Grrrrr builders, I knew I should have done it properly myself....

[MarkG]

My builder has built upto oversight and DPC, done the drains and stuff, and started the interior blockwork today. I got the tapemeasure out when I got home from work (as I like to keep tabs!). I think there may be a problem....

A dimension seems to be out by about 300mm to the drawing on my single-story porch/shower-room. As a result, from my measurements, a

1200mm showever tray will no longer fit the width of the room (measures 1150mm between the interior blockwork)....

I'm going to talk to the builder tomorrow morning, but i want to be armed with as much info as possible.

How closely should I expect my builder to follow dimensions? (there is no tolerance, like engineering drawings), also should the building inspector be checking these things? Why should I have to double check their work?

Am I right to question this? What approach do people think I should take? I'm guessing it's going to be a major arseache to extend footings to get the original specified dimensions (can it even be done?)

Any advise appreciated!!!

[Hugo Nebula]

What part of the Building Regulations has been breached?

[dennis]

Part L probably.

[MarkG]

I don't know... But I do know how to use a tape measure, which it seems is more than my builder can...

[ARWadsworth]

Bet you would spot an extension that is 300mm larger than the plans?

[tony sayer]

In article , MarkG scribeth thus

Umm.. We do drawings sometimes for projects, nothing major but on the bottom of them very prominently there is scribed;

IF IN DOUBT ASK! PLEASE PHONE 01234 etc..

And do they ever?, Nope!, they do it as they think it should be done or as they have always dun it!..

"Didn't want to bother you Guv" is the usual reason given. Well perhaps you should have done, "take that apart and do it as the drawing sez then please, otherwise no payment";!.....

[root]

There was a case some years ago about a builder who built a swimming pool that wasn't as deep as the plans specified. The owner only got damages for "loss of amenity" for the not-deep-enough pool. He couldn't get the builder to do it again, properly. So it seems that you should get this sorted out ASAP before the cost of remedying the mistake gets out of control.

Here's a link to the reference:

[Tim Watts]

That's Planning's job ;->

[sm_jamieson]

300mm ? Not the width of a cavity wall by any chance ? Reading inside measurements for outside ? Simon.

[John MacLeod]

Seems to be a multiplicity of problems here. And not least, problems with oversight. No wonder the oversite (amongst other things) is wrong.

Who's supposed to be overseeing the project? Has the builder been paid anything? On what basis is he working?

[Hugo Nebula]

I may do. But if the joists are the right size, the openings facing the boundary do not exceed the maximum permitted for that distance, or any of the other myriad issues that could be thrown up by such a change, or more importantly it doesn't bump the application into a higher fee bracket, then I'm not bothered. A word may be dropped in the ear of Planning Enforcement if I think it warrants it, but that's it as far as I'm concerned.

I've only been doing this job for twenty-odd years so I've yet to come across an extension built in accordance with the plans.

[root]

I'd add conservatories in to your list as well. Readers with a long memory (well, 2 months) will recall me asking about re-roofing. I did the work, but found that the whole thing wasn't square (not that I really expected it to be), but no two spans were the same width and almost none of them were the same width at the top as at the bottom. (And we're not just talking about a couple of mm difference.

If I'd simply measured one of the existing polycarbonate panels and then ordered the whole lot cut to that size, I'd have been in trouble. Luckily the standard sheet size was sufficiently larger that I could customise each panel for the width/shape it had to be.

[MarkG]

To follow this up, the builder slightly begrudgingly sorted it out, to two days of additional labour and some material costs. He did new supplimental footings in the RIGHT place, and extended the width of everythout out by the missing 1/3rd of a metre. I now have enough room for a proper sized shower tray... Panic over.

I will be keeping VERY close tabs on things from now on thou.....

[tony sayer]

Begrudgingly!?, didn't the Wally apologise at all?. Thank you for alerting him to his mistake?.

Ask him what would -he- have done if -he- were you and was paying someone else to do the work;?..

I wonder what would have been his response if say you hadn't noticed this and the build had gone further to the time the tray was to have been fitted?. And then either you had to use a smaller tray or he had to do a lot more remedial work?. I wonder what his response might have been then;!?...

Course you might have thought he was professional enough to keep tabs on this sort of thing himself!...

[Andrew]

Not if this means that the distance between the wall and the properties boundary is now less than one metre.

[Hugo Nebula]

I may well spot that, but provided that the openings in the wall facing the boundary were less than 1m^2, it wouldn't be a contravention of the Building Regulations. Even if it were, I would contact the owner and suggest that they need to reduce the openings.

[RobertL]

On Apr 22, 8:37=A0am, tony sayer wrote: >

My experience with this kind of error is that they do put it right (it you notice it's wrong) but they behave as if they are doing you a favour.

R