When a job goes wrong: a calm, practical playbook
Defects, no-shows, blown-out bills — the escalation path from a polite conversation to formal complaints, in the right order.
Most jobs go fine. But when one doesn't — the finish isn't right, the tradie's stopped answering, the bill bears no resemblance to the quote — what you do next, and in what order, makes an enormous difference to how it ends.
The playbook below is deliberately boring. Boring works.
Step one: document, then talk
Before any conversation, photograph the problem and gather the paper trail — the quote, the messages, the payments. Then raise it directly and specifically: not "the tiling is bad" but "these six tiles in the shower recess are drummy and two are cracked".
Give the tradie a genuine chance to fix it. Most defect complaints end here, because most tradies would rather spend half a day making it right than carry a bad review and a formal complaint. State clearly what you want: a repair, a partial refund, or completion of unfinished work.
Step two: put it in writing with a deadline
If talking doesn't move things, send a short written summary: what was agreed, what happened, what you're asking for, and a reasonable deadline (a fortnight is common). Stay factual and skip the adjectives — this letter is less about persuasion and more about creating the record every later step will rely on.
Step three: the free umpires
Every state's fair trading body (NSW Fair Trading, Consumer Affairs Victoria, QBCC and friends) takes complaints about trade work, and many will attempt informal conciliation for free. For licensed trades, the licensing body has real teeth. Beyond that sits your state's civil and administrative tribunal (NCAT, VCAT, QCAT and equivalents), designed for exactly these disputes and cheap enough to use without a lawyer.
Australian Consumer Law guarantees that services be provided with due care and skill — that guarantee applies to trade work and doesn't depend on what the quote's fine print says.
If you hired through QuickQuote
Raise a dispute on the job — either side can. It notifies the other party, gets a written response on the record, and puts the case in front of QuickQuote's team. Because the job's chat, quote and payments are all in one place, the facts are usually quick to establish — which is precisely what makes disputes resolvable.
Keep perspective on prevention
Nearly every entry in this playbook gets easier — or becomes unnecessary — when the earlier articles' habits are in place: a clear scope, a properly read quote, progress-based payments, and one message thread holding the whole story.
Keep reading
Connecting homeowners with trusted local tradies. Made in Sydney.