Builder wanting to renegotiate terms halfway through...

[Tom]

I'm hoping 6 weeks. Once the floors are poured they are on to the Nudura walls. Which is supposedly their forte. Lol.

[Moonshine]

55 minutes ago, Tom said:

Builders back on site today. Putting in the rebar mesh ready for the pour of the floors. What a sh*t show. They started to stack it all up ignoring the flying ends etc, so in some areas there was a risk of the concrete cover being too thin - and even some rebar sticking out. Oh, and they managed to tear the DPM in about a dozen places - which I have just gone round repairing (resulting in me gashing my thumb quite deeply). That's of course not counting the DPM that was laid too low along one entire wall so it won't even reach the top of the slab. FFS.

Not a good day! Need some positives here. Lasagne now, so there is that I guess...

 

Oh FFS, they sound they are taking the pi$$ now and not giving a shit

 

Are they pouring and leveling the slab? 

[recoveringbuilder]

Sorry for all your troubles but I’m afraid I would be sending them packing, do you really want to have to watch their every move and rectify their mistakes eating into your time. I suspect they wanted out because they haven’t a scooby what their doing and you’re going to end up paying top dollar for a crap job,

[Iceverge]

@Tom

 

What a bunch of clowns. I think you need to get rid. 

 

It might take a few weeks of waiting to get someone competent but this kind of fiasco will cost you more time in remedying the situation later. 

 

Take plenty of photos of the mess they've caused. Not necessarily for punitive action against them but rather to show you're not an unreasonable client to the next builders, just one who expects good standards.  

[saveasteading]

12 hours ago, Iceverge said:

Not necessarily for punitive action

Agreed, and it protects you from any claims by them.

Have you also got any reliable witnesses? not necessarily experts, just to confirm what they see.

 

Have you seen their insurance confirmation? Not just the cover sheet but the details and levels  of cover.

My hunch is that it will not cover any big problems such as a wall falling down during construction/injury.

[Makeitstop]

19 hours ago, Iceverge said:

@Tom

 

What a bunch of clowns. I think you need to get rid. 

 

It might take a few weeks of waiting to get someone competent but this kind of fiasco will cost you more time in remedying the situation later. 

 

Take plenty of photos of the mess they've caused. Not necessarily for punitive action against them but rather to show you're not an unreasonable client to the next builders, just one who expects good standards.  

 

Agree 100% with this above.

 

From the outside, it's easy for everyone to chip in and say "bin them off", when in doing so, it means a stressful time in finding suitable (and competent) replacement.

 

Having said that, if everything you've experienced so far is taken as a whole and digested on the basis of the reality here, then sacking them might be a wise move.

 

The problem in doing that for those in the middle of a project, using a contractor / trades to do specific essential tasks, is the frightening notion of being left alone. In that situation, it's natural for anyone to want to take the "apparent" path of least resistance to progression. That will no doubt often look like... "better the devil you know".  The trouble is, that when you have a team that has proven itself as being less than competent or willing to provide decent progress, and, that is arguably severely lacking in ethical standards, you are in a dangerous position.

 

I think if it were me, I'd also be inclined to try to get to where you want to be using this team. At the same time, I think I'd have seen enough already to be very direct with my approach to managing them going forward too. The time for tolerance is passed I reckon and you should see this as last chance saloon for them.

 

As I said though, very easy for others to state an opinion when it isn't our build.