First-time house renovation

Canucklehead

TomsMom wrote: »

Thanks very much CH.

This is all such a shame, Corgi bloke 1 is a friend of our son. Son passes on any work to him when it's needed at some of his tiling jobs. Corgi bloke works full time and fits these other jobs in his spare time so does them evenings/weekends or if he can get away in the day. He'll start a job but needs chasing frequently to come back. He is now renovating a house of his own so his spare time is very limited. Of course, we didn't know this when he first agreed to do our job. He's a nice bloke and he did it at mates rates 'cos we're his pal's parents. We personally can't say whether he's unscrupulous in his other dealings/undercutting other RGIs, we just don't know. But he was doing us a favour at a reduced price due to his connection with our son.

Unfortunately, it's not a good idea to make an official complaint to GSR, we live in a very small community and it would affect too many relationships and possibly make it very difficult for us to get anyone else to work for us when word got around. Small town mentality!

Our son thinks he's taken on too much and is heading for a breakdown.

OK, so he's filled in the Vaillant guarantee registration form and dated it 18th March, although he inadvertently put his own details in the Customer Details part and, of course, it's way past the 30 days to send it in! We can ring Vaillant and see if they're still willing to accept the registration.

There was no mention of filling in the Benchmark part of the installation manual and I don't think OH realised that this was needed also. He's gone back into hospital this morning so I will mention this to him when he comes out, hopefully at the weekend. In all honesty, I can't seem him wanting to go back to Corgi bloke 1 again to get this sorted as their meeting last night was a bit awkward although ended amicably. We wont, of course, be asking him to do anything else for us, especially as he let us down over the fitting of the hob.

OH said that he will contact the Building Control Officer who has been involved and see what he has to say, he thinks he might still need to come out and sign our renovation off - the builders didn't mention whether he'd made his final visit and we have no certificate or anything for that.

We do now have a more reliable contact - Corgi bloke 2 mentioned in a previous post, who is very good although twice the price as we don't get mates rates! Food for thought!

I take it then that charging us the £800 instead of the original amount, and the fee of £85 he quoted, that Corgi bloke 1 mentioned last night is not a requirement but he's either trying to put us off or will pocket it for the extra "trouble" we're putting him to?

Aside from the guarantee, we understand the Building Regs Compliance Certificate is something that would need to be included in the HIP report if we sold the property? Is there any other need for it, as we will be carried out in our boxes before this house is sold.

Thanks for your help, it's much appreciated.

Hi...I grew up in a small Canadian town but it went the other way i.e.if you did a carp job/stitched someone up/misled etc.everyone would soon know about it and avoid you like swine flu;)
The OH always notifies his installs and absorbs the nominal cost ( less than £3.00) and I can't understand why a RGI wouldn't if he/she could (not all can self-certify as a qualification in Energy Efficiency must be achieved in order to join a Competency scheme). The Building Compliance Certificate also provides evidence to the manufacturer (along with the Benchmark) that the installation has met requirements.

The OH always charges mates the same rate as clients and we pay mates the same as their clients...saves the aggro in the end with no corners cut or omissions made.

HTH

Canucklehead

andrew-b

Are you sure they were even registered with CORGI in the first place (anyone can print a card with a corgi logo and a random number on it!)?

His not much of a friend to your son with that attitude...it's one thing ripping off a stranger but to do it to the family of friends is another story. I'd find out if Corgi#1 is now on this GSR thing or not. If they aren't they probably won't give a monkeys as they have little to lose by not complying. If they are then being reported to GSR (i've no idea how complaint resolution works with this scheme) presumably won't do much good at all for them if they subsequently get struck off.

If they are on the GSR then tell them unless they sort this you will report them to GSR. I doubt they will like it and suspect it will get nasty.

I'd be on the phone to CORGI, GSR and your local building control department and maybe trading standards too. If you have to pay anything i'd charge it back to corgi#1 ...if they don't pay up take it to the small claims court. I'd keep things in writing from now rather than communicating via phone or face to face then you have proof of what has been said to whom.

Moral of the story is friends&family and business don't mix as when things go wrong it's much much worse ..take it from someone whose seen it happen and the consequences when it becomes a legal battle!

Andy

andrew-b

jimbugalee wrote: »

Did you know that Argos stock the same as Homebase so if you see something in the Argos catalogue you can usually go and check it out in a Homebase store.

..and they are both as rubbish as each other!! Still you can get Nectar points at homebase and they have 10% days which Argos don't. Our homebase sofas came via a van with Argos logos. The ranges of products do differ though...but there is a big overlap which appears to cover the "delivery only" products on their websites.
I thought there was actually a fitted range of bedroom furntiure in Argos/homebase though where you could buy just doors?

You could look at Tesco and see if they have a wardrobe you could chop up..though i wouldn't recommend them if your not intending to butcher it!

Andy

TomsMom

andrew-b wrote: »

Are you sure they were even registered with CORGI in the first place (anyone can print a card with a corgi logo and a random number on it!)?

Definitely GS registered Andy - I've checked out the online register . And we know he values his registration!

Moral of the story is friends&family and business don't mix as when things go wrong it's much much worse ..take it from someone whose seen it happen and the consequences when it becomes a legal battle!

Andy

Very true. Problem is here that there's so few tradesmen that when someone knows someone then you tend to go for it. Well, we've learnt our lesson and at least we now have Corgi bloke 2 if ever we need anything to do with gas/plumbing/central heating in the future.

I'll see if OH wants to take it any further when he gets home from hospital on Friday.

TomsMom

andrew-b wrote: »

..and they are both as rubbish as each other!!

:rotfl: That's why I wanted the same look but better quality, I've seen my son's wardrobes :rotfl: .

I thought there was actually a fitted range of bedroom furntiure in Argos/homebase though where you could buy just doors?
Andy

I'll check them out again but I think it's the whole wardrobe and they don't have an oak effect :sad: just beech or maple in the lighter wood and that wont go with the chest I like. Perhaps I should get the all mirror ones, just use the doors and see if I can get an oak effect frame/surround thingy.

andrew-b

I know it's been suggested before but have you looked to see delivery costs from Ikea to you. They deliver most places now but at a cost ...but i suspect the cost might be worth it.

And if you don't like it when you get it ...just send it back as you have 90 days to change your mind (not sure where you stand with delivery charges so check before you order).

In particular look here ...click on the products as they don't just come in the colour/style you see on that first page.

It probably won't be an exact fit to your space but you could get the fitted look quite easily by filling around the edges with plasterboard secured to battens screwed to the walls and sides of the wardrobe. You could just fill the plasterboard joins and either paint the plasterboard directly or line it first if you don't want to get messy plasterers back. If there's coving in the room continue it around above the wardrobe. Maybe attach a cornice to the top of the wardrobe too..painted to match coving or stained to match wardrobe.. to finish it off nicely.

Andy

TomsMom

Well, wouldn't you just know it Andy - "Currently this product is not available to buy online. Check below for availability at your local store."

Maybe if OH is well enough we can have a day out, Ikea is about 2 - 2.5 hours drive and can go and have a look at these and see if they can deliver as far as us if we like them. I've read a lot of good things about these wardrobes.

It probably won't be an exact fit to your space but you could get the fitted look quite easily by filling around the edges with plasterboard secured to battens screwed to the walls and sides of the wardrobe. You could just fill the plasterboard joins and either paint the plasterboard directly or line it first if you don't want to get messy plasterers back. If there's coving in the room continue it around above the wardrobe. Maybe attach a cornice to the top of the wardrobe too..painted to match coving or stained to match wardrobe.. to finish it off nicely.

Thanks for that, you've explained how to do it perfectly for me (who doesn't "get" these things unless it comes with step by step instructions :rolleyes: ).

Now I have a horrible feeling that they're going to be too tall at 236cm, I think we measured about 225 at the most. This is where I wish my son was also a carpenter/joiner as well as a tiler :rotfl: .

andrew-b

TomsMom wrote: »

Well, wouldn't you just know it Andy - "Currently this product is not available to buy online. Check below for availability at your local store."

Try it again...click on say the double wardrobe...change the frame colour to oak effect....and you'll see they are in fact available. It seems like it's just the birch/beech effect that isn't available. They come in multiples of 50cm widths (50, 100 or 150) so you'd have to buy more than one and screw them together.

Man from door company has just been (completely unexpected as his boss hadn't phoned me) and i'm pleased to say my door appears to have finally been fixed...i say appears as i don't want to be too certain it's fixed and tempt fate!

Andy

TomsMom

andrew-b wrote: »

Try it again...click on say the double wardrobe...change the frame colour to oak effect....and you'll see they are in fact available. It seems like it's just the birch/beech effect that isn't available. They come in multiples of 50cm widths (50, 100 or 150) so you'd have to buy more than one and screw them together.

Oh thank you Andy. Yes, of course - I hadn't changed it to oak effect . Sorry about that. Right, I'll show them to OH when he comes home and see if we can get around the height problem.

Fingers crossed for your door!

andrew-b

Maybe you could shorten them if needbe. The sides and back wouldn't matter too much as they wouldn't be visible but the doors you'd have to be careful about not chipping/damaging the veneer when cutting and might need some iron-on edging tape to finish it off (assuming it's not solid wood - though if it's top or bottom of the door it probably wouldn't notice). An electric table saw would do the job very well (we used one to shorten all our plinths in the kitchen after tiling) ..though carefully cutting with a handsaw may be good enough. Though that would probably cut off any holes for the fixings. Plastic assembly blocks could be used instead probably - like these

We went searching for garden furniture yesterday. Nearly bough this from Tesco as we could have got it for £115 for the table and 4 chairs in store. We were deliberating over it and even went back to the car to see if we could fit it. Went back to buy and tried it out again. OH wasn't too happy about as she thought the table wasn't stable enough as i tend to push up off things when i stand up. Also we realised being black it would absorb heat.

So we walked out empty handed and went to Homebase where we are very tempted to buy this one ...Only thing holding us back is it's £250..which is right at the top of our budget and doesn't include parasol and base. Was much more sturdy though - although i didn't much like the prospect of having to oil it every year as was alot of wood!

Andy