jamesmonk83 Posted April 13, 2023 Share Posted April 13, 2023 (edited) Hi All, I could do with a second opinon on some fitted wardrobes we've just had built and fitted by a local joiner. He's a family friend and a nice guy so it's a bit of an awkward situation. When we commissioned him to take on the job we supplied him with a 3 page print out showing photos/examples of other fitted wardrobes that we liiked, our preferred style for the doors and layout for the internal part of the wardrobes so there could be no confusion about how we wanted them to look as admittely we are quite picky about things and from experience a lot of trades seem to better understand our requirements if we use pictures! Everything has been going fine with them until yesterday when he finished them off, we're really not happy with how they've been fitted around our chimney breast. Instead of wrapping them around which is how we were expecting them to look (and how it looks like most are built from looking online) he's scribed them into the chimney breast with filler panels which look messy and really quite odd. We supplied him with examples of other fitted wardrobes that we liked the look of none of which had filler panels so we're a bit confused as to why he's decided to build them like this. We know it's not because of the doors hitting anything as we paid extra for hinges that allow the doors to open more freely than 90 degrees so they would easily clear any sort of side panel.. We've asked him to come back and correct this for us and he's said it's fine but to change them so they wrap around the chimney breast he's going to charge us an extra days work on top of his original quote which was a slight surprise. Are we being unreasonable and is that a normal way of finishing a set of wardrobes of? Many thanks, James Edited April 13, 2023 by jamesmonk83 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelvin Posted April 13, 2023 Share Posted April 13, 2023 Post up a picture of what you wanted. Personally it looks fine to me. I guess you could finish it off by filling it and once painted you’d not notice it. It’ll be a reasonably big effort for him to change it and if you’re otherwise happy with it I’d leave as is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamesmonk83 Posted April 13, 2023 Author Share Posted April 13, 2023 2 minutes ago, Kelvin said: Post up a picture of what you wanted. Personally it looks fine to me. I guess you could finish it off by filling it and once painted you’d not notice it. It’ll be a reasonably big effort for him to change it and if you’re otherwise happy with it I’d leave as is. Unfortunately I didn't save the handout that we gave him but we asked him to essentially make them like a set of alcove cupboards he'd previously built for us which wrap around the chimney breast. Whilst filler might hide the join between the wall and filler panel (for now) it's not going to cover up how it meets the skirtiing which looks pretty ugly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToughButterCup Posted April 13, 2023 Share Posted April 13, 2023 (edited) 22 minutes ago, jamesmonk83 said: ... a local joiner. He's a family friend and a nice guy so it's a bit of an awkward situation. When we commissioned him to take on the job we supplied him with a 3 page print out showing photos/examples of other fitted wardrobes that we liiked... ... when he finished them off, we're really not happy with how they've been fitted around our chimney breast. Instead of wrapping them around which is how we were expecting them to look (and how it looks like most are built from looking online) he's ... We've asked him to come back and correct this for us and he's said it's fine but to change them so they wrap around the chimney breast he's going to charge us an extra days work on top of his original quote which was a slight surprise. Are we being unreasonable and is that a normal way of finishing a set of wardrobes off? ... Red flag number one: a (skilled) friend and a nice guy. But the word 'professional ' doesn't apply here. If it were a professional relationship, you wouldn't be asking us what to do next. Red flag number two: you say you supplied him with a print out of examples : to me that's a 'mood board', not a design with dimensions and guidance Red flag number three : come back and correct. Pay it and keep a friend. Don't and lose one. Reasonable. Yes, and no. Perhaps too relaxed would be a better descriptor. In the absence of an exact design - signed off by you - he's well within his rights to ask for more pay. Leave as is and learn , or pay and learn. You are not alone: it's a very common process. Edited April 13, 2023 by ToughButterCup 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamesmonk83 Posted April 13, 2023 Author Share Posted April 13, 2023 3 minutes ago, ToughButterCup said: Red flag number one: a (skilled) friend and a nice guy. But the word 'professional ' doesn't apply here. If it were a professional relationship, you wouldn't be asking us what to do next. Red flag number two: you say you supplied him with a print out of examples : to me that's a 'mood board', not a design with dimensions and guidance Red flag number three : come back and correct. Pay it and keep a friend. Don't and lose one. Reasonable. Yes, and no. Perhaps too relaxed would be a better descriptor. In the absence of an exact design - signed off by you - he's well within his rights to ask for more pay. Leave as is and learn , or pay and learn. You are not alone: it's a very common process. The print out contained designs of other fitted wardrobes which we'd added annotated notes along the lines of "doors should look like this", "internal compartments should look like this" etc. We were with him when he measured everything up and went over the design/style that we wanted and we did specify they should be as per the alcove cupboards downstairs. All of which he agreed with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelvin Posted April 13, 2023 Share Posted April 13, 2023 (edited) Skirting can be filled too or replaced with two new pieces cut to shape. If you value the friendship I’d tread carefully. I agree with @ToughButterCup If you don’t provide exact drawings and dimensions things can get mixed up. Just because you think you explained it clearly doesn’t necessarily mean that’s what he heard. I’ve fallen foul of this myself just recently. I had the brickies to build me a headworks chamber for our borehole and provided a picture and an opening size. I had to pull what they built down. This time around I’ve drawn it exactly how I need it with full dimensions and detailing for the tricky bits. Edited April 13, 2023 by Kelvin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saveasteading Posted April 13, 2023 Share Posted April 13, 2023 If you had asked precisely for what you now know you prefer, then he might have charged the extra day anyway. Stay friends. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andehh Posted April 13, 2023 Share Posted April 13, 2023 (edited) Once filled & painted, it would look MUCH better. The job isn't finished yet! An extra day of work, for a family friend...AND keeping a good guy on side....class it as an investment into reducing stress & keeping friends! Edited April 13, 2023 by Andehh 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Temp Posted April 13, 2023 Share Posted April 13, 2023 Is he the sort of family friend that comes to dinner and might see them again? They look like freestanding wardrobes that have been built off site and fitted. If you really can't live with it you could probably find someone to move them towards the chimney and put an infill on the other side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamesmonk83 Posted April 13, 2023 Author Share Posted April 13, 2023 Just now, Temp said: Is he the sort of family friend that comes to dinner and might see them again? They look like freestanding wardrobes that have been built off site and fitted. If you really can't live with it you could probably find someone to move them towards the chimney and put an infill on the other side. My original post was a bit confusing, he's friends with my sister in law, we went to school with him and are all from the same town so everyone knows everyone if you know what I mean, but he's not someone we're close to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamesmonk83 Posted April 13, 2023 Author Share Posted April 13, 2023 6 minutes ago, saveasteading said: If you had asked precisely for what you now know you prefer, then he might have charged the extra day anyway. Stay friends. But we did, that's the point and why we're so disappointed. We specifically told him how we wanted them to look, I can't find any examples of fitted wardrobes that don't wrap around the chimney breast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelvin Posted April 13, 2023 Share Posted April 13, 2023 (edited) Your problem is you didn’t save the handout you gave him so it’s now down to what each of you can recall from the conversation. As I am learning with our house build it’s really important to check what work is being done at each stage and ask for an explanation on what they are doing and why. I didn’t do this with my headworks chamber because I was away and it was built incorrectly. A thing I learnt at work was to get whomever you’ve given instructions to about a task to repeat the task instructions back to you to make sure they’ve understood what you asked. Edited April 13, 2023 by Kelvin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adsibob Posted April 13, 2023 Share Posted April 13, 2023 54 minutes ago, Kelvin said: If you value the friendship I’d tread carefully. I agree with @ToughButterCup If you don’t provide exact drawings and dimensions things can get mixed up. Just because you think you explained it clearly doesn’t necessarily mean that’s what he heard. I’ve fallen foul of this myself just recently. I had the brickies to build me a headworks chamber for our borehole and provided a picture and an opening size. I had to pull what they built down. This time around I’ve drawn it exactly how I need it with full dimensions and detailing for the tricky bits. I agree 100%. I have experience of this as a family member has done a considerable amount of joinery for us... for free! Luckily for me, he has been really good about drawing up the design, annotated with all dimensions and checking almost everything with us. So far, everything has gone well with what he's done for us and we've been lucky that he has sometimes paused mid way through something and said "are you sure you want it built this way, wouldn't it be better if we did this" and usually we agree with him. But even with this level of deference and care and attention to detail from him, it can still always be a bit awkward mixing work/diy with friends/family. We are lucky, because he makes it so easy for us. If I were you, I wouldn't criticise your friend at all. Just blame yourself for not explaining things more clearly in your "handout", fall on your sword and suggest you can pay for him to fix it. It should be a very easy fix. All you need to do is add an additional filler pannel to the side that gives the wraparound illusion, then caulk and paint. Given he hasn't caulked and painted yet, the extra work is really minimal. Maybe two hours' work plus the materials (which you can buy cheaply). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToughButterCup Posted April 13, 2023 Share Posted April 13, 2023 It looks to me -now- that a couple of hundred quid will sort this out: maybe a bit more but not much. The key thing is - yet again - communication. In any contractual relationship (in any sector, not just building) it's almost the single hardest thing to get right. And it is the hardest thing where a friendship group or family relations are concerned. I really feel for you @jamesmonk83. Thanks for posting about your job: with luck, a good few people will learn from your experience. Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andehh Posted April 13, 2023 Share Posted April 13, 2023 2 hours ago, jamesmonk83 said: My original post was a bit confusing, he's friends with my sister in law, we went to school with him and are all from the same town so everyone knows everyone if you know what I mean, but he's not someone we're close to. Much more long standing damage if he does you a favour, feels you've been ungrateful ... and tells the whole town! Pay the monies, accept it and move on Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Walker Posted April 13, 2023 Share Posted April 13, 2023 3 hours ago, jamesmonk83 said: The print out contained designs of other fitted wardrobes which we'd added annotated notes along the lines of "doors should look like this", "internal compartments should look like this" etc. We were with him when he measured everything up and went over the design/style that we wanted and we did specify they should be as per the alcove cupboards downstairs. All of which he agreed with. You should have asked him for full design plans. A verbal agreement is no substitute for signed-off drawings IMHO. I would pay, you won't make that mistake again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saveasteading Posted April 13, 2023 Share Posted April 13, 2023 3 minutes ago, Adrian Walker said: signed-off drawings Would have cost what? And prob wouldn't address these issues which became apparent. A day's pay to sort it will be best value, and probably always was the best way. JM83 You are not losing out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Punter Posted April 13, 2023 Share Posted April 13, 2023 I don't think it will look as good as the alcove cupboards because the fireplace is not centred in this room. Also the wardrobes have lay-on doors and the alcove cupboards are in-frame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyT Posted April 13, 2023 Share Posted April 13, 2023 Paint it and see what it looks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Jimbo Posted April 13, 2023 Share Posted April 13, 2023 Have him make you a couple of 300mm ish deep 45mm wide pillars for the Chimney breast sides. They would be scribed back to the wall and fitted flush with the front face of the doors. Get him to plant Two fillers on the wall sides, and also bring those out flush with the front face of the doors. The cornice at the top will need to be re-done, but as its being painted could be joined. This will give your robes more of an in-frame look which will be more in keeping with your old house......And expect to pay. Dont order hand built furniture without having it drawn up in the future if you are fussy. To be honest, i think they look cheap, but for a few quid could be made to look much better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Jones Posted April 14, 2023 Share Posted April 14, 2023 overthinking it. will look good when its painted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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