July 18, 20179 yr Author Ok, so a month later and the windows are still not sorted. Will update when they do get sorted but to be honest its been one of the most frustrating and unbelievable periods of the build. We have no glass in the 3 sliders which should be with us Friday, if not its another three weeks due to factory shut down. MBC have been absolute stars about it all, and have agreed that we can start the brickwork on the single storey utility room before the air test and insulation. Due to the cost of the window delay (all ready at over £6000 for rental costs etc for the 8 week delay ) i have had to make some cutbacks. one is doing thhe brickwork myself. Considering the bricks are over 200 years old i think it looks good for a complete novice. We had to compromise on the flint blocks but they look sort of okay. I cannot brick up tp the door yet as it has been put in wrong.
July 18, 20179 yr 28 minutes ago, dogman said: Ok, so a month later and the windows are still not sorted. Will update when they do get sorted but to be honest its been one of the most frustrating and unbelievable periods of the build. We have no glass in the 3 sliders which should be with us Friday, if not its another three weeks due to factory shut down. MBC have been absolute stars about it all, and have agreed that we can start the brickwork on the single storey utility room before the air test and insulation. Due to the cost of the window delay (all ready at over £6000 for rental costs etc for the 8 week delay ) i have had to make some cutbacks. one is doing thhe brickwork myself. Considering the bricks are over 200 years old i think it looks good for a complete novice. We had to compromise on the flint blocks but they look sort of okay. I cannot brick up tp the door yet as it has been put in wrong. Dare I ask if you are having Internorm windows? Ours are overdue. mbc have been great and will allow us to carry on with cladding and render and various other things pending their arrival and airtightness test. Its so annoying I ordered windows in early March for end June delivery. House not being secure really delays what you can do. We are having to extend our rental by a few months too because of 2 month (anticipated) delay on windows.
July 18, 20179 yr Author No not Internorm. I am keeping quiet until sorted as it may end up in court if not sorted. Sounds like your delay is the same as ours. Can any window company get it right.
July 18, 20179 yr 10 hours ago, dogman said: No not Internorm. I am keeping quiet until sorted as it may end up in court if not sorted. Sounds like your delay is the same as ours. Can any window company get it right. Good luck....its an absolute nightmare. My friend ended up losing 10k because her window company went bust so she lost deposit and had to have cheaper pvc double glazed instead of aluclad triples. I agree so far worst part of build.
July 18, 20179 yr 10 minutes ago, dogman said: Can any window company get it right. NO, NO and NO. Bitter and twisted about window suppliers? No not me
July 18, 20179 yr Windows (or the installation thereof) were by far the biggest frustration on our build.
July 18, 20179 yr Window companies really are the worst part of the building trade. I'm just settling the dispute I had with my r9 window company from May 2016. Still waiting for a vat reciept, fensa certificate and warranty.
July 19, 20179 yr Another dissatisfied customer here. Would have ended up in court but the company knew better. Only saying to let you know that you seriously are not alone!
July 19, 20179 yr Yep another unhappy customer here, the fitters we had from the company were fantastic I can't fault them. They went above and beyond all the time. One day being given the wrong part to fix a broken unsecured door, not being able to do it and then finding the right part on a door that was being returned when they got back to yard stripping it down and returning back to us at 7pm on a Friday on their own time just to help try and get all the issues resolved. But the customer service was shocking, only actually getting notice taken when I contacted the CEO of the window company, making them aware of the failings of their partner. Things were resolved amicably in the end and the person handling our project no longer works there because of other complaints but the whole window process was a nightmare. The first window supplier who we worked with for 6 months on design decided to tell us when we were about to place the order they wouldn't warranty what we were doing, cue a mad scramble and additional costs to pack 6 months worth of design and measuring into 2 weeks to avoid a massive delay.
July 20, 20179 yr Windows nightmare here as well, this was with Munster. Thing was they didn't want to deal with me as an individual (probably because there is lots of legislation protecting company/public transactions but not much for company/company transactions) so MBC kindly acted as the go between. Don't think they do it anymore and I told Joe he shouldn't because yes it was great for me but as Munster wouldn't talk to me everything had to go via Eoin at MBC, but for him it was a huge drain in his resources for no money, just to help the clients. I reckon we spent about 10x the effect sorting out windows compared to the rest of the build put together. They were just rubbish, rubbish. But I suppose on the Value Triangle you have Cost, tick, Quality, tick (well when they finally got it right) and Time, abysmal.
August 16, 20179 yr Author So things are moving again this week. MBC are back on site after every window was replaced. The windows are still not finished as they broke one whilst fitting and scratched the front doors with a window frame so they need replacing. However the house is now fully sealed and this evening at 7.30pm the house achieved an air test of 0.57. I am pleased as the roof and a couple of wall abutments are quite complex. The main areas where i have leaks are the three sliding doors. Not the worst they have seen for sliders but would account for quite a lot of the air. Still it achieved MBC 0.6 Friday they start the pumped insulation which should take a couple of days and the window company is back on Monday to repair and replace everything damaged.
August 16, 20179 yr On 7/18/2017 at 20:18, dogman said: Can any window company get it right. There is no reason why they can't and get it right. We are not perfect either but it's why checks and signs offs are in place. I personally don't order anything until I and the responsible person for ordering has checked everything and signed off. We explicitly advise, ask if you don't know before signing anything.
August 16, 20179 yr 23 minutes ago, dogman said: So things are moving again this week. MBC are back on site after every window was replaced. The windows are still not finished as they broke one whilst fitting and scratched the front doors with a window frame so they need replacing. However the house is now fully sealed and this evening at 7.30pm the house achieved an air test of 0.57. I am pleased as the roof and a couple of wall abutments are quite complex. The main areas where i have leaks are the three sliding doors. Not the worst they have seen for sliders but would account for quite a lot of the air. Still it achieved MBC 0.6 Friday they start the pumped insulation which should take a couple of days and the window company is back on Monday to repair and replace everything damaged. Good to see your making progress. My window installer finally finished our windows last Friday, in total it's taken them 2 months to install our windows. 5 sets of patios doors installed twice over. MBC was due to start the air tightness work (and a good chunk of other work left over from their last visit) on Monday (booked for a few weeks) and failed to turn up! Only when I chased saying "where are you?" did I get told they weren't coming due to problems on another job. I wasn't impressed!! They're now due to start Friday. Edited August 16, 20179 yr by Barney12
August 16, 20179 yr Author @Barney12 I would say it was mine that delayed yours but they were here Sunday to finish mine and only one person here today to help with the air test
August 16, 20179 yr Author 30 minutes ago, craig said: i personally don't order anything until I and the responsible person for ordering has checked everything and signed off. We explicitly advise, ask if you don't know before signing anything. We did exactly this and got it all in writing including all the questions we asked. Still didn't help as it was all ignored.
August 16, 20179 yr 12 hours ago, dogman said: @Barney12 I would say it was mine that delayed yours but they were here Sunday to finish mine and only one person here today to help with the air test. No. It wasn't you
August 16, 20179 yr 26 minutes ago, dogman said: We did exactly this and got it all in writing including all the questions we asked. Still didn't help as it was all ignored. When I raise the actual order, I don't sign it off until we have went through item by item and clarified everything. That the client agrees and they have signed it off. If they haven't agreed, I'm not sending it to production. No paper trail, no production. You can't help things being ignored, that's just incompetence.
August 16, 20179 yr On 7/18/2017 at 20:18, dogman said: Can any window company get it right. I have mentioned it before but we had no problems with Rationel. Well okay, one problem, the courier bent one of the window cills, so the supplier sent a replacement promptly.
August 17, 20179 yr 11 hours ago, craig said: You can't help things being ignored, that's just incompetence. I think the general (not universal) level of incompetence is what people are referring to when they complain about window companies. It's a fact that a significant proportion of people on this forum have had poor experiences with window suppliers, and it's rarely due to something that would have been picked up by the sorts of checks you're talking about.
August 17, 20179 yr 12 hours ago, ProDave said: I have mentioned it before but we had no problems with Rationel. Well okay, one problem, the courier bent one of the window cills, so the supplier sent a replacement promptly. I assume though you are actually referencing a local supplier/installer? I don't believe Rationel supply direct? I think this is an important distinction. A lot of the issues referenced seem to be regarding incorrect specification or poor fitting. It could be argued that the manufacturer themselves only crime is to allow a shoddy supply chain? Edited August 17, 20179 yr by Barney12 Typo
August 17, 20179 yr 3 hours ago, Barney12 said: I assume though you are actually referencing a local supplier/installer? I don't believe Rationel supply direct? I think this is an important distinction. A lot of the issues referenced seem to be regarding incorrect specification or poor fitting. It could be argued that the manufacturer themselves only crime is to allow a shoddy supply chain? Yes ordered through their distributor ADW in Cumbernauld. Fitted by my builder. My builder double checked all measurements prior to placing the order so they knew it should all fit.
August 17, 20179 yr 3 hours ago, ProDave said: Yes ordered through their distributor ADW in Cumbernauld. Fitted by my builder. My builder double checked all measurements prior to placing the order so they knew it should all fit. Thinking of using ADW myself in a few months time. Sounds like they did good.
August 17, 20179 yr The first of my Internorm windows have finally arrived and are in. Sliders are another month off I'm told. All good and I am very happy with them - only one issue and that is the glass in the back door is clear and it should be satinato. This was all correctly specified ticked and signed off on order so who is responsible for the error I dont know. They say they will sort.......actually it doesnt look bad so if I can get chunk off the price may leave as it is. At this stage I am very happy I stretched to the Internorm they are lovely windows. Fingers crossed for the remainder of the ordef.
August 17, 20179 yr 5 hours ago, jack said: I think the general (not universal) level of incompetence is what people are referring to when they complain about window companies. It's a fact that a significant proportion of people on this forum have had poor experiences with window suppliers, and it's rarely due to something that would have been picked up by the sorts of checks you're talking about. Oh I agree Jack but order checks shouldn't just be about the window order, sizes, handles, finish etc. This should involve the supplier checking and detailing the sections and ensuring the installers know how and where items are fitted. There is no excuse for a poor installation.
Create an account or sign in to comment