Urgent advice needed re. poor workmanship

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Ramsey
Posts: 44
Joined: Sun Jun 17, 2007 11:56 am
Location: Surrey

Post: # 30530Post Ramsey

Hi,

Over the last few weeks I have been having a brick laying company building two substantial retaining walls out of purbeck natural stone (with hollow reinforced block work behind) in my garden. The job has obviously taken much longer than they expected, and they have been complaining about running out of money.

The work started off really professionally, but over the last couple of weeks they have started to rush, and the walls look rubbish. The natural stone they are using has been laid by several different bricklayers so looks different in different places, the mortar joints are scratched out in places but not others, and they generally look a mess.

They don’t seem to take what we say on board. What would the procedure be from here. I am all for paying for a good job, but the workmanship is shocking. What are my options?

Many thanks,

Ramsey
Ramsey

Rich H
Posts: 884
Joined: Thu Feb 08, 2007 12:28 pm
Location: Reading

Post: # 30531Post Rich H

Sorry to hear that. Do you have any pictures?

Ramsey
Posts: 44
Joined: Sun Jun 17, 2007 11:56 am
Location: Surrey

Post: # 30532Post Ramsey

Try and post some pics tomorrow, but does anyone have any advice on what my options with regards to getting it sorted are?

Thanks
Ramsey

Dave_L
Site Admin
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Joined: Fri Jul 28, 2006 8:47 pm
Location: Somerset
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Post: # 30533Post Dave_L

Speak to the contractor/company telling them of your concerns?
RW Gale Ltd - Civils & Surfacing Contractors based in Somerset

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Tony McC
Site Admin
Posts: 8346
Joined: Mon Jul 05, 2004 7:27 pm
Location: Warrington, People's Republic of South Lancashire
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Post: # 30545Post Tony McC

...and after speaking to them, photo-document the wall and put your concerns in writing sent be recorded delivery.

If your concerns are unjustified, the company should be able to provide credible rebuttals, but unless you put everything in writing, it all descends into he-said-she-said.

Under normal circs, one mason should construct each wall to maintain style and consistency. The belief that they have allegedly under-priced the job suggests they don't have sufficient experience with that type of stone. However, if that is the case, they cannot substitute work of a poorer quality simply because they failed to price the work correctly.
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