Porch Foundation - Help!

[bhavicp]

 

Hi All,

Hopefully this is the correct forum to post in -

 

I have hired a 'builder' to re-do (extend) my existing porch, and driveway, however after being messed around for a couple weeks now (and paying 50% discount) I have a feeling he's dodgy and not even starting properly. (Plus he keeps asking for more money constantly and i've sent maybe 65% now - He said he needed £800 for 1.5 pellet of bricks, is this normal for 3m2 porch?)

 

So far he has taken down the existing porch, and then told me that the foundations are solid so that they will not be doing them and doing them ontop of existing. I don't know much about foundations but it seems very odd to me (and after some reading) that he's literally cut away maybe 1cm from the ground to start laying bricks - Is this normal if the foundations are solid? If he's doing the driveway anyway, shouldn't he just dig the whole lot and then do the porch/foundations?

 

Also just my observation is that if the driveway has cracked/uneven, then doesn't that say something about the foundation? He's literally cut like 2cm or less off the top!

 

See pictures below in order that he's done them (over like 3 days of work, over 2weeks...). I feel like I might have to get a proper builder out to check out the job so far? He's coming back tomorrow to finish laying the base I guess, so I can have someone come in the weekend and look.

 

https://imgur.com/a/q1z1gNt

 

[recoveringbuilder]

It looks like you’ve made the first error- paying him anything upfront, decent builders won’t ask for upfront payments and if he is a small firm it would have been better if you had suggested that you would buy materials yourself if he didn’t have the ability to get them, most builders have credit accounts with builders merchants where they can get the materials and not need to pay for them right away, that way he could have asked you for staged payments and had the cash in from you in time to pay his bill, don’t know anything about your other queries but no doubt someone who does will be along shortly 

[ProDave]

So he's building a porch on top of the concrete that has just the driveway surface, and already cracked?

 

And what is he going to do with that air brick he is about to cover?

 

Where does he tie his horse in the morning?

[Jilly]

If you get a bad feeling, you are almost certainly right.

 

Been there, done that, got the Tee shirt. 

[nod]

I feel very sorry for you 

There are problems listed above 

The main one being that he has built on top of your existing drive 

Even if the drive was solid You can’t build on it 

Even a porch needs a trench (footing) Dug in a U shape to support the brickwork

The next step is for him or someone else to dig the drive up 

Dig a footing and fill the trench with concrete To give a solid foundation

 

Good luck  

[Temp]

It could be quite a lot of work to break out all that concrete but it is the right thing to do. My guess is he doesn't want to do that much physical work and/or hasn't got the equipment. 

 

15 hours ago, bhavicp said:

He said he needed £800 for 1.5 pellet of bricks, is this normal for 3m2 porch?)

 

Looking at the photos suggests he will use about 18 bricks per course. Each course is 75mm high. If we assume the porch is 2.8m high that's about 38 courses. Total number of bricks about 18 * 38 =  684. I think a pallet is about 500 but it varies. So 1.5 pallets (750) is possibly about right. They work out at about £1.06p each. Have they delivered that many or is he bringing small quantities in his van?

 

I'm afraid I agree with others. 

[bhavicp]

They haven't been delivered, he's brought literally like 20 bricks for the base and that's it. He keeps making excuses for the delivery - He said 2 day ago (when they were supposed to be delivered) that they delivered the wrong bricks (yellow, not red) so that he had to send them back. Then they couldn't get new red ones out to him until Tuesday next week, so he wanted another 800 GBP so he could go buy some urgently from somewhere else. He did said he managed to get some for the next day ("paying for fast track"), and apparently they couldn't fit him in for delivery, so he went and picked up half a pallet in his van (which I am still yet to see...).

 

I got told elsewhere that the footings might be ok..

"if you are having what was there before give or take, footings may well be ok
if not then trial hole to determine new load
is he going over the existing drive
is the new drive concrete
if so may be ok"

[Declan52]

And your last bit hits the nail on the head. It might be fine but it might not. You not paying for a might be ok job your paying to get it done right. And this guy ain't doing it right. 

Give no more money to him. Chances are once you confront him and say that what he has done is wrong he will climb in his van and be gone. If he has the bricks bought, doubtful, get them on your property before you say anything. Once they are on your land and you have paid for them then it's theft of he removes them. But I highly doubt he has bought the pallet and a half.