Adherance to plans

[danr86]

Hi
I had full plans submitted to BC which were approved.
The builder hasn't followed those plans e.g. roof slope is incorrect, render over DPC
As building control have signed everything off apart from the final inspection do I have an recourse against them as they should have spotted these issues earlier?

Thanks

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Not really, BC are not an inspection/checking service they just have to ensure that the key issues are addressed through the build. That said if the drawings showed a roof of 45deg and the builder did it at 10 I would expect them to pick them up and there are many BCO's that would pick this kind of thing up although its not within their remit to do so.

 

[kbdiy]

How detailed is your contract with the builder? Do you have staged payments and retention until job is complete and problems rectified?

 

[luisdesign]

building control signing off work stages only really covers certain elements that they are there to inspect. Often, if they are concerned by the quality of the work they will look deeper to make sure that the builder knows what he is doing.

Ultimately, whilst your builder may not have followed the plans exactly that does not necessarily mean that they are not compliant. Your drawings will describe one way that things are compliant... but it would be possible for the builder the deviate from these and still show compliance with the rules.

In short, the building control officer is not there to say that your builder must follow the plans exactly (you must do that, or your project manager / contract administrator), they are only there to inspect the work being carried out on site to ensure its okay.

More to the point though, your contract with the builder should have been made up of those plans. So if the builder has not followed your plans then they will have breached that contract.

 

[danr86]

I withheld some, but he's disappeared and I can't get hold of him...

 

[noseall]

What did you mean by the roof slope is "incorrect"?

 

[danr86]

Roof slope was specified in the plans as 22.5 with Redland 49 tiles.
Actual slope is about 15 with Redland 49 tiles - they can only go down to 17.5 with a large overlap.
Plus he used a sand & cement (very little cement) fillet instead of lead flashing down the side abutment to the main house wall...

 

[noseall]

Roof slope was specified in the plans as 22.5 with Redland 49 tiles.
Actual slope is about 15 with Redland 49 tiles - they can only go down to 17.5 with a large overlap.
Plus he used a sand & cement (very little cement) fillet instead of lead flashing down the side abutment to the main house wall...

Jeezus Henry chrysanthemums!

Sand/cement fillet!

Why did he alter the roof pitch? It does not make any sense when logic would suggest that you strive to achieve as much slope as you can.