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Re: Contractors, engineers, landlords? Who knows?
Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2019 8:04 pm
by dinny_g
Nefarious wrote: Mon Feb 25, 2019 5:13 pm
"built by builders".
I’m learning what this means as I flip our house for rental.
Bought off a builder and everything under the surface is mix and match, odd sizes and dimensions etc.
Re: Contractors, engineers, landlords? Who knows?
Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2019 3:17 am
by JLv3.0
Nefarious wrote: Mon Feb 25, 2019 5:13 pm
Rich B wrote: Mon Feb 25, 2019 10:10 am
Chances are this barrier cock up started with some FM guy just hiring guys to install a reader / guy to move the barrier with no design rather than employing a company to design and build the whole system.
Our phrase for that is "built by builders". Specifically any time you give what you think would be an absolutely obvious common sense task, but don't specifically walk them through absolutely every last step of the process.
I know from bitter experience not to, for example, give site guys a new toilet and basin, point them at a cloakroom and say something apparently reasonable like "could you fit that in there". Guaranteed the pan will end up mounted on the ceiling, the seat on the door, the basin not fitted at all, and a 15 minute tirade about how the previous plumber was a cowboy.
Welcome to my world.
Re: Contractors, engineers, landlords? Who knows?
Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2019 7:44 am
by Nefarious
dinny_g wrote: Mon Feb 25, 2019 8:04 pm
Nefarious wrote: Mon Feb 25, 2019 5:13 pm
"built by builders".
I’m learning what this means as I flip our house for rental.
Bought off a builder and everything under the surface is mix and match, odd sizes and dimensions etc.
It is literally the story of the flats in my block. It was a warehouse conversion in the 80s - started by a fairly competent developer who went bust at the 80% stage, and apparently finished by some random labourers using whatever crap they happened to have in the back of their vans.
Not one straight wall in the place
Plasterboard bent round uneven sections of brickwork
Random wiring, interconnected rings, consumer unit wired backwards
Light fittings stuck up with silicone
Not a single shut-off valve anywhere in the plumbing
Sections of exterior wall in uninsulated 3mm ply
A toilet plumbed to the hot water system
Cold water tank overflow directly above a fusebox
Most have two front doors next to each other, presumably because they forgot about the need for fire exits until the day before completion.
I've gradually put mine straight over the last 15 years, but now have another 2 as rentals where I'm gradually finding even more evidence of monumental incompetence/professional indifference.
Re: Contractors, engineers, landlords? Who knows?
Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2019 8:48 am
by DeskJockey
dinny_g wrote: Mon Feb 25, 2019 8:04 pm
Nefarious wrote: Mon Feb 25, 2019 5:13 pm
"built by builders".
I’m learning what this means as I flip our house for rental.
Bought off a builder and everything under the surface is mix and match, odd sizes and dimensions etc.
and badly done using the wrong materials.
Re: Contractors, engineers, landlords? Who knows?
Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2019 8:52 am
by dinny_g
Oh yeah - it was about 6 months after we had bought the place that I noted 3 different types of Double Glazing units. Front, Side and Back are all different .
then there are the modifications / bodges...
and the Bay Window he fitted without sealing the top properly...
Re: Contractors, engineers, landlords? Who knows?
Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2019 12:58 pm
by Beany
Nefarious wrote: Tue Feb 26, 2019 7:44 am
A toilet plumbed to the hot water system
Please tell me that did what I think it did. Because that would be all kinds of incompamazing.
Re: Contractors, engineers, landlords? Who knows?
Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2019 1:06 pm
by GG.
Beany wrote: Tue Feb 26, 2019 12:58 pm
Nefarious wrote: Tue Feb 26, 2019 7:44 am
A toilet plumbed to the hot water system
Please tell me that did what I think it did. Because that would be all kinds of incompamazing.
Holy reheated turds, batman!
Presumably it actually just filled the cistern with hot water which then cooled before you flushed. Still amusing though.
Re: Contractors, engineers, landlords? Who knows?
Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2019 1:13 pm
by DeskJockey
dinny_g wrote: Tue Feb 26, 2019 8:52 am
Oh yeah - it was about 6 months after we had bought the place that I noted 3 different types of Double Glazing units. Front, Side and Back are all different .
then there are the modifications / bodges...
and the Bay Window he fitted without sealing the top properly...
How about plaster board attached (and I use the term loosely) to the outer wall with expansion foam? Or cheap laminate (not waterproof and with no drain) in a bathroom? Or a bath fitted after the wall had been tiled top to bottom?
Re: Contractors, engineers, landlords? Who knows?
Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2019 1:23 pm
by Rich B
DeskJockey wrote: Tue Feb 26, 2019 1:13 pm
dinny_g wrote: Tue Feb 26, 2019 8:52 am
Oh yeah - it was about 6 months after we had bought the place that I noted 3 different types of Double Glazing units. Front, Side and Back are all different .
then there are the modifications / bodges...
and the Bay Window he fitted without sealing the top properly...
How about plaster board attached (and I use the term loosely) to the outer wall with expansion foam? Or cheap laminate (not waterproof and with no drain) in a bathroom? Or a bath fitted after the wall had been tiled top to bottom?
All sound like normal DIY bodging.
In my last place I found live an electrical cable (with no terminations of any description - just bare cables sticking out the end) plastered into a wall in the kitchen, and they were on an upstairs lighting circuit. My brother found them whilst drilling out for a new socket. My dad decided to test them with a wooden handled chisel. BANG!
Re: Contractors, engineers, landlords? Who knows?
Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2019 2:23 pm
by Nefarious
GG. wrote: Tue Feb 26, 2019 1:06 pm
Beany wrote: Tue Feb 26, 2019 12:58 pm
Nefarious wrote: Tue Feb 26, 2019 7:44 am
A toilet plumbed to the hot water system
Please tell me that did what I think it did. Because that would be all kinds of incompamazing.
Holy reheated turds, batman!
Presumably it actually just filled the cistern with hot water which then cooled before you flushed. Still amusing though.
Yep. Only noticed while fixing another problem that the cistern was warm!
Re: Contractors, engineers, landlords? Who knows?
Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2019 2:30 pm
by Beany
I'm not gonna ask whether you 'primed' the cistern with really hot water, then laid a massive cable in there to see how bad it was.
But I'm gonna assume you did.
You monster.
Re: Contractors, engineers, landlords? Who knows?
Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2019 2:35 pm
by Nefarious
Oh, and while I'm moaning, a different but related problem - proprietary solutions to simple problems. More specifically, now-obsolete proprietary solutions to simple problems.
I'm renovating a flat at the moment. One of today's "simple" jobs was to change the door handles from the current 80s gold horror show to something standard and modern. Easy, you'd think, but then you get one off and there's a massive 54mm hole hiding behind. WTF? It's some crazy, massively over-engineered reinvention of the wheel by a company in the 80s called Weiser. And you can't just buy a standard replacement, because nowdays rose sizes max out at c.50mm (would need 70mm+ to allow for screw holes).
OK, so some enterprising spark at an outfit called Renova has come up with a special solution. But naturally it's at a price. 35 notes per handle instead of sub £10. And I need 6 sets. It hurts, but I took my shafting and paid the money. But once back at site, they still don't bloody fit. No, they need a 70mm tubular latch. Tubular latches come in 60mm or 75mm.
So I've just been screwed for another £40, have to wait for Friday for delivery, and have wasted most of my day on what should have been a 15 minute job.
Seriously. Who the hell looked at a conventional internal door handle and thought "nope, that'll never do, back to the drawing board".
Re: Contractors, engineers, landlords? Who knows?
Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2019 2:36 pm
by Nefarious
Beany wrote: Tue Feb 26, 2019 2:30 pm
I'm not gonna ask whether you 'primed' the cistern with really hot water, then laid a massive cable in there to see how bad it was.
But I'm gonna assume you did.
You monster.
Assume away, Mr Raith.
Re: Contractors, engineers, landlords? Who knows?
Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2019 4:37 pm
by Beany
I feel validated
Re: Contractors, engineers, landlords? Who knows?
Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2019 11:27 pm
by unzippy
Nefarious wrote: Tue Feb 26, 2019 2:23 pm
GG. wrote: Tue Feb 26, 2019 1:06 pm
Beany wrote: Tue Feb 26, 2019 12:58 pm
Please tell me that did what I think it did. Because that would be all kinds of incompamazing.
Holy reheated turds, batman!
Presumably it actually just filled the cistern with hot water which then cooled before you flushed. Still amusing though.
Yep. Only noticed while fixing another problem that the cistern was warm!
Luxury!
Re: Contractors, engineers, landlords? Who knows?
Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2019 7:00 am
by NotoriousREV
Nefarious wrote: Tue Feb 26, 2019 2:35 pm
Oh, and while I'm moaning, a different but related problem - proprietary solutions to simple problems. More specifically, now-obsolete proprietary solutions to simple problems.
I'm renovating a flat at the moment. One of today's "simple" jobs was to change the door handles from the current 80s gold horror show to something standard and modern. Easy, you'd think, but then you get one off and there's a massive 54mm hole hiding behind. WTF? It's some crazy, massively over-engineered reinvention of the wheel by a company in the 80s called Weiser. And you can't just buy a standard replacement, because nowdays rose sizes max out at c.50mm (would need 70mm+ to allow for screw holes).
OK, so some enterprising spark at an outfit called Renova has come up with a special solution. But naturally it's at a price. 35 notes per handle instead of sub £10. And I need 6 sets. It hurts, but I took my shafting and paid the money. But once back at site, they still don't bloody fit. No, they need a 70mm tubular latch. Tubular latches come in 60mm or 75mm.
So I've just been screwed for another £40, have to wait for Friday for delivery, and have wasted most of my day on what should have been a 15 minute job.
Seriously. Who the hell looked at a conventional internal door handle and thought "nope, that'll never do, back to the drawing board".
The shower tray in our en suite is, as far as we can tell, a unique size. It fits perfectly into the space where the shower is, in a sort of alcove. It feels like Redrow got hold of a job lot of odd-sized trays and designed the house round them. I hope I never have to replace it.
Re: Contractors, engineers, landlords? Who knows?
Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2019 11:14 pm
by jamcg
NotoriousREV wrote: Wed Feb 27, 2019 7:00 am
The shower tray in our en suite is, as far as we can tell, a unique size. It fits perfectly into the space where the shower is, in a sort of alcove. It feels like Redrow got hold of a job lot of odd-sized trays and designed the house round them. I hope I never have to replace it.
The ones house builders usually use are cheap ones with upstands that go behind the plasterboard and tile so do measure up strange. Best thing to look at is what size cubicle glass you can fit in- look at adjustments as for example a 1000 wide sliding door would fit something like an alcove 920-980 wide, due to how the wall finish overlaps the tray. It should be a standard size as tray and cubicle sizes should conform to British standards
Re: Contractors, engineers, landlords? Who knows?
Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2019 11:43 pm
by nuttinnew
Re: Contractors, engineers, landlords? Who knows?
Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2019 9:31 am
by NotoriousREV
jamcg wrote: Wed Feb 27, 2019 11:14 pm
NotoriousREV wrote: Wed Feb 27, 2019 7:00 am
The shower tray in our en suite is, as far as we can tell, a unique size. It fits perfectly into the space where the shower is, in a sort of alcove. It feels like Redrow got hold of a job lot of odd-sized trays and designed the house round them. I hope I never have to replace it.
The ones house builders usually use are cheap ones with upstands that go behind the plasterboard and tile so do measure up strange. Best thing to look at is what size cubicle glass you can fit in- look at adjustments as for example a 1000 wide sliding door would fit something like an alcove 920-980 wide, due to how the wall finish overlaps the tray. It should be a standard size as tray and cubicle sizes should conform to British standards
Yeah. No.
