The High Court awarded James Ryan, trading as James Ryan and Sons, €6,252.80 after setting off his claim for extra building work against Brian McManus’s counterclaim over a house project in Wexford.
In a judgment delivered on 14 October 2005, Mr Justice Herbert found that Ryan had established a claim of £12,549.98 in former currency, based on five invoices for extras, VAT and credits. The court was hearing an appeal; McManus was the respondent and had not brought a cross-appeal.
The dispute concerned work on a house quoted at £42,000 in September 1998. The judge accepted evidence that McManus requested several changes, including precast concrete floor slabs, stone quoins, a decorative string course and other work. Although there was no express agreement to pay £14,303.98 for the extras, the judge found Ryan could recover on the basis of an implied agreement or quantum meruit. He concluded the five invoices had been received in the ordinary course of post after their dates, rather than first arriving together in July 1999 as McManus recalled.
The judgment also allowed McManus credits for completing the roof and installing fascias, soffits, gutters and downpipes. It accepted specified defects in the work, including problems with window openings, ventilation, the wall plate, the underfloor damp-proof membrane and chimney capping. The court allowed £2,615.50 for making good those defects, £769 for the engineer’s inspections and report, and other counterclaim items, producing a total award of £7,625.50 to McManus.
The court rejected other counterclaim items, including alleged footpath damage, site levelling and several claimed repairs. It also disallowed the cost of a later quantity surveyor’s report as a counterclaim item, treating it as a matter of costs.
After setting off the claim and counterclaim, the judge ordered a decree for Ryan for €6,252.80, with appropriate costs and a certificate for counsel in both courts. The judgment made no order on the counterclaim.