I should have charged more

**mic-d** · 13th October 2023, 11:54 AM

A member of our community Facebook page enquired about where to find wood trims, she posted these two photos
IMG_8986.jpeg IMG_8985.jpeg

After watching the post and seeing some fruitless suggestions such as wrong timber ID and suppliers I knew didn't carry it, I contacted them to say I could fabricate it (it is part of my ulterior plan to get my business out in the community since I have worked on the down-low by word of mouth for over 20 years). They brought a sample over that helped confirm it was kwila and we agreed on a pricing. I used an offcut of kwila screen board to work through the best way to make it. Thus with the use of bandsaw, thicknesser, router table and table saw, and a bit of dark stain, I arrived at the sample shown in the photos here, with original on left and mine on right in both photos:

IMG_8948.jpg IMG_8947.jpg

Then I got a phone call from them that their contractor was concerned mine was thicker (which was immaterial, it just changes the size of the gap behind the trim) and could I match the original exactly. Wow! I thought; these contractors must be really fussy and on the ball, so I went ahead and made the full run a little thinner. A young fella came to collect them. Later in the day the owner thanked me for making such a good match and saving them lots of hours on a wild goose chase. Then they sent through some photos of the completed install (my trim on right in both). I was a little bit rocked by the standard of the work but the owner seemed happy enough. I asked a few investigative questions and found out they didn't even have a mitre saw (OK, no one did 60 years ago, but with hand tools you could still make a tight joint ffs, and maybe mitre your skirtings)
I need to put my rates UP!
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**aldav** · 13th October 2023, 12:17 PM

Yep, they're carpenters. You really shouldn't have expected anything better, but it is distressing, isn't it.

**DaveVman** · 13th October 2023, 01:33 PM

They are carpenters. Not butchers. I just had a new house built. No way would I have accepted that.

**mic-d** · 13th October 2023, 02:58 PM

Originally Posted by DaveVman

They are carpenters. Not butchers. I just had a new house built. No way would I have accepted that.

Yes I don't believe they are carpenters.

**clear out** · 13th October 2023, 05:22 PM

Yeah that was the ultimate insult a Foundry Moulder could lay on a patternmaker.

CAR PENT ER

So you’d tell them to stop making sandcastles and get back to work.
H.

**Albert** · 13th October 2023, 06:14 PM

A lot of times we put a lot of effort to produce something that we are proud of but the client didnt even care - its somewhat disheartening.

years ago I used to make shoe rack, I always put 2 coat of finish on the top face and 1 coat on the bottom face. when I delivered the client turned the shoe rack upside down, because he simply preferred that way.

**mic-d** · 13th October 2023, 07:25 PM

Originally Posted by Albert

A lot of times we put a lot of effort to produce something that we are proud of but the client didnt even care - its somewhat disheartening.

years ago I used to make shoe rack, I always put 2 coat of finish on the top face and 1 coat on the bottom face. when I delivered the client turned the shoe rack upside down, because he simply preferred that way.

Yes I get this too. The fellas that did the install obviously know how to do just sufficient for the client not to complain.

**419** · 13th October 2023, 07:52 PM

Originally Posted by mic-d

Yes I don't believe they are carpenters.

Agree. Or, if they are carpenters, they're terrible ones.

I'm not a qualified carpenter but I do a fair bit of carpentry in my handyman business. No way either skirt joint is acceptable. The internal one should have been scribed, which should be a basic skill for any carpenter. But as they couldn't even match the bottom of the skirts in their crappy mitre a scribed joint would be well beyond them. Beats me how anyone could leave a job like that and expect to be paid.

**419** · 13th October 2023, 08:00 PM

Separate issue. What are those pine or similar battens / spacers / covers on the external mitre doing? The end grain butt joint on top of the OP's work is beyond crappy if it's intended to be permanent, whoever installed it.

**jack620** · 13th October 2023, 08:48 PM

I’m going to go against the flow here and suggest that the poor 45* internal mitre is due to the difference in the old versus new trim profiles. The new one (right) looks to be quite a bit bigger. I don’t know how you would get a nice looking mitre in that case.

**mic-d** · 13th October 2023, 09:02 PM

Originally Posted by 419

Separate issue. What are those pine or similar battens / spacers / covers on the external mitre doing? The end grain butt joint on top of the OP's work is beyond crappy if it's intended to be permanent, whoever installed it.

they are the skirting boards they also replaced 😮😮😮

**mic-d** · 13th October 2023, 09:06 PM

Originally Posted by jack620

I’m going to go against the flow here and suggest that the poor 45* internal mitre is due to the difference in the old versus new trim profiles. The new one (right) looks to be quite a bit bigger. I don’t know how you would get a nice looking mitre in that case.

Well you’re wrong. It was very nearly a perfect match. They did not cut the angle correctly and then did not match the angle of the original on the corner. As you can see the edges are offset. They should have scribed this joint anyway.

If say there was a variation from some of the installed stuff, they should have done what I told them and take a bit off the 45 degree backs with a block plane just on the end to fair in the joint. There’s no excuse

**jack620** · 13th October 2023, 09:54 PM

Originally Posted by mic-d

They should have scribed this joint anyway.

I’ve never seen a 45* (or 135* I suppose) internal with a scribed joint. How is that achieved?

**419** · 13th October 2023, 09:57 PM

Originally Posted by mic-d

they are the skirting boards they also replaced 😮😮😮

?????

Looks like the new skirts have been installed in front of old skirts and the old skirts capped to conceal the join.

Whatever it is, it's weird, and even weirder to use a right angle butt join on top of the external mitre.

**mic-d** · 14th October 2023, 01:51 AM

Originally Posted by 419

?????

Looks like the new skirts have been installed in front of old skirts and the old skirts capped to conceal the join.

Whatever it is, it's weird, and even weirder to use a right angle butt join on top of the external mitre.

in the photo with the external mitre, the unfinished stuff with the butt joint is the new skirting board, it is a rectangular section timber that is against the wall and behind the scotia trim. There are no old skirting boards. There is another photo I put up that shows a part of the wall with the new pine skirt before they put on the scotia. I don’t know the context of the internal mitre it is too closely cropped.

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