cost of various kitchen related jobs???

[benpost]

i had somebody help me with my kitchen, as i have never fitted one before. he made out he fits kitchens regularly and could do worktops properly, and said he could give me a hand as and when i needed it.

he has done various jobs which i will list:

- cut worktops and fitted (joins aren't very good though and worktop height from floor is different in places)

- cut upstands and fitted, worktops are black slate and hes used a black silicon to seal between the worktop and upstand which stands out a bit and looks messy

- cut hole and fitted sink, fitted tap, and waste pipe

- removed a double socket, and put in a junction box, plastered over the hole

- wired up extractor fan, with a switch+ light (light always stays on

- not sure if this is normal)

- skimmed over a small area of ceiling in the hall way (over plasterboard)

- used his time and van to collect worktops from diy store (about 1 hour)

- put the base units in place (not secured or screwed together) and not finished - did not consider height of end panels, so worktop had to be raised before fitting upstands. also splashback had to be removed and fitted higher

- helped with kitchen wall units but i am now having to re-fit them as they werent in the right place, this was because did not consider end panels width so cabinets need moving sideways and also down to be level with chimney hood

- broke a bit of wood on my pan drawer cabinet by leaning on it

- broke feet on cabinets by moving them without care

so basically hes done some jobs which have helped me but i am still left with fitting all the units correctly (which i am happy to do)

i have left a key for him various occasions to let himself in as i dont get back til 230pm so i havent been able to keep track of his hours. a couple of times it seemed like he had only just turned up when i got in.

now he has left a note saying he has done 27 hours but rounded it to

24 hours (3 days) and the charge is =A3540. (22.50 an hour)

this was more than i was expecting, and if i was being critical of the work i would say that i need new worktops due to the poor joins. however i am not looking for an a1 job and can probably put up with how they are. but someone else wouldnt.

so i just wondered if anyone here fits kitchens and could give me an idea of whether what hes asking is reasonable, bearing in mind the way he would come and go (and not turn up various times he said he would) and also considering the poor quality of work.

i realise i should have agreed a price and maybe paid as i went along instead of letting things drag on and getting a bill like this. would really appreciate some advice!

[George]

Lets have a pic up somewhere so we can have a peek at his handyman work(alledgedly)

Your first instinct should have told you to tell him to sling his hook on the first job he tackled. Sorry its not what you want to hear but if I get someone in to do a job for me and I'm paying then I want a 100% quality finish for £22 an hour.

:-)

[benpost]

hi george here are some pics.. as you can see the join isnt perfect and he has run some black silicon along it to try and cover it up, there is a blob of it half way down one as you can see sorry the upstand pic isnt great coz i've made some mess and there is dust along the upstand/worktop join, but again there is black silicon along this which isnt very neat and you can see the broken wood on the drawer cabinet, i mean i can cut another piece of wood this size and drill screws in from the outside but its still annoying i'm just wondering howmuch i should pay him, i'm not really happy to pay the full amount. i dont think a job is about how long it took its how well its done. a lot of the time he spent was changing things but the first decision was wrong!

[George]

Hide when he comes knocking for his money and use it on either photography lessons or a new camera.

;-)

[benpost]

lol - thanx george!

[benpost]

what i'm really after is times for each job i've listed above. i think the whole lot above should have been done in less than 24 hours of work, nevermind the standard of finish.

maybe medway handyman can help... hope he sees this later :p

[George]

I can only see one pic and its too dark to get a good idea of the work,no others?

[benpost]

click next and there should be 6 pics in total.......

[George]

I take it you're going to this link yourself? because if so you'll not find any buttons to click next.?

[benpost]

i think its coz i'm logged in try these:

[benpost]

ooops this should work

[Rob]

It's the same link.

Did he give you a hand or was he employed by a company? You should have asked at the time how much he was expecting. with you in charge and him just giving you a hand, he will say you're just trying to get out of paying by mentioning problems you didn't at the time. I fitted a flatpack kitchen in 2 days on my own and have never done one before. I used a saw on the worktops and made sure they had tape on them with a line, but also used sealant! The longest bit was putting all the units together, also the weight of the wall units. I put them up first and balanced them on a ladder to mark off the points to drill. Best to use a cable detector! Tell whoever it is to correct what he did wrong and cross him off the Christmas card list.

[benpost]

link will definitely work if you have a snapfish account i dont know how else to do it!

[fred]

In article , benpost writes

Sorry Ben, that's just painful, no content (1 image) and stacked full of ads/hype, tinypic does it for me, upload images, post the links, no login, no problems:

you maybe post a link per image followed by a comment giving your problem with each pic eg. worktops misalligned vertically etc.

Cheers,

[benpost]

one

[benpost]

?pic=mb7tk8&s=3?pic=300zais&s=3

[fred]

In article , benpost writes

is not the delivered state.

Blob of black silicon seems trivial, it will pull/trim off when set and many wouldn't use sealant at all leading to problems with worktop blowing after a while though moisture ingress. Otherwise mitred joints look ok.

Broken chip panel is obviously wrong, get him to fix/replace.

V difficult to see the upstand join in any detail but one image, although showing a small gap, seems to show an even, chip free edge. I'd have preferred the join to be bedded in silicone while fitting but that's me, a clean post fitting fillet shouldn't leave much cause for complaint.

Have you some specific complaints (in words).