Experience Description

We appointed Andrew Hall (Lancashire Brickwork) in July 2025 to undertake pointing works to my Father’s property in Preston, Lancashire. Dad is vulnerable, lives alone has limited mobility and diminished mental capacity caused by dementia. The pointing works to his home were part of a wider programme of essential maintenance and upkeep which my father was self-funding. Hall was fully aware that my father was the client and provided a competitive quote of £2,500 to complete the repointing of the front, rear and 3 no. chimney stacks at the property with a view to works commencing in July to coincide with the roofing works. Included within Hall’s pricing was the hire of the scaffold, all materials (apart from replacement bricks which I sourced) and labour. Hall charged £1,100 for the hire of the scaffold – which I later found out from the scaffolding company was an overly inflated price. Hall commenced work arriving to site on a moped and was working alone. Hall’s workmanship was nothing short of horrific. He used cheap inappropriate tools and caused significant damage to my father’s property - cutting into the Accrington brick face with his grinder. The areas he actually pointed looked like he had smeared mortar onto the brick face causing staining all over the facade. When challenged on his poor workmanship and asked to remediate the damage and poor work Hall immediately left site, leaving my Father’s property exposed to the elements, with bricks removed from the rear facade and severe damage to all the areas Hall had touched. Hall had made no attempt to clean up any of the brick dust and had left discarded tools and rubbish in Dad’s front garden. he was also witnessed urinating in my father’s small street fronted garden and there was a strong smell of urine emanating from the bags of rubbish he had thrown on Dad’s plants. Hall left the job incomplete and the caused £1000’s of damage. When invited back to remedy the works, Hall blocked all channels of communication. The replacement builder assessed Hall’s workmanship and concluded that it was so bad the whole job needed to be redone, including 2 chemical wash downs of the areas that had been pointed due to the incorrectly mixed mortar and the atrocious staining across the brick face. The damage to the Accrington Brixkwork was deemed so extensive that it was not viable to repair. As a result of Andrew Hall’s handy work, Dad is out of pocket over £5000. We are in the process of seeking a CCJ to recoup some of the costs and damages from Andrew Hall.

Work Promised vs Work Done

Hall promised to repoint the front, rear and 3 chimney stacks at Dad’s property. He completed the pointing works to the front of the property, however the workmanship was not satisfactory with mortar staining extensive areas of the brickface and protruding beyond the brickface. Hall then commenced and completed works on the chimneys, which was not visible from the ground level as Dad has a flat roof. Halls pointing workmanship was appalling - pictures of the chimneys seen retrospectively to the works being completed show a complete lack of skill and care and damage to the brickwork. Hall also failed to complete the rebenching works to the caps of the chimney stacks. When Hall commenced the works to the rear of the property, the damage to the Accrington brick caused by his grinder was pointed out and Hall was asked to remediate. Hall refused to resolve any issues and left site, leaving the rear elevation of Dad’s home ground out, with bricks missing and exposed to the elements.

Attempts to Resolve the issue

Hall blocked me on WhatsApp and my text messages and refused to answer my calls. I therefore wrote to Hall requesting he return to Dad’s to remediate the damage and complete the works to a satisfactory standard. I also offered Hall the opportunity to resolve the matter through ADR. Hall ignored my correspondence and did not respond. I subsequently issued a letter before claim asking Hall to refund all monies received from my Father - which Hall also ignored.

Current Situation

We have had to resort to appointing another builder to complete the works. The damage to the Accrington brick is so extensive that it has been cost prohibitive to remediate the brickface. The builder had to wash down the front elevation and chimneys where Hall had completed pointing works. The mortar was incorrectly mixed and literally falling from the joints and needed to be ground out and redone. The cost of remediating Hall’s damage has been over £5000.

Ideal Resolution:

I would like Hall to be held to account and charged with criminal damage. I have been informed that this is not a criminal offence and therefore am having to resort to perusing Hall down the civil route and through a CCJ action. I would ideally like Hall to compensate my father for the costs incurred in having to pay another builder to remediate Hall’s appalling workmanship. I would also like Hall named and shamed to prevent other vulnerable families and customers from falling victim to his appallingly poor workmanship.