Advice needed please - washbasin

Are clients "constantly watching" their plumber all day every day for weeks? Who has time for that and would that not appear very rude to be sitting on a chair watching them all day?
I'm NOT - but i did make it very clear before commencement of our bathroom and en-suite that i had a drawing to scale and expected to follow that drawing, unless a major issue and then discuss. I also asked to be kept informed and had a quick chat either 1st thing in morning or evening on that days plan etc
Pain, but otherwise you end with things like you have
i specified the types of isolating taps i wanted on the bath/basins/shower (they actually did not put an isolator on the shower line - so they end of that day - i had to ask why, and get them to fit one....

I know i can be a bit of a pain for trades - BUT i do explain that from the outset, when accepting the quote

So far I seem to have had good fitters for the electric, kitchen fitters , roof & facia soffet gutter , bathroom & en-suite refurbishment , general plumber .... and they are happy to change things as we go along, and also to explain what they are doing in if they have to deviate and why ..... but as i say I make that very clear from the outset .
i can imaging if in a full time job where leaving before they arrive and after they go - can be a problem , but my experience is you do need to be on top of this stuff, so not watching allday - but certainly involved daily.
I know in my old house when i had the facias and soffets all changed , i had to be away for most of the work - and it was a bit of a mess (NOT as we had discussed and i also had written down ..... copy was with them ) at the end, but i had held pack a big chunck of payment and they did come back and sort out. had i paid in full , would never have seen them again I suspect
 
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I sometime don't understand some installers that are provided a brief, happily agree to it, then just fire on regardless and either do what they want, or can be bothered to do and then don't communicate with the client if snags are hit and the brief can't be implemented, it's not difficult.

If the brief is unreasonable then it's discussed at the time and the job either agreed or rejected. A good professional should know exactly what can be achieved and what can't when onsite, if the brief can't be met then walk away.
 
Yeah. You need to watch trades and have what I call site meetings.
Many trades don't talk to each other or think ahead or even clear up after each other.
Many times I've seen pipes and sockets in the wrong location and tiled around or wooden floor layed around pipes that are in wrong place.
Gets to be a problem after its done.


Re rings
50p plastic ones don't last long. The solid metal ones are around £8 each and plumbers only fit if supplied at the time. Customer complains and gets the cheap plastic ones fitted
 
i have also found with our fitters , they do also add suggestions and things we have not thought about - and gave various alternatives - A good sign of their experience and professionalism can be had while they are at the quoting stage.
Our kitchen fitter came up with a lot of suggestions as the job progressed , as did the bathroom fitter, as they were just as happy to do it my way , (partners really) another good sign
 
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Did you tell the installer exactly what you wanted and importantly, was the sanitary ware on site to see what was required?
It looks like a standard first fix with hot, cold and waste bought out together. Fine for almost anything apart from the basin you've got.
Yes, I supplied the basin and taps long before he started work and gave them to him to inspect and plan.
 
And explain you did want to see the pipework
I did the same for a small en-suite basin and agreed the isolator wiuld be in the bathroom
So only a chrome waste was seen
You can get right angle tap adapters with isolator included which I used in cloakroom basin again so no pipe work seen

Going to be difficult to change now
Maybe a feature could be made with normal or chrome pipe work and waste
 
The only way I could see how that could be tidied up without cutting out the tilework would be to use 2x bent isolation valves, as per the pic from @JonathanM, then 2 short lengths of clipped chrome pipe running up under the basin, then use 2 short tap flexi tails and make the connection up underneath.

Thank you for this, I have emailed the suggestion to the builder.
You say "without cutting out the tilework" -- We still have almost a full box of tiles left over. Does that change your advice?
 
And explain you did want to see the pipework
I did the same for a small en-suite basin and agreed the isolator wiuld be in the bathroom
So only a chrome waste was seen
You can get right angle tap adapters with isolator included which I used in cloakroom basin again so no pipe work seen

Going to be difficult to change now
Maybe a feature could be made with normal or chrome pipe work and waste

In all the photos I saw online of wall hung floating basins the water pipes were hidden. It did not occur to me to specifically state that it they should be hidden. I assumed that a qualified plumber would know what was needed. He also installed a BTW toilet and a shower, and everything that could be hidden has been hidden - why would I think he would deviate from this habit with the basin? He's been working on this for over a month and obviously I have not been able to stand over him all day every day barking orders at him. As I am not a plumber I would not know what was what anyway until I saw the finished job yesterday.
 
It's not that difficult to alter if you still have a few spare tiles.
I would estimate approx 4 hrs work.
PHEW thank goodness for that! I have never been so happy to read a reply to a question in my whole life!

Will he know what to do? Can you tell me step by step and I will email him. He does not know I posted on here.
 
In all honesty, it's one of those where 5 out of 10 would accept it and 5 out of 10 would flag it up. Let's not be too hard on the person that fitted it. If you're happy with everything else, this is nothing more than some heavy snagging.
Basin off, pop off the tiles for access, expose the pipework, move the pipework to location to be agreed, repair wall, tile in, grout, basin back on original fixings, reconnect waste, hot/cold, reseal.
The installer will probably swear under their breath to start with, but compliment them on the work you're happy with, make them a cuppa and before you know it, it will be done.
 
If the tiles are on plasterboard and that's on stud work then the easiest way is to cut the 2 tiles out with the board and then replace the section of board, move the pipework and reboard and tile.

Did the 'plumber' do the tiles as well, in short he was a bathroom fitter that did the whole shebang? Did you actually ask for the pipework to be hidden? Even then, given the minamalistic look of the install, I must be honest and say if I walked into the bathroom then those flexi's would shout at me 'hmm could have done better'.
 

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