1 week into home renovation / extension - should we pull the plug already?

theoretica

Not uncommon for someone to be good with their hands but not with plans/reading.

BlueC

Doozergirl said:

He probably doesn't understand why.   He's
probably
turned up in the roof and hasn't even properly
looked at the back of the house.  

Communication is just as valuable
as the plans - in fact moreso to a lot of tradespeople who sadly aren't the most literate group as a collective.   😬
 

Interesting. Maybe the thing we need to figure out is should this communication come from us or should he be receiving instruction from the builder. I had honestly never envisaged I would be needing to tell them how to build it....

Another thing I haven't mentioned to them yet but I would appreciate your view on. They have put a steel in on the ground floor which is supporting a section of the rear wall of the dormer. This has been placed in but not put on the concrete padstone specified by the engineer. Any idea what's going on there? Do builders sometimes just get the steel in and then come back to do the padstone later? I feel if this was left then the BCO would pull them up on it, but again it just adds to my misgivings....

Section62

BlueC said:

TBH these are such simple and obvious things that it makes me worry that the joiner doesn't actually know how to read plans?

There's been no mention of Building Control so far in the thread....

If the builder is something of an absentee, who has been made responsible for dealing with BC and getting any inspections arranged?

If the joiner is really that bad then I wouldn't want to rely on them to be in charge of doing the organising/liaising with BC.

And if the builder isn't fully aware of what is going on....  just who is?


Edit:  You've mentioned BC while I was typing the above.  If the beam is already supporting a load then the bearings should have been in place already.  But if the beam has just been inserted but not yet installed, then that could be a task they intend to do later.

Bendy_House

BlueC said:

@Bendy_House here are some details of the incorrectly placed windows...

The dormer will extend 3 existing rooms which are currently in the roof space and have velux windows and restricted head space. The two rooms at each side are bedrooms and the middle is a bathroom. The architect's designs are not complicated - they basically just say that each window should be central to each room. The joiner had built the middle window (bathroom) off-centre by about 400mm. This would have looked dreadful both internally and externally.

The second bedroom actually will have french doors (not a window per se) onto a balcony which is above a set of existing french doors on the ground floor. As is typical, the french doors at the ground floor level are in the centre of the room and therefore the architect has specified that the french doors above should be the same. The joiner has built the frame for these french doors miles off centre - not even close. If it were actually built and finished like this it would look absolutely ridiculous.

TBH these are such simple and obvious things that it makes me worry that the joiner doesn't actually know how to read plans?

Two things here:

1) I realise these frames could probably be rectified later, but what's the point in building a timber frame with spaces for windows and doors yet putting them in the wrong place?

2) If they had some valid reason to not put them where specified then this needs to be a conversation with us/the architect. Sadly though in this case they haven't done this for any reason, other than they haven't understood how to interpret the plans.

Thanks for that info.

That is really pants. That is inexcusable. And an insult to suggest that it's ok because it can be addressed later. Salt and wound.

Bendy_House

BlueC said:

Doozergirl said:

He probably doesn't understand why.   He's
probably
turned up in the roof and hasn't even properly
looked at the back of the house.  

Communication is just as valuable
as the plans - in fact moreso to a lot of tradespeople who sadly aren't the most literate group as a collective.   😬
 

Interesting. Maybe the thing we need to figure out is should this communication come from us or should he be receiving instruction from the builder. I had honestly never envisaged I would be needing to tell them how to build it....

Another thing I haven't mentioned to them yet but I would appreciate your view on. They have put a steel in on the ground floor which is supporting a section of the rear wall of the dormer. This has been placed in but not put on the concrete padstone specified by the engineer. Any idea what's going on there? Do builders sometimes just get the steel in and then come back to do the padstone later? I feel if this was left then the BCO would pull them up on it, but again it just adds to my misgivings....

Again, fitting a steel and then planning to slip the padstones in afterwards is nuts.

The padstones should be bedded down and completely level with eachother before the steel gets a sniff of its final location.

I suggest you need BCO out asap.

stuart45

Some builders use the method of bedding the top of the steel and using acros to pin up the steel to the wall. Then lay the padstones and pin up to the steel. 

NSG666

stuart45 said:

Some builders use the method of bedding the top of the steel and using acros to pin up the steel to the wall. Then lay the padstones and pin up to the steel. 

Have I read somewhere that you are no longer allowed to use slate packers, which has been used for decades, and must now use steel plates?

Section62

Bendy_House said:

Again, fitting a steel and then planning to slip the padstones in afterwards is nuts.

The padstones should be bedded down and completely level with eachother before the steel gets a sniff of its final location.

As I said above - that depends on whether the beam has actually been installed, or has just been moved into position.

On some renovation/modification works there is a narrow window of opportunity to move big lumps of steel around, and that doesn't always tie up with when you are ready to install it.

So you move the beam to roughly where it is going to be and safely store it there until you are ready to do the installing.

Insertion and installing aren't the same thing, although to a layperson the difference wouldn't always be obvious.

I wouldn't leap to judge the builder before knowing exactly what they have done, and what they intend to do - because sometimes on building projects misunderstandings easily occur [threads passim].

stuart45

NSG666 said:

stuart45 said:

Some builders use the method of bedding the top of the steel and using acros to pin up the steel to the wall. Then lay the padstones and pin up to the steel. 

Have I read somewhere that you are no longer allowed to use slate packers, which has been used for decades, and must now use steel plates?

BCO seem to prefer dry pack between the steel and wall and steel shims between a padstone and the steel if needed. I always pack some slate in a few spots along the steel. As you say it's been done like this for a long time.

Maarakaan

Can someone explain to me why OPs email caused this level of offense?

A couple of you that are in the business (doozergirl/section62 I think?) seem to agree that this is what caused the problem and I find that curious - I read it as "we think something's gone wrong and want to clear it up prior to more labour/materials going into continuing down the wrong path - please come around so we can show you/sit down/discuss".

From OPs posts it seems like the builder isn't really present to just catch him on site to ask about these issues so he's sent an email to get him to come around.
I can see that a call is less ambiguous, but surely the difference between getting an unpleasant call or an unpleasant email on a Friday can't be that big to cause/not cause this kind of blowup?