need some advice off of people in the know, and sorry this is long, have cut it as short as possible.
i have my own building company, and we have/had a contract to build an extension.
we were half way through the build when i asked for the next installment of £5,000 (20/12/2004) the customer turned very strange and started being funny with me, and refused to pay, but would not give me a valid reason.
on the 3/01/05 the day before we started back i had a phone call saying they did not want us back, but again would not give a valid reason.
when asked was the workmanship upto standard they replied yes, when asked if the amount of work was enough they answered yes. all i got when i asked why was "err i don't know we just do"
they have had extra expenses of £10,000 on top of quote because of problems with groundwork which was out of my control but £10,000 was only half of what i should have charged them for the work involved but i knew they were struggling.
because of losing this job i have had to lay my builder off, and it has been going through my head that they cannot afford the extension with the extra's so are they getting a local builder in to cut down the costs.
today an employee of mine hand delivered a final demand for the £5,000, only to find that my builder who i had laid off is there working on the extension via the customer.
i will take the customer through small claims for the money if they do not pay, but (and this is the point) surely this situation between my builder and them cannot be right. where do i stand, how can i prove they got there heads together to cut me out, are they in breach of contract
thanks in advance