Shoddy work and dispute with roofer

Christyt

Hi Slipperyshow - sorry about that Thanks - I was in a hurry and forgot! You are fantastic!

I checked the lead - it has been done in 1.5m pieces. The detail around the downpipe wasn't specified as to what the solution would be - but he said he would 'do his best'.

After a stormy rainy night the water is coming in to a degree i've never seen around the down pipe and around the area where they didn't cut in to the wall because they had to go under a horizontal bathroom pipe.

I'm thinking after all this I'm going to have to ask him to box it in (as he originally wanted to).

I'd expect him to ask for more money, but as he didn't price the job down when I told him not to box it in, i don't think he can rightly ask for much more.

Sadly, BargainGalore - the guy is clearly a cowboy, but you should see his Checkatrade feedback! I can't understand it.

slipperyshoe

Christyt wrote: »

Hi Slipperyshow - sorry about that Thanks - I was in a hurry and forgot! You are fantastic!

I checked the lead - it has been done in 1.5m pieces. The detail around the downpipe wasn't specified as to what the solution would be - but he said he would 'do his best'.

After a stormy rainy night the water is coming in to a degree i've never seen around the down pipe and around the area where they didn't cut in to the wall because they had to go under a horizontal bathroom pipe.

I'm thinking after all this I'm going to have to ask him to box it in (as he originally wanted to).

I'd expect him to ask for more money, but as he didn't price the job down when I told him not to box it in, i don't think he can rightly ask for much more.

Sadly, BargainGalore - the guy is clearly a cowboy, but you should see his Checkatrade feedback! I can't understand it.

Hmmn, yes you could box the pipe in and yes it probably would be an 'extra' (especially if he wanted to do it originally). Bear in mind that even if he does box it in, it still needs to be waterproofed. How does he propose to do this? If it is in felt then I'm not sure he is skilled enough to do it. Also remember that a felt collar around the SVP is not really sufficient (though I concede that it could work!). Really he should still use a lead slate welded in-situ and terminate with a jubilee clip.

Alternatively a cold applied liquid could be used but I think we will be here all night if I start on this. All I would say if you go down that route is to make sure it is a reinforced system (i.e. rolled into a GRP or polyester fleece).

KateLiana27

Christyt wrote: »

the guy is clearly a cowboy, but you should see his Checkatrade feedback! I can't understand it.

I can.

It's his mum, gran, mates, and ten different versions of himself.

These feedback sites are a joke. But you know that now.

Christyt

I spent a long time finding out about the merits of different roofing systems, but what I failed to do was find out how a 3 layer torchon flat roof should be laid. Every time I get a tradesman in I try and bone up on the job but I think I thought somehow this was such a standard roof I didn't need to be so on top of it.

There really needs to be some mandatory standards body for building. It's ridiculous.

Thanks once again - next time eh?

Christyt

slipperyshoe wrote: »

Hmmn, yes you could box the pipe in and yes it probably would be an 'extra' (especially if he wanted to do it originally). Bear in mind that even if he does box it in, it still needs to be waterproofed. How does he propose to do this? If it is in felt then I'm not sure he is skilled enough to do it. Also remember that a felt collar around the SVP is not really sufficient (though I concede that it could work!). Really he should still use a lead slate welded in-situ and terminate with a jubilee clip.

Alternatively a cold applied liquid could be used but I think we will be here all night if I start on this. All I would say if you go down that route is to make sure it is a reinforced system (i.e. rolled into a GRP or polyester fleece).

We offered an extra £150 to do the box. Husband dealt with it and somehow managed to promise we'd treat it as a separate job and pay the rest of the job. He went away very happy with that - unsurprisingly. Bit awkward - but I'm not paying till it's all done. Shall see how he reacts to that. I shall ask how he proposes to seal the box. That's if we get that far.

Next time, I'm renting!

daggy

slipperyshoe wrote: »

Regarding the lead going onto the flat area, you cant do this due to the risk of capillary action. The water can be sucked back up if the lead is on the main area which could cause problems.

Please feel free to thank me for my answers; I've promised myself that I will never post again if the thanked vs posted ratio slips into the red!

Sarcasm? Surely you aren't really bothered? It's nice to be thanked, but still....

Great advice though

daggy

If you have proof that he offered the guarantee as part of the job and he's now rescinding that guarantee, I'd think you were well within your rights to refuse to pay - I would!!

I'd wait until he's finished and it then might be worth you paying some sort of independent inspector to come out and give it a thorough going over... if all is well pay him and if it's not then refuse to pay until he fixes the problems

Christyt

First he offered a no conditions guarantee, now he says he will guarantee his leadwork (not around the pipe) but can't guarantee there'll be no leaks due to water getting in via old rendered brickwork. Other traders said the same thing when coming to quote, but said it up front of course. How you can differenciate between water coming in via lead and water coming in via bricks I have no idea. So basically it means no guarantee. So in that sense, he's going back on his original, no conditions guarantee.

The sarcasm is a survival technique! I'm more stressed than you can imagine. He's not nice to deal with and we've been a bit chaotic on our side which clearly doesn't help matters.

He's peeved now because i've decided that we'll have to box in the pipe after all (although i'm offering extra money to cover the job). he originally wanted to do that but I was advised by a plumber i should leave it open to retain access to pipes. However because he's not sealed the pipe at all the rain was coming in badly around the pipe and I've decided, as he hasn't offered any other solution to the pipe, that we have no choice but to box it in.

It's a mess, but I'm quite sure if we pay him for the rest of the job leaving just £150 to box the pipe in as a separate, job, we won't see him for dust.

However there are still a couple of bits of felt on the flat roof that haven't been sealed properly so he needs to sort that too.

daggy

Christyt wrote: »

First he offered a no conditions guarantee, now he says he will guarantee his leadwork (not around the pipe) but can't guarantee there'll be no leaks due to water getting in via old rendered brickwork. Other traders said the same thing when coming to quote, but said it up front of course. How you can differenciate between water coming in via lead and water coming in via bricks I have no idea. So basically it means no guarantee. So in that sense, he's going back on his original, no conditions guarantee.

The sarcasm is a survival technique! I'm more stressed than you can imagine. He's not nice to deal with and we've been a bit chaotic on our side which clearly doesn't help matters.

He's peeved now because i've decided that we'll have to box in the pipe after all (although i'm offering extra money to cover the job). he originally wanted to do that but I was advised by a plumber i should leave it open to retain access to pipes. However because he's not sealed the pipe at all the rain was coming in badly around the pipe and I've decided, as he hasn't offered any other solution to the pipe, that we have no choice but to box it in.

It's a mess, but I'm quite sure if we pay him for the rest of the job leaving just £150 to box the pipe in as a separate, job, we won't see him for dust.

However there are still a couple of bits of felt on the flat roof that haven't been sealed properly so he needs to sort that too.

Surely if he agreed to do the job without boxing the pipes in he is passively agreeing that he can make a good job of it? It would be like qwik fit agreeing to put a tyre on, but sending you out without filling it with air... never going to work.

He sounds like a total kn*b.

I really think you should consider having it inspected before you pay him. I'd also refuse to pay him extra to box in the pipes as his lethargy or lack of skill has led to the need for it.

I hope you get t sorted.

Christyt

Hi daggy,

Kn*b is one word I could use.

When I asked him not to box in, he agreed but said, and I quote "will do best we can but will not guarantee this as pipes through conservatory are always a problem".

So I guess the bone of contention is that he said his best is to loosely wrap the pipe in tape. Don't know how you'd interpret that. He didn't specify what he'd do instead. I think if that's all you've got to offer as an alternative (utterly utterly useless) you should refuse. What do you think?

RE an inspector - a good idea but I've no idea who I should ask and what authority they'd have if they found his work to be substandard. Can you/anyone suggest who I could go to for that?