Remedial
£2,400
For homeowners · England & Wales · Small claims under £10,000
Sue a tradesperson.
For shoddy work or an inflated bill.
Plumber, electrician, roofer or decorator left the work in a state, or padded the bill beyond the agreed price? You can take them to small claims court yourself. CourtPilot drafts the letter, the schedule of defects, and the bundle.
We help you prepare the documents and file them yourself — you’re always the claimant on the record. Not a law firm, no legal advice given.
✓ CRA 2015 s.49 — reasonable care and skill
✓ s.51 — reasonable price where none agreed
✓ s.69 interest at 8% recoverable
£500–£5k typical claim ✓
£500–£5k
Typical tradesperson dispute — comfortably inside the small-claims track where litigants in person do best.
s.49
Consumer Rights Act 2015 — services must be performed with reasonable care and skill.
6 years
Limitation period for breach of contract under the Limitation Act 1980.
Can you take this to court?
Five checks.
If most are yes, you’ve got a claim.
Tradesperson cases are won on photos, dates and comparison quotes. The Consumer Rights Act 2015 sets a baseline of reasonable care and skill that the court will measure your tradesperson against.
1
A tradesperson carried out work that’s below a reasonable standard.
2
You were overcharged, or the bill was inflated beyond the agreed price.
3
The tradesperson caused damage to your property during the work.
4
You have evidence — photos, messages, receipts, a written quote.
5
The amount you’re claiming is under £10,000.
· Eligibility self-check
✓A tradesperson carried out work that’s below a reasonable standard.
✓You were overcharged, or the bill was inflated beyond the agreed price.
✓The tradesperson caused damage to your property during the work.
✓You have evidence — photos, messages, receipts, a written quote.
What CourtPilot drafts for you
Pleaded to CRA 2015.
Not a template.
Generic complaint letters don’t cite the standard. CourtPilot drafts to the Consumer Rights Act 2015 — names s.49 (reasonable care and skill) or s.51 (reasonable price) and sets out the remedial figure backed by comparison quotes.
1
Letter Before Action — Names the works, the defects, the remedial figure and the 14-day deadline under the Practice Direction on Pre-Action Conduct.
2
Schedule of defects — Itemised snag list with two or three quotes from other trades to put the work right — the figure the claim is built on.
3
Particulars of Claim — Pleaded to CPR Part 16, citing s.49 CRA 2015 (reasonable care and skill) and any express terms of your quote or text exchanges.
4
Witness statement & court bundle — Your account with photos, messages, quotes and invoices exhibited — indexed and paginated for the hearing.
9:415G
Re: Defective bathroom installation — 9 Beech Close
Dear Mr Lynch,
I write before issuing a claim in the County Court Money Claims Centre. Under the agreement evidenced by your quote dated 22 February 2026, you installed a bathroom suite at 9 Beech Close for a price of £3,850. The works fall well below the standard required by Consumer Rights Act 2015 s.49.
In accordance with the Practice Direction on Pre-Action Conduct, this letter affords you 14 days to respond…
Defects
9
Interest 8%
£16/mo
Deadline
14 days
Download Word doc →
The cost of being heard
Solicitors don’t scale to a £2k bathroom.
CourtPilot does.
On a £2,000 tradesperson dispute, a solicitor’s fee can match the remedial cost — and on the small-claims track none of it is recoverable.
What a solicitor charges
£1,000–£2,500
Plus their hourly rate after that
Typical solicitor fee for a small-claims tradesperson dispute — and that’s before counsel or an expert if it turns technical. Not recoverable on the small-claims track.
What CourtPilot charges
£97
One-off · the lot
LBA, schedule of defects, particulars, witness statement, MCOL walkthrough, court bundle. One-off — credited against the £9.97 if you sent the letter first.
What changes
Nothing
You’re still the claimant
Same court, same forms, same procedure. You sign and file. We draft, walk you through MCOL, and produce the bundle.
Pricing, in one breath
£9.97 today. £97 if it goes the distance.
Send the letter first. Most disputes settle once a proper LBA lands. If yours doesn’t, the £9.97 comes off the toolkit — same total either way.
01 · Today
£9.97
Letter Before Action
Drafted from your quote and photos, citing the CRA standard, naming the defects and the remedial figure. Lots of trades settle once they see the schedule.
02 · If they don’t settle
£97
£87.03
Upgrade to the full toolkit
MCOL walkthrough, particulars, schedule of defects, witness statement, court bundle, hearing script. £9.97 credited automatically.
03 · Included
Free
Snag-list builder
Built in. Photograph each defect, drop in a comparison quote, and we produce the schedule the court expects.
The questions people ask
The bits people always ask.
What standard of work can I expect?+
Under Consumer Rights Act 2015 s.49, a tradesperson must carry out work with reasonable care and skill — the standard a reasonably competent tradesperson in that trade would achieve. It’s judged objectively against trade norms, not against perfection.
What if the tradesperson didn’t give a fixed price?+
If no price was agreed, Consumer Rights Act 2015 s.51 implies that you must pay a “reasonable price”. If you were overcharged, you can claim back the difference between what you paid and what a reasonable price would be — get two or three comparison quotes from other trades to support your figure.
Do I need to give them a chance to fix the work?+
It’s good practice and the court will look favourably on it. The CRA itself doesn’t demand it for poor service in the same way it does for faulty goods, but a chance to remediate is part of the Pre-Action Protocol spirit. If you’ve genuinely lost trust, you’re entitled to have someone else fix it and claim the cost.
What if they’re not a registered business?+
Many tradespeople operate as sole traders without company registration. You can still sue them personally using their full name and home address. Business cards, invoices, receipts and even bank-transfer references can help establish the identity.
Can I claim for damage they caused to my property?+
Yes. You can claim for the cost of repairing any damage caused by the tradesperson’s negligence, in addition to the cost of correcting the original poor work. Photograph it before and after, and get quotes for the repair.
Two minutes · No card
Find out what your tradesperson dispute is really worth.
Free case check tells you whether the standard fell below CRA s.49, what to value the remedial figure at, and the exact next step. No card required.