Who's fault is it?

[diyblonde]

Hi, I just had my house re-wired, plastered and skimmed. The problem is where the sockets have gone in. The plaster job doesn't go down to where the socket is and as a result there are messy gaps all around most of them over a centimeter high in places.

The plasterer has said it is the job of a decorator to sort it out and not his responsibility. Is this true? I can understand how a bit of touching up would be the job of a decorator but this looks really bad and he has managed to do the switches tidily. I feel that he has not gone down far enough on the sockets and that it is his responsibility and that he should come back and sort this problem out.

So, please can you tell me - who's responsibility is this to sort it out?

Many thanks

 

[JohnD]

What do you mean by "doesn't go down to where the socket is"?

can you post some pics?

were the socket faceplates fitted when the plasterer came, or just the metal boxes?

 

[diyblonde]

To answer your question no the socket covers were not there before plastering. The re-wire was done and some of the metal socket boxes were in the wall some were not in yet but the plasterer knew where the sockets were going to be.

With his plaster job he has not gone close enough to the socket boxes or where they should be and as a result there are holes.
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg33/cleonenl/plastersocket.jpg


thanks JohnD for the photobucket info ... very smooth!

 

[JohnD]

picture link not working

//www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=99672

 

[amyboo]

Blimey - that socket looks awful! I would say it's the responsibility of the plasterer. It certainly was when we had our walls plastered and the socket covers replaced. I could understand a few small gaps that should be filled by the decorator. But in your photo there's a huge gap that should surely be the plasterer's responsibility.

 

[diyblonde]

I thought it might be the case but didn't want to push it until I knew for sure. Any other feedback would be most helpful!

 

[big-all]

you should expect a good finnish up to a back box

you would expect him to stop short by an inch or so if no box is fitted!!!

 

[JohnD]

I still don't understand "some of the metal socket boxes were in the wall some were not in yet"

I would expect a plasterer to finish round a backbox that's in place (they usually get plaster inside the box as well) but not if the box was not fitted.

 

[big-all]

I still don't understand "some of the metal socket boxes were in the wall some were not in yet"

I would expect a plasterer to finish round a backbox that's in place (they usually get plaster inside the box as well) but not if the box was not fitted.

snap!!!

 

[diyblonde]

In the places where no box was fitted - in some cases he plastered right down to where the box was going to be fitted and in others he stopped an inch or so higher ...
What can I do?
Surely if the job was going to look this bad he should have told us that he needed the boxes fitted first?
Is it his responsibility to come back and sort it out? The job was not cheap and I don't see why I should accept a bad finish?

 

[JohnD]

it is the fault of whoever was managing the tradesmen and failed to coordinate their activities.

Was that you?

 

[noseall]

why on earth were the back boxes not in place before the spread plastered out?

your post does not make sense.

you cannot expect the plasterer to guess where the back boxes will be and make a good job of finishing his work to an object that is not there, surely?

 

[joe-90]

The plasterer is there to plaster your walls, not make-good shoddy work by the sparkies. It's the electricians fault.

 

[diyblonde]

Yup that was me, unfortunately this has been one big learning curve - especially about communication. Thanks for the replies its been very helpful and important to know.

 

[JohnD]

hee hee!

can you guess why good Project Managers command such a high daily rate?