If your dispute with a builder is for £10,000 or less, it will generally sit in the small claims track, where you file your evidence in advance and the court does not need to take evidence on oath.
What this post covers
This is general information, not legal advice, and the court material below is England and Wales only. It does not tell you what a court, an adjudicator or a builder will decide or do. If you are weighing up a claim against a builder, the two things worth understanding early are the £10,000 line and what you need to bundle before you file.
The £10,000 line
Under the Civil Procedure Rules Part 27, the small claims track generally applies to claims not exceeding £10,000. That line matters because it shapes how the case is handled, including how evidence is given.
Rule 27.5 says no expert may give evidence, whether written or oral, at a hearing without the permission of the court. The strict rules of evidence do not apply and the court need not take evidence on oath. In practice, this means your own clear record of the defects, photographed and dated, carries real weight.
The standard directions require each party, at least 14 days before the date fixed for the final hearing, to file and serve on every other party copies of all documents on which they intend to rely at the hearing. That is your deadline to have everything assembled and shared, not a deadline to start gathering it.
Your rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015
Section 49 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 treats every contract to supply a service as including a term that the trader must perform the service with reasonable care and skill. That is the standard a builder’s work is measured against.
Section 55 gives you the right to require the service to be performed again to complete it properly. The trader must do this within a reasonable time and without significant inconvenience, and must bear any necessary costs, including in particular the cost of labour or materials. Repeat performance cannot be required if completing the work in conformity with the contract is impossible.
Section 56 gives you the right to require the trader to reduce the price by an appropriate amount, where you cannot require repeat performance or the trader has not done it within a reasonable time and without significant inconvenience. A refund due under this must be paid without undue delay, and in any event within 14 days beginning with the day the trader agrees you are entitled to it, by the same means you used to pay, with no fee for making it.
Time limits
Section 5 of the Limitation Act 1980 says an action founded on simple contract shall not be brought after the expiration of six years from the date on which the cause of action accrued. That is the outer limit, not a reason to wait.
Adjudication: who it is closed to
Section 108 of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 gives a party to a construction contract the right to refer a dispute for adjudication, with a timetable that secures the adjudicator’s appointment and referral within 7 days of notice, a decision within 28 days of referral (or longer by agreement, or up to 14 days more with the referring party’s consent), and that decision is binding until finally determined by legal proceedings, arbitration or agreement.
But section 106 of the same Act says this Part does not apply to a construction contract with a residential occupier, meaning a contract which principally relates to work on a dwelling that one of the parties occupies, or intends to occupy, as their residence. If you are a homeowner having work done on the home you live in, adjudication is not a route open to you. This matters because it is often mentioned as if it is available to everyone involved in building work, and it is not.
Bundling your evidence
Whatever route you are weighing up, the practical work is the same: a clear, dated, room by room and trade by trade record of what is wrong, with a photo of each defect. This is the kind of record the standard directions ask you to file and serve before a final hearing, and it is also the record that makes a reduction in price, under section 56, easier to discuss with a builder before any claim is filed at all.
This is where SayScope fits in. You walk the property, photograph each defect, circle it on the photo, and describe it by voice. The report comes out grouped by room and by trade, ready to be the bundle you attach to a letter, or to court documents if it gets that far. Visits are free and unlimited, and each account gets one report a week free, with up to 10 items on that report. A bigger visit, or a second report in the same week, needs a plan, from £19 for a single report in your own name.