Review

Review

The ugly The paint job: uneven (can still see gib or plaster in places) rushed and amateurish; very untidy edges, either not right up to edges or colour overlapping onto white or white onto colour. Walls were not fully washed down or sanded. Some plastering occurred on top of paint after painting had started. The price: some extra work was required due to more extensive damage than could initially be seen. At a point where the full extent of the damage was known, I asked Jeff whether a $300 sum he had included in the quote would cover this and he said that it would, and he thought that it would come in under that. He did say that he was 2 days behind schedule, so he may have been referring to only the materials costs. However, when he initially invoiced us he included $2307 ($1200 labour, $1107 materials; approx. 20% of the quoted value) additional costs over the quoted value, despite not informing us of any additional work necessitating additional costs (nor any being apparent) beyond the point he was asked directly about such things. This sum was similar to the amount received from an insurance claim that Jeff wrote a report for, and from the invoices he supplied us with (not all of the invoices for the job), seemed to include all the plumbing materials bar the shower slide and taps and at least 4 of the 6 sheets of the gib we had invoices for (despite gib being included in the quote). When we confronted him, Jeff was keen to negotiate on numbers, rather than explaining how all the additional materials came to be required - the price for extras came down to $1230. The bad The duration of the job: at the outset of the job, Jeff indicated that the toilet and shower-over-bath would be installed by the send of the first working week. Even with the ?2-day delay? due to extra work, this meant the toilet should have been in by the middle of the 2nd week ? it was finally in at the end on the 2nd working week, after we had been told at that it would be in at the end of the day for each of the 3 previous days. My lounge was unusable because my washing machine and the vanity unit were in there until midway through the 3rd week. The job wasn?t ?complete?, according to Jeff, until the beginning of the 4th week Jeff?s hours of work: Jeff never arrived much before 9:30am and was gone by 4:30pm. He did work a Saturday and a half. There still a small hole between the skirting and the doorframe in one area where we can see daylight. White paint residue has been left on the side of my house (which is green), my garden surrounds, and quite a few of my plants The good Jeff?s building work is of decent quality, as is his tiling and the installation of the shower-over-bath, toilet and vanity.

Reviewed on 16-06-2008