My builder flooded my house - help!

[bengasman]

..another wanted reimbursed for the gas used during soundness test

That can not be much more than one zimabwean dollar.

 

[Richard C]

Are you one of those ppl who injure themselves, blame someone else and put a no win no fee claim in? Sounds like it.

What do you want-blood?!

Are you referring to me I’ve made mistakes in my time & one or two have been very expensive but I’ve always put them right. If you’ve never made any mistakes, you’ve not really done much but I’m definitely not one of the litigation brigade. If someone makes a genuine mistake & does their best to put it right, I would support them & be fair in what they should pay for, including my inconvenience, but I certainly would not crucify them.

Get real; I’m pretty damn sure that if you employed someone to do work in your home & they ended up flooding it, collapsing your ceiling & ruining your carpets you wouldn’t let them walk away without putting it right or charging you for the privilege

 

[bengasman]

If someone makes a genuine mistake & does their best to put it right, I would support them & be fair in what they should pay for, including my inconvenience, but I certainly would not crucify them.

Paying for inconvenience is going a bit far; having building works done is always inconvenient, even if nothing goes wrong, would you expect a discount for that?
Would you expect to pay for every single problem the builder rectifies, even if it is something that could not be foreseen?
If a joist is damaged by a previous owner or builder, and it needs strengthening, would you pay for the repair/replacement, or expect that to be done for free because you had been quoted for the job?

 

[Richard C]

Paying for inconvenience is going a bit far;

Rather depends on how much inconvenience your put to & if it cost you anything; consequential loss still costs.

having building works done is always inconvenient, even if nothing goes wrong, would you expect a discount for that?

Discount, who said anything about a discount? No absolutely not; it’s a consequence of having the work done but reasonable inconvenience doesn’t stretch to flooding your house, destroying your ceiling & your carpets.

Would you expect to pay for every single problem the builder rectifies, even if it is something that could not be foreseen?

Again, no; if it’s not foreseen but has financial implications for the contractor, I could even be (& have been) persuaded to make a reasonable contribution towards the cost of any additional, necessary & unforeseen works but not if it’s down to the contractors negligence &, again, I would not attempt to crucify them just not to be out of pocket.

If a joist is damaged by a previous owner or builder, and it needs strengthening, would you pay for the repair/replacement, or expect that to be done for free because you had been quoted for the job?

Again, absolutely not, why would anyone expect that! You’re quoting silly scenarios that have absolutely nothing to do with what’s happened in the OP’s case; I’m pretty sure the quote didn’t include “to flood kitchen, destroy the ceiling & carpets”!

I’m not really sure why you + are “cacking up” against sound advice I gave the OP. I neither want nor really have the time to start a war on the Plumbers Forum but, without going into detail, I have rather a lot of experience in contracting & in a much bigger league than this so I think I understand what’s fair & right & what isn’t!

 

[Agile]

That can not be much more than one zimabwean dollar.

I have got a 50,000,000 Zim dollar note! But its not worth any more than the paper that its printed on which is worth exactly the same as the 500,000 Zim dollar note I have.

Zim dollars are officially now of no value as the country finally sanctioned to official use of overseas currency last Christmas. The shops have prices marked in rand and at the till have a hand written sign quoting the daily equivalent of 10 Rand in Pula, GBP and US$.

Electricity bills are paid in US$ and telephone bills in Rand.

Now they use hard currency the shops are stocked again although the prices are about the same as the UK or a bit higher but fresh produce is about twice the price compared with SA.

I got into difficulties because they dont change travellers cheques, they dont accept world plastic cards and its difficult to find anywhere to change GBP although you can pay with GBP if you buy something. Finally managed to change £100 with girl on the street and had an advance of 500 Rand from a relative.

In Joberg all you need to do is look over your shoulder and put your card in the ATM. In Zim there are ATMs all over the place but they are all dead!

Tony

 

[namsag]

Really simple the guy should be doing everything he can to placate the customer even leaving it a while to board if this makes customer happy.
Customer should not be out of pocket even if it means doing a few extra bits for nothing or upgrading stuff out of own pocket (after all how is amount of electricity going to be measured).
Although not a nice thing to go through customer should accept the guy is doing his best after an unfortunate accident.

 

[zanwan]

What i'd like to know is what exactly did he do to the pipe which caused all this in the first place?

 

[Deleted member 105431]

Really simple the guy should be doing everything he can to placate the customer even leaving it a while to board if this makes customer happy.
Customer should not be out of pocket even if it means doing a few extra bits for nothing or upgrading stuff out of own pocket (after all how is amount of electricity going to be measured).
Although not a nice thing to go through customer should accept the guy is doing his best after an unfortunate accident.

nobsag is right on this rare occasion.

 

[glasgowgas]

Finally managed to change £100 with girl on the street

Zimbabwean hookers, huh!

 

[zanwan]

lol

 

[JayJay1978]

What i'd like to know is what exactly did he do to the pipe which caused all this in the first place?

Yes spill the beans, was it a push-fit joint come loose?