End of job

[swampydrill]

I have had my garage converted to an office and a utility room. There are a few things that i want to raise with the builder but i'm not sure if i am being too picky. He brought in sparkys and plumbers and bricklayers who were really very good, it's just a lot of stuff that he has done that i feel could have been better, i'll put in order of the build.
Knocked through from the garage to the stairs and existing utility room, i specifically informed him both verbally and by e mail that i had a 24" and a 27" solid oak door, at the 3rd attempt he made the door lining 24" and the other one 27" after the 2nd attempt. His worker said he had been told to make the lining to fit the hole in the wall and then trim the doors down if needed. I had to pay £250 for each door as i could not get anywhere else to match the rest of the house. He had to trim down both doors to get them to fit.
I told him and he agreed he would fit a window to match the others in the house, all the others have a side opener and a top opener, he got one without a top opener, i told him to change it.
After plastering , it was obvious that some of the door liners had to be planed down due to walls being out, he fitted the architrave onto the lining, i could get my little finger fully down the back of the architrave. I removed the architrave and trimmed the frame down level myself.
All screw holes in the frames, window board are left open, is it normal for a carpenter to fill these holes ready for decorating.
I specifically told him on numerous occasions that skirting board had to match other areas, he fitted 5" ogee rather than 4" which i have in the hall. I had some skirting to do in the kitchen, i got 5" and trimmed 1" off the bottom with my table saw, should he not have done this ?
Advice would be appreciated, some of it is that he is so busy and i can tell he just wants to get to the next job but that ain't my problem, to me this is about his standards. He never once came up to me and said, you know, i can't do what you wanted or i can't get what you wanted, he just done it. He had a typical "ask for forgiveness rather than ask for permission attitude

 

[KenGMac]

swampydrill, hi

Have you paid him all that was agreed, are there funds still due to this "BuIlDeR?"

Ken.

 

[swampydrill]

He has been paid around 25% of the job and i will pay him no problem. To me it is about the finish, the attention to detail and this is where he has been lacking. Is it normal to make a door frame the same size as the door and rely on taking some off the door. Is it normal to leave woodwork with screws exposed etc. I have no issues doing any of this stuff as part of decorating but what state would a builder normally leave it in.
He did accept he got it wrong with the builder and agreed to change it at his expense so fair dos to him for that, he is a really nice, quiet guy but business is business. Saying that, when he said he was behind, i suggested working weekends, never did that, never here before 8 30, never later than 4 30 in leaving, always popping out

 

[geraldthehamster]

Do the finished results actually look tidy? I'm as intolerant of poor workmanship as the next bod, but if it's all fixed now, I'd be inclined to move on. Less stressful all round.

I'm not saying that as a builder, by the way, because I'm not a builder.

 

[swampydrill]

Well i had it out with the builder when he finished today. He told me that it is normal to leave woodwork with screw / nail holes etc and that is a decorators job, thats fine, i accept that. I put all my other views to him and will now move on and prepare the rooms and decorate them.

 

[^woody^]

If you have paid for work up to but not including decorations (ie up to the 2nd fix carpentry), then the nails and screws will be exposed, as it would be a decorators job to fill them.

The other things seem wrong, but yes sometimes its best to just move on.