7 months of 'work' and barely out of the ground.

Self-destructive behaviour

Munnelly’s inability to work with other contractors became a major source of frustration and delay. He clashed with almost everyone engaged to help move the project forward and in hindsight this should have been a major red flag. 

Work on the foundations became a saga. Our engineer found Munnelly almost impossible to work with. Even simple requests such as to take photographs of foundation pouring became a problem and source of delay – leading to foundations needing to be dug around and exposed for inspection.

Separate to our contract, we sought a price from Munnelly to clear the garden of waste. We found and agreed a cheaper quote from a reputable contractor but after one phone call with Munnelly to arrange access to the site, the contractor withdrew from the job sighting that Munnelly could not be worked with. Later he texted us saying we should keep a close eye on Munnelly. We wished we had heeded his warning. 

This theme continued with anyone we engaged in our efforts to move elements of the project forward that Munnelly seemed incapable of delivering. For example, after weeks of delays on sourcing and installing steel, we found a supplier ourselves at a very reasonable price – only for him to be kicked off site within 30 minutes by Munnelly after they disagreed on the installation approach. 

Munnelly seemed set on frustrating all our efforts to make real progress on site.

€10,000 for steel that never appeared

Sourcing of steel became a major cause of delay to the project – dragging on for several weeks. While the requirement was complex, there was no real explanation for the delays. 

Munnelly received €10,000 as a first payment for steel which was never supplied to us by him and he has since refused to reimburse us for without reason.


An apparent lack of fundamental knowledge

Munnelly claimed he had the building, project management, and QS experience to deliver our home renovation project. But in our opinion, and the opinion of every other professional engaged in the project, he clearly did not. He often appeared to lack a fundamental knowledge of many construction norms, regulations, and standards.

Munnelly was requested to share his site insurance with our architect several times. To date he has not done so. We can only assume he was operating without it and possibly unaware he even required it.

All throughout the project timelines were missed. Munnelly insisted the renovation would be finished in November, then December, and then January (already a significant delay to the original timeline). His inability to manage the project flew in the face of his claimed years of experience. We consulted with other contractors and were assured January was entirely unrealistic given the work completed up to that point – they suggested a completion date of April 2024. This represented an enormous and shockingly long extension to the job. 

Given our experience to that point, we clearly could not have confidence April would have been achieved by Munnelly.

Shockingly, but unsurprisingly, Munnelly later declared in face-to-face meetings after his removal from the job that he was not a builder and was only trying to “help us out”.

No receipts to match value of works on site

Despite the delays, and our concerns, Munnelly continued to demand on-going funds outside of milestone payments. These were initially agreed in order to, as Munnelly put it, to secure materials ahead of price increases – which was a major concern at the time. Unfortunately for us, we realised all too late that our payments had far outstripped the value of works on site – and the promised materials paid for in-advance never appeared. We can only assume they never bought in the first place.

In a discussion with Munnelly, we attempted to pause payments until an agreement on getting back up to parity could be reached. But instead, he threatened to stop works on site until we paid him an additional €2,400 to cover labour costs despite us having already significantly overpaid at that stage. It was at this point that we informed Munnelly his services were no longer required as he was in breach of contact.

After we removed Munnelly from the site, he sent us a bill for tens of thousands of euro for loss of earnings and ‘variations’ to the plans – almost none of which were flagged and agreed in advance with us and our architect as required by our contract with him.

 

We sought to recoup monies from Munnelly but as of writing, he has only offered a paltry settlement figure. 

Munnelly has to date refused to share any invoices, receipts or proof of payment for supplies purchased on our project.

Sub-standard work throughout

Once Munnelly was removed from the project, we immediately engaged a qualified QS and a building contractor to assertain the value and review the works on site. Their report made for sobering reading.

It was confirmed that Munnelly had received payment far in excess of the value of the work up to that point – due in large part to the advance payments for materials that never appeared.

To make matters worse, what was completed was done to a very poor standard or done incorrectly. Significant sections of the block work and brick work were well outside industry regs. The building itself was not even square. Munnelly in a later meeting suggested this was the result of lack of oversight on his part.

 

Munnelly’s groundworks would also require significant and costly effort to correct. Piping was left too short in places, incorrect diameter, or not buried to industry regs. Some ducting was only 10 cm below ground or exposed in places. Many of these errors would have caused us serious problems later had they not been spotted upon inspection.


Soakaway pit constructed of rubbish

In one particularly shocking example, discovered by our new contractor, the soakaway pit was constructed of rubbish (plastic bags, cement and rubble), without proper pipework, and not remotely dug to the correct depth.

Hoarding was only installed on site after complaints from neighbours and pressure from us. Hoarding that was eventually installed was unsightly, not properly secured, and unsafe.


The discovery of a rubbish filled soakaway pit.

Burying waste in our garden

Although an active water connection was buried and available on site, we later found out that water was embarrassingly being sourced in buckets by his labourers from a neighbour’s yard as Munnelly never arranged the water access. This was arranged on day 1 by our new builder after we parted ways with Munnelly. 

Despite being charged for waste disposal, rubble from the demolition phase was being buried in the garden portion of the site without our knowledge. Our new contractor removed two van and trailer loads of mixed waste rubbish and removed 40 tonnes of rubble from the site.

Use of our garden as a toilet

Munnelly didn't provide basic amenities on site for his crew – resulting in some of his workers going to the toilet in the open in our garden – as unfortunately observed by a shocked neighbour. Only after this was a portoloo rented.

The site also resembled a rubbish tip more than a building site. Something which seemed to reflect the quality of the work unfortunately.

Resembles a dangerous rubbish tip more than building site.

Significant costs to remedy sub-standard work 

We were able to engage another building contractor but have incurred huge costs in remedying the works completed by Munnelly in addition to the money paid to him. The significant delays have also cost us in ongoing rent while also having to pay our mortgage. 

The overall financial impact on us and our efforts to complete work on our home have been huge.

Our experience is not an isolated one 

Unfortunately we are not the only home owners to fall victim to Munnelly. Through our own investigations, we made contact with several other people who have had similar experiences to our own with him.

Update April 2024: Since this website went live, we've had many more people get in touch.

These individuals are happy to speak directly to those considering hiring Gavin Munnelly – as a contractor or 'cost consultant'.