Roundtuit

Out of interest, did the roofs previously join in the middle of the stack, or have you 'gained' a bit? Was it slate previously?

Have a look at 'the paving expert' website for an indication of best practice, but that doesn't look good. Aside from the poor surface prep, I'd still have serious concerns about the stability of the underlying soil if it's been moved from bottom to top: I had my lawn area levelled and compacted with a 17t digger after some tree stumps came out, and it's still settling 3 years later.

Sorry, not an expert, but a few thoughts are: - I'd suggest that anything built on 'made-up' ground (ie where soil was moved from bottom to top) is destined to fail. Are you sure that's what they did? Building up with compacted stone and type-1 would have been my first thought. - there should be provision for drainage for the retaining wall. - there should be some fall-protection guarding on top of the wall. -any timber used below ground as a structural element would be unacceptable.

Apologies; I realise I've been vague as the question was more about what an appropriate solution is rather than the nitty-gritty of the job. In summary, it's a driveway & garden lighting job, plus a couple of single sockets, with the lights to be switched from an existing photocell on the house via a timer next to the consumer unit (on when it's dusk, off at midnight). I think he's forgotten to run SWA with enough cores to do all jobs (through adequate pre-installed ducting), and rather than putting it right has installed a $hit work-around I can't live with. I've paid 50% pending further negotiations. He's offered some discount, but not enough to cover putting it right.

The stress is already incurred unfortunately: being screwed over, and the thought of the hassle of trying to get someone else to pick the job up, not really the money. I'm really after a bit of justice I suppose. We're talking UK qualified electrician, limited company, and his quote is details what we'd agreed the job was. The only reason it has gone on for so long is that my generosity of spirit allowed him to fit it around other jobs; 45 minutes here, two hours there, weeks between visits... I honestly can't think of anything I could have done differently to achieve a better outcome, other than standing over him and tw@tting him on the back of the head when he went off-piste. As it happens, when I told him his work wasn't acceptable, he gave me another quote (for about £500) to complete the work as originally planned, so that will be the basis for a retention if that's the way this goes.

To be fair, he's not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but it was crystal clear; it's in black and white on his quote, and documented in subsequent emails. Hence my frustration...

I think he's forgotten the original brief, not made provision for a key element, and instead of fixing it has implemented a second-rate workaround dressed up with a load of excuses. It will need putting right, at my cost if not his, as it's not really functional as intended. This was a 2 day job that has taken 5 months to get to this stage... Tbh, it's now more about a point of principle than the money. House is finished, so pissing him off is unlikely to impact on anything.

I'm currently in dispute with a tradesman on a job worth <£2k. I've paid half the invoice to show willing, but for the rest, I'm torn between paying it off and moving on, and pursuing it to the end of the earth and beyond. The galling thing is that I've been right on top of this: quotation scrutinised and amended, clarifications and outstanding work documented on email, and yet he still delivers something different and unacceptable with a load of bull$hit excuses, and has declined to do as per the agreed quote. I've complained to a 'trade body' he's a member of, but they apparently don't do 'contractual disputes', and he's claiming any changes to the original plan were agreed, which again is bull$hit. I'm confident that I've enough documented evidence to warrant withholding final payment to get someone else to put it right, so the question is, if I do that, what's the worse that can happen, and is it worth it for a few hundred quid?

Put some ducting in 😉

Hope you managed to get it sorted out amicably. So is that a 5% reduction on the quote? Possibly with -0.5% chance of getting them back for snagging or warranty work?

On the basis that the additional changes and dicking about probably cost your builder* more than the marginal saving in materials, I'd suggest just paying up. * 'specialist window/door company': are we talking conservatory?

Pack the reveals a bit. You may have to pack around fitting brackets anyway. Or use 15mm plasterboard + skim and take your time taping to be accurate.

Hi Henry. Welcome aboard. Plenty of experience here in renovation and garden buildings so ask away and chip-in where you can!

As above, graphite spray is recommended for locks I believe as it's 'dry' once the carrier has evaporated so doesn't get gummed up with dust and crap. I got some hideously expensive Interflon stuff, but only ever use it for locks/hinges/window mechanisms so it lasts OK.

I think I'd extend that downpipe above and drop it directly into the gutter too.