What we thought would be a fairly straightforward side-extension,
room-over-garage was a nightmare from beginning to end. Cut a lot of corners, and took payment before the final BC inspection which we didn't realise at the time. Needless to say it failed with BC, and we now have to finish it ourselves. Just a few of the things: Failed to put insulation properly up the cavity, ran out of nails for the joists and had to be prompted to put the rest in, had to be prompted to put in restraint straps for the roof plate, missed out the restraint straps for the gable-rafter and gable-attic connection, missed the floor/wall restraint. If we hadn't arrived on site at the right time, would have missed a window opening as well. Garage floor not level, so when the door was fitted there's a gap under one side (and that's *with* some rubber trim at the bottom). During construction we asked Nelson to upgrade the attic floor so it would support a room, so he changed the design and billed us for the thicker joists. Unfortunately, the new 'design' wasn't even strong enough for an attic let alone upstairs room, so that money was wasted. BC specifically told him the new design would require additional straps, and (you guessed it) he failed to put them in. The lack of straps meant the roof was pushing the upstairs walls out and cracks started appearing in opposite corners. The roof plate started moving, but amazingly, even when shown this Nelson said it was shrinkage of the joists, and it was caused by the extremes of temperature due to us not putting in the windows fast enough (it was Summer). We queried the ridge tiles he put on the roof because they didn't line up with the existing, he came up with all kinds of excuses, but the problem was they were just the wrong size. Previously, he showed me a ridge tile and I said it looked OK. It became apparent I was supposed to climb up to the ridge, and make sure it fitted, because he later blamed me that it was my choice. What annoys me is they must have known when they put them in it'd turn out crap, but they just carried on regardless. A fair amount of
other bits and pieces - one broken back window, the garden shed broken into twice during the works, kettle thrown onto the floor, and a roof tile broken in a totally unrelated area and some drainage pipe missing from inside the house, all circumstantial, but I have to mention it all the same as we've had no such damage/losses since they left with the property unoccupied for 6 months. Do yourself a favour and avoid. Getting building work done doesn't have to be this hard. read more