Expecting a massive price uplift - radiator install

ThisIsWeird

So that is 10mm pipe?
Surely neater to have taken it through the wall in the corner, right through a neat hole in the skirting? 
Just about anything would have been better.
Bottom line, they should be too embarrassed to ask for any more for this job, so I guess that's something.

silvercar

Until I read the comments, I was going to flag this a wind up post!

We recently had new radiators fitted and the plumber supplied everything. Sent me a few pictures of radiators to choose the one I wanted, that he then ordered along with all the parts.

breaking_free

I'll come back and update when I get the invoice; it might be the case that they'll stick to the original quote - watch this space. Forgot to add that they didn't put any inhibitor in either so that's another job for me; I've already patched the wall where the pipes go in and it looks significantly better.

CouldntResist

Patching the plaster is a start but that's not the bit that's really making it look bad....

And now YOU have to put inhibitor in it?!

ThisIsWeird

breaking_free said:

The two 'colleagues' couldn't have been experienced plumbers. No wonder the main guy is embarrassed.

They used 10mm pipe - that's something at least.

Visualise the above - if they had run these two pipes tightly side by side immediately above - sitting on - the skirting, and straight through the wall in the corner? Or, if taken through the wall where it currently is, run in 10mm copper, soldered elbows, again run immediately above the skirting. Once painted, it'll look like part of the moulding at a glance.

There is no 'experience' behind the decision that these two made. I suspect they are new, and the main guy thought this would be a nice simple job to break them in.

You can freeze plastic pipe.

You are saying that they drained it down, and did not add fresh inhibitor? Yikes.

You should challenge the bill on both these grounds if they try and charge more for this work.

Swasterix

They’re not tradesman. Any self respecting plumber would have refused to do it like that. They just wouldn’t put their name on the line for the sake of less than £100. No amount of plastering/filling will make it acceptable. It looks absolutely rubbish. Sorry. Hope it’s warm at least. 

ashe

It'll be a nightmare as well next time you have to decorate and change the skirting. I'd honestly swallow the cost and get someone to come back and do it properly. 

breaking_free

UPDATE: So I've finally got the invoice (all identifying information removed) and as expected the original quote has increased from £120 inc VAT to £270 (it was a quote, not an estimate).

Below in the description it states "Supply & fit additional fittings". Those are the 3 extra elbows, extra inserts and some cable clips that were not specified on the original list of parts to buy that the first heating engineer gave me (I still have the list).

When the 2 guys realized the first chap hadn't specified enough elbows they drove off to buy them and were away for quite some time; that is not a problem of my making. 

Also they categorically did NOT balance the radiators - I did that myself the next day when I realized one of them wasn't heating up fully, and I had to buy and add my own inhibitor.

To me it all boils down to the first guy speccing the job in the manner he would have done it, then the 2 chaps who ended up doing the job disagreeing with his assessment (we can't freeze that plastic pipe so we'll have to drain it all down; we won't add inhibitor as the first guy didn't anticipate us draining the system down; we don't have enough elbows or inserts and zero cable clips so we'll have to go out an buy some).

I'm going to email the company and quibble over the invoice. How would you approach this? Would you simply point them towards this money saving expert post, or would that be inflammatory?

ThisIsWeird

I'd state the facts just as you have told us on here - you must challenge the revised invoice because;
1) plastic pipe can and could have been frozen as initially intended by X,
2) you bought exactly the parts requested of you, on X's instructions,
3) you'd had it confirmed by others that the original time estimate of 2 hours for this job was in the correct ballpark and perfectly achievable, especially with two plumbers engaged on the task,
4) the changes made to how the job was subsequently carried out were entirely down to your two plumbers, and you understand that the original plan could have been followed in the allocated time, and would almost certainly have resulted in a more professional-looking job.
5) numerous people have told me that they find the quality of work carried out by your plumbers is unacceptable,
6) the system was not balanced on completion, and required me to do this to get the radiator working correctly.
Nevertheless, I have a working radiator as I requested, so I enclosed payment for the original amount as full and final payment.
In your own words
If they have the gall to challenge you, you tell them you'll be putting photos of this work on Facebook, and asking for opinions...

Swasterix

ThisIsWeird said:

5) numerous people have told me that they find the quality of work carried out by your plumbers is unacceptable,

To be fair to them OP has stated that they were unhappy to do it like that, and he told them he’s “not bothered how it looks”. That’s on OP unfortunately. Everything else though, yeah.