Is the builder being unfair?

[BingBo]

We are near end of a big extension/renovation project. For numerous issues at later stage, we have had some not so pleasant exchanges with the project manager. The guy initially was very helpful, but has adopted a tendency refusing to openly admit any fault/negligence from their side on any issue. When we are behind schedule , he put blame on us for every single problem, ignoring what they failed to do.

Anyway, we have only a few final bit to finish next week before signing off. We raised a checklist for the little odd bits with the builder.

one of them is that between the bathtub & the walls, there are gaps to fill/seal, as well as between the toilet plan and the floor tiles. The builder told me that it's the tiler's job, not theirs. -Obviously, our tiler didn't do it as not being mentioned.

The other thing is that they had to drill quite a few hold for pipework of the radiator and etc. Now the holes are left exposed. I requested them to tidy up. This project manager said it's our decorator's job to make the filling. We found it's really unfair and don't believe it's really the industrial norm.

Can anyone shed some light if the industrial norms are really as what he said for the above? Much appreciated.

I’d say it depends what the builders were doing and what the agreements were. I’d say it’s odd that a decorator left holes though.

What does your contract say? What I tend to see on here is people not having contracts so the builder can wriggle as much as they want, or they have the builders own contract which will be shit. The FMB ones are crap as well for the client.

The norm I have experienced is the builder generally makes good unless it is something they have not been involved with. Ie if the plumber was contracted by the builder then either one makes good but it gets done. If you had a separate contractor do some individual work for you it isn't the builders problem

Decorator's don't make good stuff like that. They usually make good finer aspects such as getting plaster work filled for minor holes or indents etc

Hold back the final payment (assume you have provided for this in your contract?) until all the snagging has been done and the building control certificate has been issued and received by yourself and you are happy. Do NOT give in and hand over the money or you won't have a prayer

Was going to start my own thread but spotted this one as Marie says hold back the money - we paid in full and unfortunately employed a half hearted builder (luckily we are not too much out of pocket but it could have been much worse). Our builder has let us down is so many ways - he has had to return to rectify some of his original work Luckily he wasn't a complete cow boy but his finish was lousy including the plasterwork which we have spent many stressful hours rectifying and always he referred back to 'the contract' giving him wriggle space when what should have been completed to a high standard was blatantly obvious but was not part of the initial agreement. The stress this has presented has been enormous, there are some good builders out there but he is not one of them - the term cheap and nasty springs to mind.
We have also had various holes left in plasterwork and one trade blaming another and holding each other accountable. It seems that not much pride has been taken in the work and they have rushed out of the door to get onto another job, this sounds familiar op.

@MarieG10, thanks. The plumber is the builder's guy. The builder has a very good reputation (Which? Recommended) but still I found it's annoying the project manager pointing the causes of every single stress on us. The relationship went down hill started by we decided to use our own tradesmen for certain things.

I was surprised he just"grabbed" the decorator in front of me asking him to fill the hole which was obviously caused by their own work.

Plus, they missed reconnecting the tap with water supply in the front garden. So the tap now became a useless decoration. The guy said we didn't make them aware. How???! If you dug the floor and did the plumbing, you would have seen where the water supply needed to go. Ju absurd.

But on the other hand, we didn't want to argue too much. Generally speaking, they've done a decent job on the building side. We had some dampness on walls developed at near the end of the project. They reacted very quickly and sent roofer fixed the leak on roof without hesitation (part of the problem caused by removing the chimney).

Issues like a hole on the wall is probably too small for them to be bothered...

@Skylark54, I didn't know blaming other trades is so common...

How did you find your builder/tradesman? We used Next-door recommendation to find most of our own tradesmen. So far it has been working well, except the decorator. I only realised towards the end of painting that his qualification is dubious and checked the website again. I then realised the plenty of recommendations for him was posted by one single user!

But otherwise, the other trades we found have all done fantastic job. Try it if you still need more trades...