hard to believe . . .

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Chris Skilbeck
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hard to believe . . .

Post by Chris Skilbeck »

A new customer asked me to have a look at the damp patches on their bedroom chimney-breast, as they'd been getting worse for about five years - well, sure enough, they were pretty bad so I had a look outside at the chimney stack - it looked old and shabby, but nothing obviously wrong enough to cause the level of damp I'd seen so I came back with ladders and went up top to check the flaunching for cracks - and found this!
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Apparently a gas flue was installed, just before these people bought the house - how can anyone walk away from a job and give the occupier a bill, leaving a gaping hole like this?
And, come to think of it, how can anyone live in a gradually damper bedroom for five years before wondering if there could be a problem to investigate?
I've done a quick temporary repair, and they want me to come back in the spring to overhaul the whole stack and put on a new flaunch.
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Timllfixit
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Re: hard to believe . . .

Post by Timllfixit »

:shock: :shock:
When all you have is a hammer, every problem is a nail.
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Re: hard to believe . . .

Post by Argyll »

That's the problem with many so called tradesmen, you only notice the faults after they've been paid and are long gone.
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Re: hard to believe . . .

Post by Chris Skilbeck »

If I do work that a customer can't see - like on top of the chimney stack - I always take photos and show them, it sets their minds at rest, I hope, and probably increases the chances of another word-of-mouth referral.

When I showed the customer these photos, his jaw nearly hit the ground!
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Re: hard to believe . . .

Post by Rorschach »

Chris Skilbeck wrote:If I do work that a customer can't see - like on top of the chimney stack - I always take photos and show them, it sets their minds at rest, I hope, and probably increases the chances of another word-of-mouth referral.

When I showed the customer these photos, his jaw nearly hit the ground!

That's a good idea and so easy to do now with smartphones. We had some work done on our roof earlier this year and while I could see some of what was going on by standing at the end of the garden with the bino's, it was really helpful that the roofer took some pictures, helped explain the problem and then when he had done the job we were able to see exactly what had been done.
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Re: hard to believe . . .

Post by Someone-Else »

Rorschach wrote:................the roofer took some pictures, helped explain the problem and then when he had done the job we were able to see exactly what had been done.
Yes, photo shop is really good. :lol:
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Re: hard to believe . . .

Post by Rorschach »

someone-else wrote:
Rorschach wrote:................the roofer took some pictures, helped explain the problem and then when he had done the job we were able to see exactly what had been done.
Yes, photo shop is really good. :lol:

If he could have photoshopped it on his iphone while up the scaffold then he would have been even more impressive :lol:
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Re: hard to believe . . .

Post by ultimatehandyman »

Trading standards should have the power to lock up/terminate people that knowingly do bad work like this :wink:

I'm glad I saw this as it reminded me that I have to do some work on my chimney next year :thumbright:
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Re: hard to believe . . .

Post by Chris Skilbeck »

ultimatehandyman wrote:Trading standards should have the power to lock up/terminate people that knowingly do bad work like this :wink:
No argument there! AND - I've had another conversation with these people since then, and they tell me they paid out for a Full Structural Survey before buying - that was money well spent then! (not). I've lost count of the number of times I've gone to do some quite serious remedial work that's not picked up by so-called surveyors - I hope they soon start using camera-drones to look at rooftops and chimney flaunchings, 'cos I know the poor dears wouldn't dream of going up a ladder! Trouble is, they'll put the fees up to match (and still not lift a carpet) - just what does the word 'full' mean in this context? Honestly, if you're going to buy a house, get the local builder to have a look too - you might find out something useful without paying a fortune.

Rant over - sorry, but rip-off 'professional' fees are a particular bugbear of mine.
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Re: hard to believe . . .

Post by Argyll »

My dad just bought a flat and in the home buyers survey it said something along the lines of

'couldn't inspect the pipework under the bath due to the bath panel'

It didn't have a bath panel!
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Re: hard to believe . . .

Post by wine~o »

Argyll wrote:My dad just bought a flat and in the home buyers survey it said something along the lines of

'couldn't inspect the pipework under the bath due to the bath panel'

It didn't have a bath panel!

Was that because it was a shower ?? :mrgreen:
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Re: hard to believe . . .

Post by fin »

see some propper rough work like...

we always take pics of stuff we do if say its on a roof. often also if its of like a bad job like that.
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Re: hard to believe . . .

Post by Chris Skilbeck »

Argyll wrote:My dad just bought a flat and in the home buyers survey it said something along the lines of

'couldn't inspect the pipework under the bath due to the bath panel'

It didn't have a bath panel!
And the surveyor's on a professional salary with paid holidays and sick pay and paternity leave, and gets to wear a suit and drive a nice car, for coming out with unhelpful, useless cra . . . . oops like that. :? :angryfire:
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Re: hard to believe . . .

Post by Dave54 »

That job's as rough as a bear's posterior. I'd agree with ultimatehandyman. Lock 'em up if they're charging for work like that.
As far as surveyors go. . .
I'd rather have a good look myself, with a second opinion from a decent builder, to cancel out any rose tinted glasses effect I might suffer, any day.
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Re: hard to believe . . .

Post by giggles »

holy sh1t! thats fecking shocking... these cowboys should be named and shamed
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