Kichen and Bathroom DISASTER

[commando3]

All the Mitre joints are bad.

 

[commando3]

Are these mitre joints professional?

 

[commando3]

The tiling is not right. It should be half white at bottom with blue masaic on top after row 2.

Note the tiling to side of toilet doesnt match.

 

[commando3]

The builder has asked for nearly 3k to install the suite ( labour). It was a straight swop.
This didnt include the labour for laying the floor tiles or the tiles on the walls.
Thats another 1200 for the wall tiling and another 500 for the floor tiles.
Thats nearly 5k labour plus I supply the suite and all the tiles.
As you can see its not a huge bathroom.

 

[commando3]

I clearly stated to him i wanted Aqua board for the shower area simply because i had to replace a whole shower cubicle in my last home due to water rotting the plasterboard under the tiles. The tiler who did that job for me said being a new house it should of had Aquaboard anyway and that he was constantly retiling bathrooms and showers where plasterboard had been used.

The builder ignored my request and put up plasterboard and sealed with pva. This seems acceptable in the trade but i specifically asked for Aquaboard.

The toilet has been seated on cardboard.

The shower attachment has already come away from the stud wall.

I think the whole job has been carried out by someone with very poor workmanship and Ive seen better DIY jobs.
I dont mind paying the money if i get a professional job!

 

[endecotp]

"came highly recommended by my friends" - this is surprising; have you actually seen the work he did for them?

 

[Dan Robinson]

Give hmrc a ring about the cash .
Revenge is a dish best served cold.

 

[commando3]

Yes. He took me to a house in the village.
I guess I didn't really pay attention to the quality of the work- just the overall appearance.
However, yesterday I spoke to one of the residents in the village who recommended him and she said the porch he built for her was leaking for several months before he finally came back and fixed it.
Somehow it slipped her mind.

 

[commando3]

Give hmrc a ring about the cash .
Revenge is a dish best served cold.

I can't tell you in here what I would like to do but I guess I'm going to have to learn by this mistake and move on.

 

[commando3]

Give hmrc a ring about the cash .
Revenge is a dish best served cold.

From what I hear he is planning to retire to Spain in the summer and his son will be taking over the business.
When I asked for a receipt this is when he became very aggressive so I had to ask him to leave.

To be honest I am quite fearful that he and his men will turn up here one night demanding more money.

 

[RogerBoyle]

Take him to small claims court and get some of your money back. The boxes where the Kitchen came from does it say who supplied it . (Howdens , B&Q ,Wickes, Magnet etc. etc.). Approach trading standards as well. Report the Plumber to gas safe. a bit of a long shot but You could also try getting somebody from HSE interested in the builder with unsafe workmanship and Practises sometimes they will get involved most times they don't.

 

[seasickstevie]

... The only thing actually wrong with the electrics I can see is that earth wire not connected. It's permitted to have sockets behind a plinth.

If the means of isolation (switches or switched sockets) are 'hidden' behind the kickboard, I would class that as being 'Not accessible', therefore would not comply, as 'No reasonable means of isolation'.

Live wires shouldn't be left hanging out of a wall.

That might be another thing "actually wrong with the electrics"



I would have thought that if you're spending £800 on electrics, you'd be getting new cable. Why is the twin and earth pre-harmonised colours (red & black)?

 

[Doggit]

Generally you have to let them finish the job, ordering off site may not have been the wisest decision

Skenk, I am horrified that you suggest that a crap builder should be allowed to finish a job. Why would anyone in their right mind throw good money after bad, and then have to pay even more to get the shoddy work rectified.

Sorry Commando, you've been well and truly stuffed, and even if you took them to the small claims court, as you've got nothing in writing, I expect you'd get nothing back, and even if the judgement went in your favour, he'd just move to Spain earlier.

Do not, under any circumstances, let them do any more work, and whoever you get in to rectify the work, ask to see more than one job that they've done. Talk to your local trading standards office about them, and also contact the gas safe register if the plumber did any gas related work; likewise contact the NICEIC in relationship to the electrician, and also your local building control to check which regulations that they have broken over the work they've done.

It might be a complete waste of time contacting you're local police station over your concerns about any potential retaliations from them, but it won't do any harm either.

Best of luck.

 

[commando3]

Generally you have to let them finish the job, ordering off site may not have been the wisest decision

Skenk, I am horrified that you suggest that a crap builder should be allowed to finish a job. Why would anyone in their right mind throw good money after bad, and then have to pay even more to get the shoddy work rectified.

Sorry Commando, you've been well and truly stuffed, and even if you took them to the small claims court, as you've got nothing in writing, I expect you'd get nothing back, and even if the judgement went in your favour, he'd just move to Spain earlier.

Do not, under any circumstances, let them do any more work, and whoever you get in to rectify the work, ask to see more than one job that they've done. Talk to your local trading standards office about them, and also contact the gas safe register if the plumber did any gas related work; likewise contact the NICEIC in relationship to the electrician, and also your local building control to check which regulations that they have broken over the work they've done.

It might be a complete waste of time contacting you're local police station over your concerns about any potential retaliations from them, but it won't do any harm either.

Best of luck.

Many thanks for your advice.

My brother will be doing all the enquiries etc on Monday and has already informed the builder not to continue.

My brother has also found out since that the builder has made nearly 5k on the kitchen units. This seems a lot being that it was me who designed the kitchen with Howdens etc but I couldn't buy from Howdens being that I dont have an account. All the builder did was to make a phonecall to arrange delivery.
Dont get me wrong, I understand that people need to make a living and that you should be rewarded for the work you do but to add nearly 5k for making one phonecall is in my opinion disgraceful.

The builder originally told me that he only added 5% of the units price to cover his costs.

 

[commando3]

So, i realise now that I've made a big mistake getting this builder in to install my kitchen and bathroom.

What I need to know is where I go from here and what I do next?
My brother said he could get another team in here to take out the units and reinstall the kitchen properly and to fix and finish the bathroom.
Hopefully the cost will be no more than what I kept back for the original builder.

But, I worried that the original builder will want the rest of the money and be able to be given the right to finish the job.

I dont know where I stand legally.

Should I just go ahead and get a new team of guys in I know will do the installations correctly or do I have to give the original builder the opportunity to complete?

I cant afford to pay twice!!

Regards.