DeeJunFan Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 So anyone who has read this (Reposted from the NI Self Build thread) thread all the way through will see i was struggling with my Truss manufacturer. They pulled the finger out and finally got around to sorting the measurements and getting them delivered (in a manner of speaking) But alas when my roofer tried to put up guide trusses for the house we discovered that the months of back and forth about in-correct measurements, over hang and corbel detail went in one ear and out the other. Trusses were delivered to site to big. As we are not going with facia/sofits etc we are having a corbel block which is already in place we needed the trusses to finish up inside the cavity. As shown in the drawing (done by the Truss company) Unfortunately as the Guy who measured up our house did so incorrectly twice with a laser tape (God knows how), he also sent a design that had the wall plate on the external block! He also made a small but meaningful mistake on our first quote. Pricing 3 Double trusses at 1.93 instead of 193.00 which made them look like a much better deal! They have come out 30mm to long at the Joist and with 20mm extra overhang (Garage Trusses have 100mm extra overhang). So they all need to be trimmed before they can be craned onto the roof. Not a big deal i hear you say, well in some ways not but in other ways yes. (Lets go back to the Delivery) Day the Trusses were due to arrive, i got a phone call around 9ish asking "Do you have a crane on site" No was my obvious reply. Truss guy said, because your trusses are so big (10 metere) They will only fit on a 40ft Lorry and we have nothing to take them off the Lorry (I'll add they were paid for delivery) So i had to cancel my roofer and the crane i was getting to lift the things onto the roof and spend a week (as it was over the builders holidays) trying to arrange a tele-handler or something to lift the trusses off the Lorry for the truss company. All was eventually arranged and after first getting the house measured for trusses in January, they finally arrived on site in July! (Noting has happened on site since March due to the delay) For some unknown reason the 40ft couldn't reverse down our drive (as the slate lorry had) so they tried to off-load the trusses at the road, spent 2 hours, attempted to put them into a neighboring farmers field and eventually gave up and left 30 trusses at the entrance to our site, blocking any other deliveries (all other deliveries had to be taken down the driveway with forklift. As they had chosen to basically abandon the trusses they were not being kept together by the ties so a bit of a balls up. Fast forward again and the roofer wants to fit the guides, size is wrong as because they trusses are all over the place they cannot be easily trimmed on the ground. As the corbel block is already in place, they cannot be put in place and trimmed on the roof (This was the reason we spent so many weeks trying to make the truss people understand why we needed to reduce the overhang. So Joiner goes nuts saying he is going to have to man handle the trusses and cut them one by one before the crane arrives, and truss company should be offering some form of discount/good will towards his labour which is required because of their mistake. Truss company response it "Nothing we can do about it" During a number of phone calls they were not exactly decent to deal with, they tried to tell me that the house was out of square (which is why the trusses had to be bigger) even though 2 other joiners have measured the house and said its exactly square. There answer was "Tell the Crane man to lift each truss and have them trimmed while on the crane" I said thats grand but who will pay for the extra time for the crane and joiner, they said "Thats not our problem the trusses are made to specification" My response, no they are too big for the house, they do not fit. Then said he would phone back and never bothered. I got talking to my other rep who said the truss dept are standing over them and they are refusing to do anything. I asked for someone to come out and check the measurements, they refused. At this point I said then come out take the trusses back and give me my money back. Again they refused said the trusses were made correctly and they had no reason to take them back. I know to some this may seem like a trivial tale, but the point of the matter is. I paid over £6000 for trusses, including delivery. Then i had to pay more money to get a machine there to "help" them deliver the trusses and then when there is a small issue (that was entirely their mistake) that could have been rectified by saying fair enough we'll give you £100 credit on your account to cover the labour (even if that didn't cover it all) It shows the level of contempt they have for self-builders. Had i been a big developer there would have been guys on site checking things out and discounts galore to smooth things over. On a number of occasions i asked to speak with a manager and was told the Branch Manager was on holidays and the truss manager wasn't available. I'm going to try and find email addresses for them as i want to make sure they were aware of the decisions made. So a cautionary tale to all you Self-builder in Ireland. Avoid Murdocks building Merchants for your trusses! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jack Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 Ouch. Really sorry to hear this. Things inevitably go wrong when building. The real difference is when suppliers acknowledge their cock-ups and do what needs to be done to rectify them. Did you pay by credit card? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeeJunFan Posted July 28, 2016 Author Share Posted July 28, 2016 Just now, jack said: Ouch. Really sorry to hear this. Things inevitably go wrong when building. The real difference is when suppliers acknowledge their cock-ups and do what needs to be done to rectify them. Did you pay by credit card? No Debit card, They seem to have little regard for self-builders, they know you are a once off customer who doesn't need any special treatment and can be feed whatever line they feel like giving you. They actually tried to tell me that it wouldn't have been possible to do the overhangs at 100mm as that would have imbalanced the trusses. Tried throwing in something about cantilever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jack Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 (edited) If you paid by debit card rather than bank transfer, you may still be protected: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/visa-mastercard-chargeback They don't listen to self-builders, but they might listen to a bank. Edited July 28, 2016 by jack Corrected: debit charge-back is covered by the bank, not the card company 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeeJunFan Posted July 28, 2016 Author Share Posted July 28, 2016 4 minutes ago, jack said: If you paid by debit card rather than bank transfer, you may still be protected: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/visa-mastercard-chargeback They don't listen to self-builders, but they might listen to a card company. Thanks Jack, Will give this a go and see how they respond. I've really hit my limit with the whole situation and the fact that they point blank refuse to even come out and check what they have delivered, or double check the measurements. They just act so arrogantly, that they did everything right on paper it doesn't seem to matter to them that it doesn't fit in the real world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferdinand Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 34 minutes ago, DeeJunFan said: No Debit card, They seem to have little regard for self-builders, they know you are a once off customer who doesn't need any special treatment and can be feed whatever line they feel like giving you. They actually tried to tell me that it wouldn't have been possible to do the overhangs at 100mm as that would have imbalanced the trusses. Tried throwing in something about cantilever. Aside - payment method is one to watch. Banks and suppliers very much like BACS and Fastpay these days. Neither has even the protection you get with Debit Card, never mind Credit Card. Had a long conversation with Nationwide about this when I took out my Flexdirect Account. Ferdinand Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMitchells Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 How frustrating! Hope you get it sorted but sounds like it will be hard work getting them to admit their mistake. A company to avoid definately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe90 Posted July 29, 2016 Share Posted July 29, 2016 Small claims court for delay, extra expense, wrong measuring etc ? Can your joiner write you a letter explaining ( as a professional) what was wrong ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oz07 Posted July 29, 2016 Share Posted July 29, 2016 Not to rub salt into the wound just an opposite experience. Fitting a roof 2 months ago. All the rear mono trusses were about 1" out of square between ceiling chord and vertical piece. Spoke to and emailed manufacturer at 12pm. They said they will replace, I said fine but it can't hold the job up. Literally 7am next morning new monos were delivered! all depends on supplier I suppose. As has been said we all make mistakes it's how we sort them that counts. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now