Thread: A rare beast indeed.

That would be the second one I've seen, you're right Brickie they are very rare indeed

Originally Posted by DJ's Timber

That would be the second one I've seen, you're right Brickie they are very rare indeed

Bugger, how come youve seen more?

At least we're consistant.
T

Originally Posted by Cementer

At least we're consistant.
T

In all seriousness, why not be consistently good rather than consistently bad?

The job prior to this I had to have splits cut for the bottom course right around the house, it cost the builder $200 and me a lot of time and effort.

I can never work out how a tradesman can brag about being a bad tradesman, even in a tight labour market? What am I missing?

I was trying to make a joke of a situation which gives frustrates me as much as you. Cowboys create price wars which we don't need. If there is not enough money in the job to do it right, don't do it. I give up house slabs ages ago because of price wars. Give me cosmetic concrete any day. You get what you pay for.

OK I'll probably get flamed but...

As an individual trying to either have a 'builder' manage a larger renovation or trying to subcontract a smaller renovation myself I have NEVER had a fully satisfactory experience. Principally I find I do not have the leverage to MAKE a trade do the right thing in the first place or have them correct a shoddy job after the fact, They know they are not going to lose future business for a crappy job done on my house.

I'm not by nature an ar-s-hole who likes to make it difficult for the people doing work for me so I'm usually pretty flexible and try and fix short comings myself, especially when I have accepted a quote that is half the next nearest quote.

Even where I have not accepted the low quote, I have usually had issues with the quality of work performed. Sometimes I have not even been able to get a quote. For example there was a mains water leak in my current house when we moved in. I tried 3 plumbers and 2 leak spotters to try and solve the problem, it was too difficult for all of them and none wanted to follow through. In the end a neighbor who is a civil engineer arranged for one of his project managers to organize a few trades to come over and fix the problem. The leverage here had nothing to do with my job but the good relations with the engineer.

I've had a builder lay brickwork directly onto a timber window frame, when even my wife could look at it and ask why there wasn't a lintel there... the response was oh we always do it that way and lift it later to place a lintel. Yeah kiss my b.tt.

I've had old kitchen bench tops replaced with granite where the supplier mis-measured the benches and installed them with virtually no overhang, not to mention the installer who cut the sink hole in the wrong place. I was then threated with legal action because I withheld $400 to pay for the reconstruction of the damaged cabinet to make it usable again as sealed food storage and fix the damage to the splash back where they reset the bench several times to try and make the bench fit.

I could go on about sparkies who can't wire up ceiling fans as per supplied wiring diagram or who can't wire an RCD properly. Or maybe the painters who just paint over dirt rather than washing down before hand. Landscaping suppliers who provide damaged turf and when cornered into inspecting promise to supply a compensation that is never delivered. Or.... Or.... Or.....

I know as a private individual, who sometimes thinks it might be better to be an ar-c-hole, why i accept work like that.

However why do the pro's accept work like that? Brickie, why don't you just tell the builder to call you back when the concreter has fixed his stuff up? Or the builder has used his own time and materials to recut the rebate?

Fuzzie,
You got it right. One thing in your favour is that when lean times come the same "professionals" will be looking for work to pay for their excesses etc. Then you can tell them to nick off.
The shortage of trades in this country does not mean sloppy work is OK. If tradies doen't pull their socks up we will be getting trades from offshore to do the job. I will be one to support this move. I too am sick of the shoddy, sloppy work being done. Not to mention the ridiculous amounts quoted to do a job.

Originally Posted by Cementer

I was trying to make a joke of a situation which gives frustrates me as much as you.

Fair enough, I was hoping that was the situation..

Originally Posted by Fuzzie

I've had a builder lay brickwork directly onto a timber window frame, when even my wife could look at it and ask why there wasn't a lintel there... the response was oh we always do it that way and lift it later to place a lintel. Yeah kiss my b.tt.

Its very frustrating, Ive seen some absolutely shocking work that has been done, the problem is that it gives all tradies a bad name.

Originally Posted by Fuzzie

Brickie, why don't you just tell the builder to call you back when the concreter has fixed his stuff up? Or the builder has used his own time and materials to recut the rebate?

Its not that simple, I have builders booked in well in advance, if I get to a job and things arent right I cant just drive away until its fixed, my next job may not be for a week or two and no one can just sit at home waiting.

Originally Posted by ernknot

The shortage of trades in this country does not mean sloppy work is OK. If tradies doen't pull their socks up we will be getting trades from offshore to do the job. I will be one to support this move. I too am sick of the shoddy, sloppy work being done. Not to mention the ridiculous amounts quoted to do a job.

If the new tradies come here in the form of immigrants who want to settle here then I cant see the problem.
If they come here on a work visa, then thats a problem.
If you think the work put out by our "own" blokes is rough just wait until they start handing out the work visas, then youll see rough.

Well now you know some of the frustrations that a builder faces dealing with trades.

So if you owner build don't whinge about the problems that affect builders, its part of the game.

I was at a building site the other day and the brickies were explaining how the next unit they were bricking up had the rebate nearly a 1 full course rise in the middle, and then mud 2" thick on each end, with varying width in the rebate too

Once you get past the 1st course you can go full steam ahead, but muck around with the inconsistent levels of the concrete base and it holds you up a lot more

Originally Posted by Planned LScape

I was at a building site the other day and the brickies were explaining how the next unit they were bricking up had the rebate nearly a 1 full course rise in the middle, and then mud 2" thick on each end, with varying width in the rebate too

The BCA stipulates a max of 13mm of mud, when will they learn?