A good share of substantial building projects end in a serious disagreement, over quality, money, time, or all three. Handled badly, a dispute swallows the savings of the entire project. Handled in the right order, most resolve within weeks and without lawyers. This pillar sets out that order.

Stage 0: evidence, from day one

Disputes are won by the party with the paper trail. From the first site day keep: the contract and drawings, every quote and invoice, dated photographs of progress (especially anything about to be covered up), and a short written note of every significant conversation. If a dispute is already brewing, start this today, courts and adjudicators weigh contemporaneous records far above memory.

Stage 1: the professional complaint

Raise problems early, specifically, and in writing, “the door frames on the first floor are out of plumb, please correct before second fix” beats a month of silent resentment. Most defects raised this way get fixed free: rectifying work is cheaper for the builder than losing the balance of the contract. Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 the builder must do the work with reasonable care and skill.1 If they fall short, you’re entitled to ask for a repeat performance (fixing it at their cost) before anything else.2

Stage 2: the formal letter

If the polite route stalls, send a letter before action: what was agreed, what’s wrong, the remedy you want, a deadline (14 days is normal), and that you’ll pursue the matter through the courts if ignored.3 Courts expect this step: the Practice Direction on Pre-Action Conduct, and for larger construction claims the Construction and Engineering Pre-Action Protocol, expect each side to set out its case before proceedings start, and a party that ignores them can be ordered to pay costs.3

Two levers strengthen it:

  • Withholding payment, you can usually hold back a sum proportionate to the defective or incomplete work (not the whole balance on a small snag). Do it in writing, with the calculation shown.
  • Section 75, if you paid any part of the job by credit card and its cash price is over £100 and not more than £30,000, the card company is jointly liable for the builder’s breaches, giving you a second, solvent defendant.4

Stage 3: independent evidence

Where the argument is technical, “that’s not a defect, that’s normal”, commission an independent surveyor’s or expert’s report (typically £300–£900 for a defects inspection). It converts your opinion into professional evidence, prices the remedial work, and very often triggers settlement on its own.

Stage 4: resolution without court

  • Mediation, a neutral third party brokers a deal, usually in a day or less, with no loser. Under the Civil Mediation Council’s fixed-fee scheme a session costs from £75 to £445 plus VAT per party, depending on the sum in dispute; a full day with a private mediator costs more.5 If a court claim of £10,000 or less is defended, both sides must attend a mediation appointment that the court arranges free of charge.6 Courts expect you to have considered mediation, and an unreasonable refusal can count against you on costs.3
  • Adjudication, the construction industry’s 28-day private ruling.7 The statutory right to it does not apply to a contract with a residential occupier, so a homeowner has it only when the contract provides for it.8 The JCT homeowner contract does, through its own adjudication rules.9 Where available it is faster than court, and the decision is binding until the dispute is finally settled in court, by arbitration or by agreement.7
  • Trade schemes, if the builder belongs to FMB, TrustMark or similar, use their complaints route. For a TrustMark registered business, a complaint goes to the business first, then to its Scheme Provider, and finally to the Dispute Resolution Ombudsman, which requires the complaint to be made within 12 months of your first contact with the business.10

Stage 5: court

The small claims track covers disputes up to £10,000 in England and Wales, designed for litigants in person, modest fees, and costs exposure limited even if you lose.11 Larger claims go to the fast track (up to £25,000) or the intermediate track (up to £100,000), where legal costs become the dominant risk, which is exactly why stages 1–4 exist.11 Claims are subject to time limits, broadly six years from breach of contract, covered in our construction law pillar.12

Special cases

  • Builder walked off site, secure the site, photograph everything, get completion quotes before you spend a penny.
  • Builder insolvent, pursuing a dissolved company is usually throwing good money after bad; Section 75, insurance-backed guarantees and any retention you held become your real remedies.
  • You want them gone, terminating mid-project has formal steps; skipping them can put you in breach.

Prevention beats cure

Nearly every dispute in this guide is cheaper to prevent than to fight: a proper contract, sensible vetting, staged payments in arrears and a written variation habit remove most of the ammunition. The detailed guides in this series take each step further: complaining professionally, letters before action, withholding payment, mediation, adjudication, small claims and expert reports.

In this series

The detailed guides behind this page, in the order a dispute meets them:

This guide is general information for homeowners in England and Wales, not legal advice on a specific dispute.

References (12)

Figures in this note were checked against the sources below on 30 September 2026. Superscript numbers in the text point to them. Every source the site cites, by topic.

  1. 1technicalvery strongThe National Archives (legislation.gov.uk), legislation.RN-F06Z1FSection 49(1), in Part 1 Chapter 4 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015, states that every contract to supply a service is to be treated as including a term that the trader must perform the service with reasonable care and skill. Section 49(2) directs the reader to section 54 for the consumer's rights when that implied term is breached. This is the single provision that makes poor workmanship by a builder a breach of contract without the homeowner having to prove anything was written down, and it cannot be excluded to the extent it would stop the section 54 to 56 remedies applying.
  2. 2technicalvery strongThe National Archives (legislation.gov.uk), legislation.RN-H89TBVSection 55(1) defines repeat performance as requiring the trader to perform the service again to the extent necessary to complete it in conformity with the contract. Section 55(2) requires the trader to provide it within a reasonable time and without significant inconvenience to the consumer, and to bear any necessary costs incurred in doing so, expressly including the cost of any labour or materials. Section 55(3) removes the right where completing performance in conformity with the contract is impossible. Section 55(4) says what counts as a reasonable time or significant inconvenience is judged by the nature of the service and the purpose for which it was to be performed. This is the legal answer to a builder who offers to come back but wants paying again for the return visit.
  3. 3technicalstrong locallyMinistry of Justice (justice.gov.uk), guidance.RN-H37RZLThe Civil Procedure Rules practice direction on what parties should do before issuing a claim, including the content of a letter before claim and a 14-day response time in a straightforward case.
  4. 4technicalvery strongThe National Archives (legislation.gov.uk), legislation.RN-JFS7HZSection 75(1) gives the debtor under a debtor-creditor-supplier agreement within section 12(b) or (c) a like claim against the creditor for any misrepresentation or breach of contract by the supplier, making creditor and supplier jointly and severally liable. Section 75(2) entitles the creditor to be indemnified by the supplier. Section 75(3) sets the limits: the section does not apply to a non-commercial agreement, nor so far as the claim relates to any single item with a cash price not exceeding 100 pounds or more than 30,000 pounds, nor to certain short-period running-account credit agreements. Section 75(4) preserves the claim even where the debtor exceeded the credit limit or breached a term of the agreement, and section 75(5) lets the creditor join the supplier to the proceedings. This is the basis for claiming a builder's default from a credit card issuer where any part of the payment was made on the card.
  5. 5costfairCivil Mediation Council.RN-CRMHE0A price, true at 2026-09. The Civil Mediation Council's fixed-fee mediation scheme for civil claims up to £50,000, giving the fee per party and session length for each claim band.
  6. 6technicalvery strongHM Courts & Tribunals Service (GOV.UK), guidance.RN-L2V0H7GOV.UK guidance on the court's small claims mediation service: compulsory, free telephone mediation of up to an hour for disputed money claims of £10,000 or less, the sanctions for not attending and the binding effect of an agreement.
  7. 7technicalvery strongThe National Archives (legislation.gov.uk), legislation.RN-LOJL3VThe statutory adjudication timetable, which is fast by design and is why builders and subcontractors use it against each other, though section 106 excludes contracts with a residential occupier so a homeowner cannot rely on it unless their contract adopts it voluntarily. A party may give notice at any time of an intention to refer a dispute, dispute including any difference. The contract must provide a timetable aimed at appointing the adjudicator and referring the dispute within 7 days of that notice, require the adjudicator to reach a decision within 28 days of referral or a longer agreed period, and allow the adjudicator to extend the 28 days by up to 14 days with the consent of the referring party. The adjudicator must act impartially and may take the initiative in ascertaining the facts and the law, and may correct a clerical or typographical error in the decision. The decision is binding until the dispute is finally determined by legal proceedings, arbitration or agreement, and the parties may agree to treat it as final. The adjudicator and their employees and agents are not liable except for acts or omissions in bad faith. Where a contract fails to comply with subsections (1) to (4), the adjudication provisions of the Scheme for Construction Contracts apply instead.
  8. 8technicalvery strongThe National Archives (legislation.gov.uk), legislation.RN-5Q1UW1Section 106(1)(a) disapplies Part II of the Act, which contains the statutory adjudication and payment provisions, to a construction contract with a residential occupier. Section 106(2) defines that as a construction contract principally relating to operations on a dwelling which one of the parties occupies or intends to occupy as his residence, with 'dwelling' meaning a dwelling-house or a flat; a dwelling-house does not include a building containing a flat, and a flat means separate self-contained residential premises divided horizontally from another part of the building. Section 106(3) and 106(4) let the Secretary of State amend the definition only by order approved by a resolution of each House. This is the provision that explains why a homeowner has no automatic statutory right to adjudicate against a builder, and why adjudication is only available if the contract itself provides for it.
  9. 9technicalstrongThe Joint Contracts Tribunal, guidance.RN-ET7OBDJCT's adjudication rules written for its Building Contract for a Home Owner/Occupier, giving either party the right to refer a dispute to adjudication.
  10. 10technicalstrongTrustMark.RN-4X2J26TrustMark's three-stage escalation, with the deadlines that catch homeowners out. Stage 1: raise the complaint directly with the registered business, setting out why you are dissatisfied and what you want done, keeping records and allowing reasonable time. Stage 2: escalate to the business's Scheme Provider, the trade association, certification body or Competent Person Scheme that registered them, which investigates and mediates. Stage 3: escalate to the Dispute Resolution Ombudsman. Timescales: 12 weeks with no response from the business or Scheme Provider allows escalation to the DRO; skipping Stage 2 adds a 30-day investigation period; the complaint must reach the DRO within 12 months of the first complaint to the business; and work must be no more than 6 years old, 5 years in Scotland. TrustMark cannot help where the business has deregistered or ceased trading, where the matter is purely financial, contractual or commercial, where legal action has started, or where the business was never registered. TrustMark itself checks that the Scheme Provider handled the complaint properly rather than investigating the workmanship.
  11. 11technicalstrong locallyMinistry of Justice (justice.gov.uk), guidance.RN-D9CGJSCPR rule 26.9 sets the scope of each track, with the small claims track as the normal track for claims up to £10,000.
  12. 12technicalvery strongThe National Archives (legislation.gov.uk), legislation.RN-L5C0B9Section 5 of the Limitation Act 1980: an action founded on simple contract cannot be brought more than six years after the cause of action accrued. This is the six-year limit on suing a builder over a contract that was not executed as a deed, and it runs from the breach, not from when the defect was discovered. The single most important date in a dispute about defective work.

  1. Consumer Rights Act 2015, section 49: service to be performed with reasonable care and skill, legislation.gov.uk, accessed 30 September 2026. legislation.gov.uk

  2. Consumer Rights Act 2015, section 55: right to repeat performance, legislation.gov.uk, accessed 30 September 2026. legislation.gov.uk

  3. Practice Direction: Pre-Action Conduct and Protocols, Ministry of Justice (justice.gov.uk), accessed 30 September 2026. justice.gov.uk

  4. Consumer Credit Act 1974, section 75: liability of creditor for breaches by supplier, legislation.gov.uk, accessed 30 September 2026. legislation.gov.uk

  5. Fixed Fee Scheme, Civil Mediation Council, accessed 30 September 2026. Priced at 2026-09 and left there. civilmediation.org

  6. Respond to a court claim for money: resolve the claim through mediation, HM Courts & Tribunals Service (GOV.UK), accessed 30 September 2026. gov.uk

  7. Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996, section 108: right to refer disputes to adjudication, legislation.gov.uk, accessed 30 September 2026. legislation.gov.uk

  8. Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996, section 106: provisions not applicable to contract with residential occupier, legislation.gov.uk, accessed 30 September 2026. legislation.gov.uk

  9. Rules for Adjudication (HOAdj) and explanatory notes, The Joint Contracts Tribunal, accessed 30 September 2026. corporate.jctltd.co.uk

  10. Complaints Process, TrustMark, accessed 30 September 2026. trustmark.org.uk

  11. Civil Procedure Rules, Part 26: case management, preliminary stage, Ministry of Justice (justice.gov.uk), accessed 30 September 2026. justice.gov.uk

  12. Limitation Act 1980, section 5: time limit for actions founded on simple contract, legislation.gov.uk, accessed 30 September 2026. legislation.gov.uk