Anyone Got Any Dodgy Builder Horror Stories?

jellykingdom on 02/09/2022 - 09:03

This maybe more of a Reddit type query, but seeing all of the viral videos of dodgy workmanship online, I'm just curious if anyone has any funny/tragic builder horror stories to share?

It's not really a loaded question from my end, though i have seen plenty of them.

  • Friend's new apartment (this story is from 5yrs ago) had to be completely rewaterproofed, carpet replaced, and balcony tiling redone because the water was running off the balcony and back into her loungeroom
  • Work colleague in a new-ish apartment has been in a months long legal battle to get builder to fix the water coming through his ground-floor apartment ceiling, because water is coming through from the upstairs balcony
  • We live in a duplex that is 10yrs old, and there's nothing especially dodgy but plenty of corners were clearly cut to maximise profit margin. The engineered hardwood floor has a super-thin 0.5mm top layer, which I didn't even know existed, so any little scratches are straight through the wood and into the underlayer (but it looks great for sales purposes). The decorative pebbles are also full of crushed leftover bricks. The skirting boards at 11mm thick, but the architraves are 18mm thick. The tiles are cheap. The lights are some el-cheapo brand. Etc etc
Home & Garden

Comments

  • jellykingdom on 02/09/2022 - 09:07
    +11

    I just hate how the whole house/apartment building process has become this big barely amusing joke with the builder being like "ah shucks you caught us!". The builders cut corners and its up to the customer to make sure that they're not being screwed. Things like half-painted walls, holes, doors that don't open properly. Some of it you can see with your own eyes, which is crazy really, because clearly the builder is just trying it on. But its what you CAN'T see that is the bigger worry…

  • [Deactivated] on 02/09/2022 - 09:08
    +5

    no real horror stories, but my experience of modern buildings has been the same as yours in that any corners that could be cut, were cut. if i were in a position to buy a home, i would not buy anything modern.

  • ForkSnorter on 02/09/2022 - 09:12
    +4

    I don't have any, but from friends/family I've heard nothing but horror stories. Recently, my step-dad was quoted $16,000 for a new roof over the outdoor entertaining area. He did himself in one week for $1,500.

    • Xistn on 02/09/2022 - 09:16
      +1

      Does he wanna do mine?

    • Typical16-bitEnjoyer on 02/09/2022 - 09:17
      +8

      Shock horror DIY is cheaper than a registered insured tradie.

      • ForkSnorter on 02/09/2022 - 10:19
        +3

        He’s pretty handy as he builds and sells timber furniture in his shed, and has renovated 4 houses.

        • Typical16-bitEnjoyer on 02/09/2022 - 11:37

          I think you missed the point.

        • Stoozer on 03/09/2022 - 08:53

          If he sells furniture just be mindful his house insurance is probably void

      • ForkSnorter on 02/09/2022 - 11:03

        Keep in mind it’s very unlikely a builder would have completed it in one week, and no guarantee they would have stuck to the initial quote.

        • HelpMeiCantSee on 03/09/2022 - 11:13

          And highly likely the fit and finish would be inferior.

  • Xistn on 02/09/2022 - 09:17
    +2

    Found a tool belt, Radio, and 2 planks of wood up in the roof, at first I sharted thinking it was a corpse.

    • djkelly69 on 02/09/2022 - 09:53
      +6

      I sharted thinking it was a corpse

      I would too.

  • Typical16-bitEnjoyer on 02/09/2022 - 09:19
    +5

    Well there's the well known dodgy building story of the 120 metre tall observation wheel that doesn't work close to Melbourne CBD….

    • Ghost47 on 02/09/2022 - 10:13
      +2

      I can easily one-up that with the freeway that leads to nowhere in the Sydney CBD.

    • Cheaplikethebird on 02/09/2022 - 10:49

      Is the dodgy part where they decided to place it so that it had a view of the arse end of the city on one side and industrial zone on the other?

      • Typical16-bitEnjoyer on 02/09/2022 - 11:38
        +1

        That definition is probably suitable for the entire Docklands residential precinct.

    • try2bhelpful on 02/09/2022 - 14:17

      Yup, it has a great view of the places it should’ve been put and the Costco car park.

      In all honesty if they are going to put one up then put it on the other side of the Yarra river closer to the MCG so it had a good look at the city and the Arts precinct. Imagine being in it during the fireworks display. The thing was a dud from the get go. The Docklands area is all looking a tad sad.

  • netjock on 02/09/2022 - 09:32
    +14

    If you think about any other industry that is getting paid $800 - $1000 a day (close to $200k a year) they would be all professionals with university educations and post university qualifications.

    As much as Master Builders Association and HIA hold themselves out to be some kind of badge of quality. If you look at entry requirements into trades not long ago it was year 10. I'd suggest a bunch of year 10 people teaching other year 10 graduates on how to do a job sounds like a recipe for disaster. There is no progress in the building industry because you've got a bunch of people who scraped through high school trying to build stuff off plans and when you tell them it is wrong they'd chuck a tantrum.

    Only tradies I ever gave jobs to are the ones who can actually tell me how they are going to do the job. Not just give me $x and I'll sort it out. Usually those people have no idea and just invent stuff (cut corners) as they go.

    • jellykingdom on 02/09/2022 - 09:42
      +5

      Btw i love that line, but its so true; why would we expect anything better from a bunch of high school dropouts trying to teach younger high school dropouts

      • netjock on 02/09/2022 - 09:57
        +2

        I wouldn't call them drop outs. They completed school to a certain level which is not that much.

        Now they are moaning about how low apprentices get paid and how they are dropping out. Just make it into a university level degree. People in university don't get paid to learn. They can perform their practical assessments like people in the arts (in person). They come out and get a grad role like everyone else.

        For a career that can net you 6 figure salaries and get paid as an apprentice while learning (no HECs debt) is actually a pretty good deal provided your employer isn't a total psychopath.

        Also working under a company structure there is tax benefits. I'd assume smart people in the trades could retire by 50 if they start working at 20. But then good footballers can retire after 10 years but it seems like statistically more of them go broke than everyone else.

        • Tee Rex Arms on 02/09/2022 - 13:24
          +1

          P’s get degrees. You don’t have to be intelligent to get most pieces of paper.

          • netjock on 02/09/2022 - 13:32
            -2

            @Tee Rex Arms: It isn't about intelligence. It is about having enough patience to actually sit there and do the work. Part of that is actually having common sense to figure out learning to sit there and paying attention actually is the short cut to a successful career instead of learning on the job.

            You don't honestly think that universities expect you to have photographic memory for everything delivered in 3 years do you? If you paid enough attention to know it is covered you can go back and reference the books. I'm seen people who have done uni degrees and have no idea where to research a topic they forgot and it was covered in university.

            Having come from a family of tradies and been on many work sites I can tell you as most people have experience is the first problem with tradies is they are awful at planning. Even for all the stuff they need for a day's work. They are running down to the hardware supplies all the time. They don't have the tools that they need (it is probably there in the back of the van under some other tools and bits and pieces)

  • freefall101 on 02/09/2022 - 09:33

    I had water running out of the light fixture in my bathroom coming from the apartment above, it was shower water from above.

    Every bath/shower (they were two in one) in the building needed replacing, it turned out, because the pan or whatever underneath would eventually overflow. But they were only doing it as things went wrong, due to cost.

  • [Deactivated] on 02/09/2022 - 10:17

    There is a huge contrast in tradies, I have seen some are god level ones and some are going to perform worse than if I had asked a 10 year old to do the work but just more careless.

  • slow on 02/09/2022 - 10:45
    +2

    Having been though a new build myself I would never buy any house built by a volume builder. I was fortunate on mine to have a cooperative site supervisor who gave full site site access, so I was able to inspect daily and identify all the dodgy stuff done by subcontractors and then get it fixed. It was long list of issues

  • 87percent on 02/09/2022 - 10:49
    +1

    friend renovated their upstairs, and their builder laid the roof insulation incorrectly (something to do with the downlights), which started a fire and burnt down the newly renovated area. Friend took them to court, and turns out the builder sub-contracted the work out and the person didn't have some correct insurance. 3 years later, they got most of their money back but probably spent enough to build a whole new house

    Their current house is quite nice now though..

    • kiitos on 03/09/2022 - 12:04

      What a nightmare! Did the homeowners insurance cover it?

  • brendanm on 02/09/2022 - 10:52

    We noticed damp carpet and mild starting on office wall, which was next to the bathroom. Looked down the drain for the bath, the plug hole wasn't connected to the pipe, it was offset by about 20mm, so as soon as the bath was drained, half the water missed the pipe, and went underneath the bath, and into the wall.

    Also had a leaking J pipe in the ensuite, they simply hadn't tightened it, like everything else plumbing wise in this place, so the cabinet swelled up and had to be replaced.

    • netjock on 02/09/2022 - 11:50

      We noticed damp carpet and mild starting on office wall, which was next to the bathroom. Looked down the drain for the bath, the plug hole wasn't connected to the pipe, it was offset by about 20mm

      Never worked in an office with a bath in the staff toilets but sounds like a hoot.

      • brendanm on 02/09/2022 - 12:37

        Home office obviously, not sure what sort of workplace has a bath, but a good try.

  • El-Rhi on 02/09/2022 - 12:11

    Had a tradie repairing my Colorbond fence and they used an angle grinder right next to a large glass window which put burn marks into the glass. They ended up covering the cost for replacing the glass which is credit to them.

    • netjock on 02/09/2022 - 12:39

      They ended up covering the cost for replacing the glass which is credit to them

      Their mate needed a job. Just can't give money for no service I guess.

      • El-Rhi on 02/09/2022 - 12:55

        I ended up selecting the repairer after they offered to send someone to do it, which I said no to

  • dogboy on 02/09/2022 - 12:12
    +3

    One of the biggest differences between Australia and the rest of the world is we pay our tradies like executives and our executives like tradies. It is ridiculous the amount of tax breaks we give tradies in this country and the amount of money they earn (especially when you consider the amount of tax-free income they receive).

    • brendanm on 02/09/2022 - 12:38
      +7

      our executives like tradies.

      Lol.

  • DR-JEKL on 02/09/2022 - 13:03

    I had built a house with Rawson and I had to conduct weekly inspections to ensure things were getting done to spec. A lot of mistakes were made along the way and were nipped in the bud due to my diligence, but if I was living interstate and leaving the responsibilities up to the builder there would have been a heap of massive mistakes made. Its really poor how the building industry is managed the site supervisors have too many jobs on the go he has to juggle multiple trades per build then multiply that by 20 builds you can see why they rarely have the time to properly supervise each build, they're basically juggling trades and materials for each build then ensuring everything is done in alignment with the plans and supervising workmanship.

    Having said that Rawson have been great in my view they've always fixed things up along the way as required and even 2 years after handover have fixed minor issues.

    My advice is respect your supervisor, attempt to supervise your own build yourself, when an issue is found don't fly off the handle just outline the mistakes and what you want fixed, have patience, be practical where possible, send reminders through for things that havent been resolved etc

  • Richmond Tigers on 02/09/2022 - 13:39

    We moved into a house as a less than 5 year old house.

    Nothing catastrophic but the tiling overall is appalling. It is very uneven with noticeable rises when viewed even standing, one tile sits about 3mm above the one next to it. The worst bit is somehow the tiling in the undercover slopes towards the back corner of our outdoor undercover area. So when it rains it all pools directly under our entry door.

    I dont know how professional tilers could get it so wrong.

    • jellykingdom on 02/09/2022 - 15:16

      Yeah my 1st apartment had that. It took a lot of convincing to the tiler that NO that crappy work actually isn't acceptable, and even then a couple of the decorative tiles in the shower cubicle slipped slightly, and it used to piss me off every day when i had my shower

    • [Deactivated] on 02/09/2022 - 21:44

      Apparently you don't need a licence or anything like that to operate as a tiler in Tas, so there's that. I heard one story about a Chinese crew who were pretty terrible at the job and had to go back, rip out the tiles and do it again because they did it wrong the first time, it didn't sound like it was an isolated incident, either.

      • ihbh on 30/09/2022 - 19:31

        Hope they had plenty of spare tiles.

  • dirtybigbjelke on 02/09/2022 - 13:43
    +1

    Balconies and Waterproofing in units are a constant battle. In the local Brunswick Facebook group there are weekly posts about these issues.

  • try2bhelpful on 02/09/2022 - 14:20
    +1

    Most of mine have been pretty good.

    However, a friend of ours had a nightmare builder. Brick walls that fell down, sanding doors across the grain, cupboards that wouldn’t close. Although the corker was the kitchen waste plumbing ended half way to the sewer which they found out because of the perpetually wet ground.

    • jellykingdom on 02/09/2022 - 15:14

      Oh yeah that reminded me of another story at my current place, though i think this was probably done DURING the build. When there was that big rainstorm in Sydney back in April (or so) i was getting a weird pond in a point of my garden, which wasn't in any logical spot. When i was digging to put my new hedges in, i found the remains of a concrete water line. From what the plumber and I could work out, they probably put an excavator bucket through the next door neighbour's stormwater line (not sure why it ran across my property…) during the build, and didn't bother to mention anything. So it also explained why my neighbour's roof downpipes kept massively overflowing during heavy rain, and running into my garage!

      We dug it up and connected with plastic piping and now no issues. Not really a horror story but just goes to show that they'll just ignore anything they can get away with. It would've been a 30min fix with the ground already dug up

      • try2bhelpful on 02/09/2022 - 15:20

        You might want to check your property to make sure their aren’t any liens on it. In one of my places our driveway had a sewerage connected pipe for my place and the one next door. We had a one of a pair. It wasn’t a biggy but it meant I couldn’t build over the top of the pipe area.

  • FoxJump on 02/09/2022 - 16:18
    +4

    Note to self, build a spherical house. No corners to cut.

    • try2bhelpful on 02/09/2022 - 17:29
      +1

      yes, but you will end up with a builder with a round-to-it.

  • Wiadro on 02/09/2022 - 19:47

    i know someone who built a house 12 months ago, still has no water meter, sydney water says the builder needs to submit an application so they cant even request it directly until the builder does

  • miwahni on 03/09/2022 - 02:49

    Not my build, but I had a customer tell me about her house (the bank I worked for funded the build). The ensuite toilet was actually in the master bedroom instead of in the ensuite. Both the plumber and the builder blamed each other - and the builder told her to look on the bright side, she wouldn't miss any of her TV show if she needed to pee halfway through.

  • saltypete on 03/09/2022 - 08:09

    Most builders cut corners, then their tradies cut corners.
    Its a bit depressing, but seems to be the norm.
    I cant be bothered telling the tales of shite work tradies have done. When you get a decent one (and they are out there) you hang on to them.

    I know a brilliant tiler in Adelaide if you want work done, but he won't book work more than 6 months out……

  • SydneySwan on 03/09/2022 - 08:56
    +3

    How come this thread is not several pages?

  • garddn on 03/09/2022 - 11:16

    My upstairs flooring has quite a noticeable slope in both bedrooms. Enough that if you place furniture in the room you can notice. And the place leaked when i first moved in. There were plenty of warning signs but i was naive to what my options were.

  • Heaps for Cheaps on 03/09/2022 - 21:56

    I recently got done by Australia's fattest Lebanese con-man builder. My hidden camera revealed that he's fat.

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