Bodged Job - Feel Sick

[MalPanchino]

Some builders working on a neighbouring property replaced my unsightly guttering.
They've bodged it up and it doesn't look great. I think its functional but it doesn't look good. And I'm not actually 100% sure it is functional actually.

I don't want them back out. It gives me massive anxiety just thinking about re-contacting them.

I'm looking at getting the house repointed anyway.
But it makes me feel sick and I wish I could turn back time and never have started. I could just cry.

Sorry, I wanted to get this off my chest.

I should've made clear that I asked them to do the guttering - they didn't just take it upon themselves.

I can't talk to DP about this because I'm ashamed. I was too gung-ho. This isn't like me/us. We've always been meticulous about checking the credentials and recommendations of our tradesmen.
I thought it was a good idea to get the builders to replace our guttering while they were working on a neighbouring property. I'm so embarrassed. In an ideal world, I want someone new to just come out and completely re-do it and forget it ever happened.

For any recourse you need to give them the opportunity to correct it. Were the neighbours happy with their work?

I haven't talked to the neighbours since - we're not too close, just "Hello" neighbours.

Don’t be so hard on yourself, I’ve had good and bad jobs over the years. The last gutter fix we had was unsuccessful, and that was with a company that came highly recommended to me 🤷‍♀️

The issue is that the gutters didn't need replacing, they were functional. They just looked unsightly. They look better now but not great.

And I'm worried they're not actually functional now. We have damp coming in.

I don't want to get the gutters completely redone only to find that's not what's causing the damp. I just want to cry.

I can afford to lose the money we've paid them. I just feel so ashamed and embarrassed about being too hasty and not getting recommendations.

What shall I do?

I'm sorry this happened to you OP, sadly it isn't a rare occurrence! A couple of years ago had a bodged job by a tradesman who said he could do a couple of jobs for us. He did them badly and then ghosted us. It's not nice when that happens and of course you then blame yourself for being fooled, and of course need to have the work redone. Please don't be hard on yourself, it can happen to any of us. Crying won't fix anything, by all means get it out of your system, then take action.

What can you do? Find a reliable and good tradesperson to do the job correctly, find one with recommendations. Nextdoor is a good neighbourhood app where you can find recommendations from others, often with pictures of before/after. Don't leave it as it is, the last thing you want is damp coming in - then you will have far more to cry about! (Been there, done that!).

Hope you find someone suitable soon!

is this thread for real?
Are people really this dependent on social media that they resort to crying on here over work that they state did not need doing, the cost of which is of no concern to them, yet they now worry it might not "work".
It is called dealing with life

Recommendations, unless from a close personal friend, are meaningless. The vast majority of such are far from independent to start with: made by partner or made in return for a discount on future work.

Thanks @GentleSheep I'm not convinced the damp is because of the guttering.

The downpipe's quite far away from where the guttering is. I know water travels but this would need to travel really far in a really strange and illogical direction. I don't know.

Hmmm. Nothing good comes of damp! Could it be coming from a small roof leak, so a damaged tile?

Get someone to look at the damp and identify the source. Are you typically anxious?

Post a picture of the damp.

This ⬆️, get the damp checked, then worry about the guttering. This is an overly anxious response to an annoyance / something we’ve all done at some point where the recommended person hasn’t worked out.

No, its in the bay. It might be the window.

I'm terrified of damp 😂DP's dad is a leak/damp specialist so we'll get him to take a look. But he's not coming until Christmas. Meanwhile, the wall gets sodden every time there's driving rain. I'd like to know for sure but I'm nervous he'll say its the guttering and then we're back to square one and its my fault for being too gung-ho with getting these builders in.

Get them back and tell them your issues.
Also, surely your DP has noticed you had the work done and paid for it?

That’s a very cheap lesson to learn, why are you so hard on yourself?

I have several friends who had builders destroy their houses, one friend had to move out with her children for 7 months so the builders could repair what they did.

I have also friends who were scammed out of money. Just at the romance scammers! Many people have been swindled out of hundreds
of thousands (with nothing to show foe it) and there is a thread here of a woman being scammed out of her house by a fake ‘trust’ company.

This happens every day. Lesson learned. Get it replaced and forget it, it could have been so much worse.

I'm anxious and get really upset about ridiculous, insignificant things (like this guttering thing). But I don't give a fuck about big things anymore.

I think it might be peri-menopause but I'm only 40.

I know I'm being ridiculous but I can't talk to DP because he's just baffled at my disproportionate anxiety over stupid things.

It’s only gutters, not a million pound loss. Any time I feel bad for being stupid with money I watch ‘say yes to the dress’ and see them spending 15,000 or 20,000 on a dress for one day and I feel a lot better then. Some of them
spend 100,000 on a dress.
Look on the bright side, nobody was hurt and lesson learned.

If you have trouble being forceful or communicating with builders, can you write things down or have someone speak for you? There is a definite skill involved with it and not everyone has it, if you don’t then get help with it! Good luck x

If it is any consolation I can honestly say that in the last 10 years or so every single job I have had done on the house or garden has not been done to professional standards, or even frankly acceptable standards, and these were mostly reputable companies/tradesmen.

just give yourself permission to do a re-do! If you can afford the money, it’s not that deep :-)

Has your husband any input into this? Has he opened his mouth?

Your husbands dad is a damp specialist??? Omg get him on the phone and do a video call with him! Get his opinion and TALK TO YOUR ACTUAL HUSBAND WHO YOU LIVE WITH IN THIS HOUSE, THAT IS DAMP.

No advice for the gutters beyond what's been said here, but re: the overblown anxiety and peri-menopause... speak to a doctor, get on some meds. I've been there and it's been life changing.

I’ve had the same section of guttering repaired loads of times, and it never stays repaired for long.