Question - I have just had my garage roof refelted but after last night's rain I have a large puddle on the right side of the roof and another near where the downpipe outlet stands. Obviously they have got the fall line wrong. I have a letter from the contractor setting out work to be done and price estimate but he uses the roofing company on a sub contract basis. How do I stand? Obviously no money has changed hands yet.

Answer - As you have paid for a service, that service has to be carried out with reasonable care and skill (in both the work carried out, and in deciding what work is required), using goods of a satisfactory quality. In this case you will need to see if the quotation given makes any reference to changing the fall of the roof - if it does, and they have not carried this out then they are in breach of contract and you can look to them either to come back and do the work correctly, or claim from them the cost of having another company do this (which in reality usually cost more than the original quote).

If it was not part of their quote, you will need to argue that, without adequate falls, pending would occur, and therefore they did not use reasonable care and skill in advising that the falls needed changing.

It matters not if the company you contracted with had another company do the repairs - the original company is still liable for any breach of contract.

Unless any contract terms says otherwise, payment is due on completion - this means satisfactory completion so until the work is done properly you are entitled to withhold payment (subject to the above matters).

I hope this helps you; please be aware that the guidance given is limited by the information I have and should not be treated as a substitute for taking full legal advice.