Reasonable time to carry out remedial repair - opinions needed

[starlingwood]

I had someone out to do some remedial repair work to some brickwork last year. The repair work did not last the winter and I have had them back out to look at it and they agree it was poor workmanship on their behalf and will rectify accordingly by doing it differently. The problem I have now is they say they can't come out until 26th August!

Is 4 months a reasonable amount of time to wait?

 

[D_W]

What's the remedy? If they actually do it, I'd call it good and then maybe use someone else next time.

Everything is backed up because supply lines are short and everyone is trying to do everything in front of them at home all at once (and since many are working at home, suddenly there is more in front of them that they want done).

If there are local laws about fixing shoddy work that would leave you in the rain after August 25, I'd want something from them in writing as 8/26 may get bounced until later, etc.

FWIW, the mrs. decided we must replace all doors this year. the old ones are wood, she wants white and doesn't want to paint the old ones.

We ordered doors in January. They have a two-week lead time and you pay in full to secure the order. It's April 27 now and I have no clue when they'll be shipped - it's kind of annoying but my remedy is what (I'd prefer to cancel the orders and pain the doors we already have , but that's a no go with the mrs), order somewhere else and start over? We've already paid the credit card bill and are stuck there as far as legalities go.

In your case, if the tradesman/company admitted they did bad work and didn't try to blame the problems on the gods of war, you're ahead of the pack to start. The remedy to be able to force them to do faster or use someone else and stick them with the bill, probably not a reasonable option.

 

[dizjasta]

I had someone out to do some remedial repair work to some brickwork last year. The repair work did not last the winter and I have had them back out to look at it and they agree it was poor workmanship on their behalf and will rectify accordingly by doing it differently. The problem I have now is they say they can't come out until 26th August!

Is 4 months a reasonable amount of time to wait?

The threat of a Small Claims Court Action for recovery of your costs is likely to get a better response from the contractor.

 

[marcros]

"reasonable" is with regard to all of the circumstances which we dont really know.

how much work needs doing? If it is a large amount, and a competent builder then it might not be unreasonable that they might be booked solid for a while. If it is half a day then I would expect that they could shift jobs around a bit and do it sooner.

is it just a cosmetic defect, or does it risk damage to your house? If it is just cosmetic, then having to wait a little longer may not be unreasonable. With that said, you have paid for work and it should have been done properly, so you could rightly feel that you should have a priority.

are materials readily available? scaffolding required and available, etc.

Personally I would rather wait for a builder that I have confidence in if I have to than take pot luck. decent ones are booked up. But they have failed once already.

so in conclusion- 4 months may or may not be reasonable.

 

[starlingwood]

We had some blown bricks on a porch wall that they patched up, colour matched then sealed.

The patching up blew over the winter so back to where we started.

This is a company that only do remedial work, they specialise in it and brick tiniting etc. One guy was here last summer and it took him about 1-2 hours to do.

It's all cosmetic but that's beside the point its a job that I paid for that was not fit for purpose, I would assume they would want to sort me out ASAP.

My feeling is they are booked up into late August but are not willing to accommodate me any earlier. Surely you do not book yourself up for 4 months without allowing for slack like staff sickness, weather delays etc etc.

 

[D_W]

It's all cosmetic but that's beside the point its a job that I paid for that was not fit for purpose, I would assume they would want to sort me out ASAP.

they may be booked for 8 months, and may have several others in your situation to address before then and bills to pay or lost an employee to another job, etc. you just never know what it looks like through their lens, but cutting them some slack is easier on *you*. Trust me.

 

[eribaMotters]

Be it only cosmetic or not, 4 months does sound unreasonable on a 1-2 hour job. Your typical builder could loose more than this time in a day for each man on site if waiting for materials etc, so how he can calculate you'll have to wait 4 months is beyond me, unless that is the delivery time on a material.

Colin

 

[owen]

We had some blown bricks on a porch wall that they patched up, colour matched then sealed.

The patching up blew over the winter so back to where we started.

This is a company that only do remedial work, they specialise in it and brick tiniting etc. One guy was here last summer and it took him about 1-2 hours to do.

It's all cosmetic but that's beside the point its a job that I paid for that was not fit for purpose, I would assume they would want to sort me out ASAP.

My feeling is they are booked up into late August but are not willing to accommodate me any earlier. Surely you do not book yourself up for 4 months without allowing for slack like staff sickness, weather delays etc etc.

You'd be better off getting your money back then getting someone else in to replace the blown bricks

 

[marcros]

I was thinking it was a week's work or more. A couple of hours though, I think that should be done within a week or two, worst case a month.

 

[D_W]

You'd be better off getting your money back then getting someone else in to replace the blown bricks

This seems pretty unlikely. Our law stems from the UK in general, so I can get a nod toward what would happen in court - if you bothered to go that route.

Contractor says they're busy, comes up with a circumstance that the customer isn't aware of or even just tells a fib. Judge either says - "do you think it would be reasonable to move up the timeline" and contractor agrees, or judge says "this count has a full docket - if the contractor does this job in August or June, either meets the legal standard for their work. I expect to hear cases where someone has refused to do the work and cannot state that a contractor must return to your site with in X days because there is no law requiring it".

I worked for a tile contractor 25 years ago. He did customer concern work on saturdays (Because he could do it himself and didn't have to pay anyone). Quite often, the work was usually a really irritating old lady type customer, but he always went, anyway. Those customers then become great customers who tell everyone about the guy who appeased them (even though they think their fascinations are really reasonable) vs. everyone else who didn't. But not many people work like he does, and the contractor could be playing games.

Back to my original comment, being polite and pushy at the same time "really, we'd appreciate if you could fit us in the schedule sooner as we're hoping to close the issue as a customer, please keep us in mind if you have a cancellation or a saturday that you're idle" and do it once a month or so "just checking to see if you have an updated estimate".

The contractor will get the message, but you're polite so they won't get the message that you're threatening court (which they probably know more about in terms of their obligations).

And again, people will do things the way you want or they won't, but it is easier on you as the customer if you assume they don't have bad intentions, or even assume they have good intentions.

If I were the contractor, I wouldn't want to have something so easy to dispatch hanging out there over my head in the first place, but it may not bother this contractor.

 

[Spectric]

Have you tried getting the bricks matched so you can just replace the face damaged bricks, even if you need to use a masonary stain at least the brick is complete.

 

[AlanY]

Did you find the contractor on the 'web? Do they have a social media presence? Sometimes companies are more concerned about being 'liked' than they are about small claims courts and some well worded submissions might be a way of encouraging them to an earlier resolution.

 

[flh801978]

I think i would first get a friend to ring with a similar problem and ask on their timescales to do the work...if they say they solid until sept then you stuffed
However if they can come and look and do the job in a couple of weeks then you can take it further

 

[Adam W.]

We had some blown bricks on a porch wall that they patched up, colour matched then sealed.

The patching up blew over the winter so back to where we started.

This is a company that only do remedial work, they specialise in it and brick tiniting etc. One guy was here last summer and it took him about 1-2 hours to do.

It's all cosmetic but that's beside the point its a job that I paid for that was not fit for purpose, I would assume they would want to sort me out ASAP.

My feeling is they are booked up into late August but are not willing to accommodate me any earlier. Surely you do not book yourself up for 4 months without allowing for slack like staff sickness, weather delays etc etc.

They should have cut out the bricks and replaced them the first time. The reason for the face of the bricks to break off in a lot of buildings, is that they have been re-pointed with a much harder mortar than the original.

 

[Inspector]

If they were better prepared when they came out to see what had happened to their work they could have done the repairs right then and there knowing in advance it only took a couple hours the first time. I would have baulked when they said August while they were in front of me. Personally I think the four month timeframe to take care of you is out of line but I don't know what remedies to suggest to get the work done sooner.

Pete