been gone for three weeks now ,and keeps saying he will return he is supposed to return tommorow but it will be ,raining not sure what to do i feel like ive been mugged .bye the way this fellow quite a hand full and when drunk a total nightmare,

[Gmcd01]

The way to handle this is tricky. Firstly, despite what you have said, you will need to contact your builder. Inform him of a deadline for completion of the work that you require (E.g needs to be completed by [00th Dec] because [Blah]...make sure you can reach a (Preferably written) agreement with him on a reasonable time scale (Reasonable depending on what work you need finishing...the larger it is, the longer is reasonable). Also, make sure he isn't intoxicated when he signs the agreement - or is at least sober enough to comprehend what is being signed.) Then, as he can "Be a handfull", leave a phone message saying that his failure to keep to this time scale will allow you to treat the contract as terminated unlawfully on his part, as the time is now a condition of the contract. (There is case law authority on this but I won't bore you.) If he fails to complete...inform him that you are terminating the contract and find a new builder to finish the work. You will have to pay this new builder again...but now you can sue builder 'A' for damages. You sue for the money already paid to builder A in full owing to his unlawful repudiation of the contract.
If A does complete the work in time, and you consider that the extra money paid is a substantial enough sum worth recovering, then you could attempt to sue A under the principle of having paid under economic duress (This may be shaky, depending on your circumstances.) For this, consult a local solicitor with the full facts, and good luck.

[shazzzz]

thank you very much for your answer i relise something has ,to be done and as he has let me down so many times i will have my last conversation with him the next time i make contact and go and attend the court and c c j him ,i really dont understand how people can treat there friends so badly .i think it will be hard to get him to sign anything because he has a beer for breakfast, un know to me at the time but i am looking ,on the bright side only someone with his crazy drunken ways could do a crazy paved drive and get it to look that good ha ha.