New Bathroom questions

[redmohican]

I had a similar job to go and sort out (leaking under bath). The bath panel was tiled and I had to smash it off. It was hiding some very shoddy workmanship plus an assortment of pizza boxes, *** packets, fish and chip wrappers and general rubbish which had been swept under the bath.

Another thing you need to check is has the bath been set into the wall if it is a solid wall, and plasteted back in or has it simply been pushed up against the wall and fixed?

Does any of the wall where the shower is have plasterboard behind the tiles as if it does, if it gets wet it will disintegrate?

Make sure you have enough spare tiles so that the bath panel can be redone properly.

Thankyou for the reply.
As far as I know (and saw before the panel was put on, the only thing under the bath was a lot of polystyrene packaging, that the contractor put there to further deaden the noise of the pump.

As for the shower wall, this was a wooden wall (wood bought by contractor), that was tiled over, it wasn't plastered, or plaster board used.

I do have enough tiles for the panel to be done properly (luckily).

 

[WHPES]

If the pump has been surrounded by polystyrene packaging it will overheat and burn out through lack of ventilation.

You deaden the noise by placing it on an acoustic pad.

Timber will be OK provided it is proper marine ply.

 

[redmohican]

Hi all,

I have the link below for my sink tap, so you can see that it should give more than a dribble:
Metro basin mono mixer

The contractor is returning to me tomorrow (Monday at 8am), so would be grateful for some urgent advice, as I will be printing this forum out to show to him.
Ok, the question is, as a qualified plumber, what trade bodies (if any) should he belong to, I don't know if there are any in the same way that Gas have Gassafe etc, or are there Plumbing Ombudsmen, as I cannot find any apart from AHPC, and I don't know ifd these are an official body?

The reason I am asking this is because I can see an argument looming, and if so I would need to take this further.
I still owe the contractor money, which he will not get until I am 100% satisfied, and even then I think I would be within my rights to withhold money if he he replaces the bath panel (as you all on here have kindly said is wrong), as this will cost me money in tiles etc.

Thankyou all on here for being so helpful. I am broke after having this work done, and could not afford to have another contractor in to rectify these problems if the current one will not.

 

[WHPES]

There is no official body for general plumbing. Some plumbers belong to AHPC or other plumbing bodies but this is voluntary, and membership of some bodies means little.

However it is reasonable to expect a good standard of workmanship, and it is also expected that items are installed in line with manufacturers instructions.

Please refer to the Supply of Goods and Services Act (loads of info on the net about your rights under this.

You are quite within your rights to hold money until the job is completed (see also SOGASA). Until everything is functioning properly and installed in line with recognised practice and manufacturer's specifications (unless agreed beforehand), the job is NOT classed as completed. You should put in writing that you are not refusing to pay for the work, but are more than happy to pay for the work once it is completed satisfatorily.

I would also recommend you contact Trading Standards beforehand just for advice at the moment - they will advise you as how to handle this, and if you end up in a dispute they will be able to advise you further.

For example it is reasonable to expect the tap to function correctly and the shower to work well therefore the job is not completed until this is rectified.

However it is not reasonable to withold payment because you didn't like the style of the tap (if supplied by the plumber) after it had been fitted, as the style should have been agreed before fitting.

On a personal level, as what I would hope people consider to be a reputable tradesmen, I would not leave a customer with any issues like that. My own pride in the job and attention to detail and customer satisfaction is of paramount importance to getting a good reputation. I would certainly not be asking for final payments until my customer was happy with everything. The customer will recommend you to others and a professional attitude like that is the best advert you can have.

 

[redmohican]

Thankyou so much WHPES, the information you have given is invaluable, and very much appreciated.

 

[Phil]

Could I be really cheeky redmohican and ask what price he is doing this work for?

I understand if you don't want to say.

What terms and condtions do 'rated people' have? I don't suppose you could compain to them? I imagine it will be at your own risk.

Also ring the pump manufacturer and ask about the pump, this could give you more leverage.

 

[redmohican]

Could I be really cheeky redmohican and ask what price he is doing this work for?

I understand if you don't want to say.

What terms and condtions do 'rated people' have? I don't suppose you could compain to them? I imagine it will be at your own risk.

Also ring the pump manufacturer and ask about the pump, this could give you more leverage.

No problem, I have nothing to hide.
Firstly, let me give you the description I put on ratedpeople.com .......

Removal of Steel bath and ceramic sink. Installation of new Steel bath and sink, with associated new taps, overflows etc. Also, install a small stud wall at back of bath to install an over bath shower and a 3 way valve mixer system. All taps for bath will be on this wall. An electric pump will also need to be installed for the water pressure. Also, to re-tile and paint woodwork and ceiling in the bathroom. All products required for this work have been purchased. Please note, this is a very small bathroom measuring approx. 7feet by 6feet. No quotes will be accepted if the completed work will cost more than £1500 incl. VAT

So, as you can see, everything was pre-purchased, and was of high spec quality.
The only things I didn't have was materials for the false wall, and any copper piping needed, but I was told this was no problem, as the whole job could be completed foe £1500 incl. VAT.
The reason I stated the £1500 incl. VAT was because I got other quotes of the same from other contractors.
However, I was presented with a bill after the first day (which has yet to be paid by me, for the materials for the stud wall, copper piping, and flexi drainage pipes, as I was told this was now necessary. Ok, the bill for all of this comes to £70, and I would have paid it straight away if everything was perfect and working in the first place.

As for ratedpeople, this is recommended by many newspapers such as The Guardian and Metro, but of course, you are going by other customers feedback for guidance, and ratedpeople.com have no responsibility over the work. I will however let my feelings be known if all does not go well tomorrow.

As you have suggested, I will call Salamander pumps tomorrow for more advice.

Thankyou for helping me.

 

[Plumbstar Tom]

im sure salamander will be saying you will be waving good bye to your Pumps warranty which is bad when its not cheap to have a pump. Good thinking printing off the thread!
Keep us informed as we are all interested in how you get on

 

[redmohican]

im sure salamander will be saying you will be waving good bye to your Pumps warranty which is bad when its not cheap to have a pump. Good thinking printing off the thread!
Keep us informed as we are all interested in how you get on

I have contacted Salamander, and spoke to Phil in Technical. WOW! how helpful was this man. He is sending me the documents that the contractor discarded, and is going to send me an interim E-mail so that I can show the contractor where he has gone wrong.
This is Customer Service at its best. Thankyou Salamander.

All I need now is for the Contractor to turn up - so far no show as at 14.17 on 12 April 2010.

 

[Plumbstar Tom]

to be honest thats what I would have expected from Salamander, tey are pretty good

You've got to think that if he has sited the pump wrongly, apcked it wrongly with polysyrene then like he has made the hot connection to in the wrong place