Tyrolean - Poor quality job

[Boxerman]

Had my house re-rendered approx. 2 years ago, this involved completely removing all old render back to brickwork. I used a 'friend of a friend' and the job was completed in about 3-4 weeks and £12,500 later. This cost included me purchasing the raw material and then paying him a mixture of cash and cheques (yes I know that sounds dodgy but it's his responsibility to declare and pay whatever taxes are due!)

Anyway, after 12 months there were signs or cracking in a few areas, and to be fair he came back a patched them up however now about 75% of the window reveals are showing large cracks and there's also others over the surface of the house with definite blowing in many flat areas too. In addition to this there's rust appearing around the windows despite assurances that stainless bead were used. I've had another company out to look at it and they said it needs completely re-doing at a cost of £11000 and when I said it was only 2 years old the words cowboy were mentioned a few times.

Unfortunately my friend is no longer a friend of the guy who did the job (for several reasons) so I'm reasonably sure that he's unlikely to respond to any phonecalls or texts.

What do you think my best course of action is?

 

[Alastairreid]

i would look at taking this guy to court! though whether it would be worth doing so is anyones guess.

 

[roughcaster]

Heartbreaking, shocking, and far too common nowadays.

Roughcaster.

 

[Prestigitator]

Hi Boxerman,cowboy is the word that comes to mind...I can,t really give you any advice on what to do about cowboy the cashman but I can tell you the probable cause and how it should be done correctly...firstly the most common reasons for cracking are-surface too dry and porous when scratched,mix too dry,incorrect mix...The correct method should be,brush the wall with a stiff yard brush to remove any loose little lumps and bits after old render removal,then use a pump up type sprayer and spray the wall with 1in 10 coat of unibond and water,wait an hour or so and repeat,next mix up scratchcoat 4 and 1 with a bit of feb making sure it,s runny but will still form a "peak" on your hawk,next hose down the wall completely and apply scratchcoat making sure to scratch it quickly to avoid dragging crispy channels which can be annoying when topcoating,next the topcoat should be 5X sand 1X cement and 1X hydrated lime with a waterproofer additive and again quite a wet consistency but will form a peak,dampen the wall down again and topcoat and it,s not going to crack guaranteed...as far as beads go ..to the untrained eye a galvanized looks very similar to s/steel unless side by side and matey obviously used galvanized! a third of the price!kerching!next time supply your own s/s bead and get a price you only need to measure the linear amount put your order in and get it delivered....how big is your house?I,ve just done a 3 bed semi quite a big old one and even with scaffolding it only came to £4,600..Good luck!

 

[Boxerman]

Thanks for your comments and advice guys. It's a fairly big (wall area) semi albeit on 2 stories high. I'm unsure how sucessful I would be taking any legal action on the guy that did it, just smarts a bit that I trusted him to do a good job and it seems to be anything but.

The guys I've had in to re-quote are local and appear honest and I've seen a small amount of their work 1st hand as they've just rendered the dwarf walls of my new conservatory (they were the subbies to the window company).

They have said that they would use a mesh fixed to the house in certsin areas where I've told them the brickwork below is possr quailty, they would also re-point any damged brickwork before fitting the mesh. My biggest worry is a lack of any guarantee, can separate insurance policies be taken out to cover this, I could go with a national firm covered by a relevant association but cost of the job would be at least double

 

[Boxerman]

Is the general concensus that you should use lime in the render, when I mentioned this to the guys who've quoted they said they tend not to use it as it dries out too quickly.

 

[nick13]

Is the general concensus that you should use lime in the render, when I mentioned this to the guys who've quoted they said they tend not to use it as it dries out too quickly.

Please listen, and listen carefully. The price sounds ridiculous, although I have not seen the semi. Get somebody who specialises in rendering. get three addresses of previous customers and give them a visit; knock on the door and ask if your guys really did it.

As for the other guy, if he has a car and a mortgage, take him to court; you don't need a solicitor, just walk into the county court and tell them you want to hold a court hearing. They will give you the necessary forms. I feel for you mate,,, there should be some regulatory body governing builders.

nick
[removed]

 

[spc]

know its an old post, but I would like to know what the outcome was, boxerman, if you still get on here? let us know.

regards, J

 

[Boxerman]

yes still here watching several threads with interest

Had a local company come out and priced me to remove all the loose render, patch up and then coat with Jubisol. Price was just shy of £7K and came with a 15 year guarantee. I liked what the guy had to say and as he dealt with several systems he seemed well placed to offer the pros and cons of each, this one seemed to cover most things I need it to.

To be honest I haven't proceeded yet but that's only because I'm hoping to get planning permission to extend the house and then I can tie in all the work to be done at the same time.

 

[plstering]

ill come and redo it m8 if the price is right
i need a brack away lol