Seeking Advice About T&G Problems

Hi,

Prior to a famous Australian company starting a kitchen renovation last week, our T&G floor was OK apart from the odd scratch and a couple of gaps (these would be closed) by them. Now they are claiming that the company that had installed them didn't do it correctly as they had not glued them together (they had nailed them) is this true?.

Now we have loads of scratches on our wooden floor in the kitchen with damage caused by most of the tradesmen but the main culprits were the one(s) who had delivered and installed the cabinets. They had off loaded them and had moved them onto the wooden floor without any protection on the floor. The boss in charge is claiming that they (the scratches) were there before although we have photo's to prove otherwise:wink:. Can they polish/buff them out or is it just a vernear product that would not allow that operation to be successful?.

Am I also expecting too much in that a reputable company would have placed some sort of product to protect our boards from damage during a renovation?.

Thank you to those who answer my questions.

Regards
David

David,
you weren't expecting too much of the installers, I'm only a one man band but I definitely put down protective coverings when working on a polished timber floor. T & G boards are not glued together. They may be glued to the subfloor, but it's definitely not standard practice to glue the tongues and grooves together. If it's proper T& G floor then the scratches can be polished out, and if they don't polish out the floor can be sanded and refinished. I hope you haven't made the final payment yet. Don't accept their excuses. :no: Send them before and after photos of the floor and ask them what steps they will take to rectify the damage and when.

Mick

Quote:

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Originally Posted by journeyman Mick

David,
you weren't expecting too much of the installers, I'm only a one man band but I definitely put down protective coverings when working on a polished timber floor. T & G boards are not glued together. They may be glued to the subfloor, but it's definitely not standard practice to glue the tongues and grooves together. If it's proper T& G floor then the scratches can be polished out, and if they don't polish out the floor can be sanded and refinished. I hope you haven't made the final payment yet. Don't accept their excuses. :no: Send them before and after photos of the floor and ask them what steps they will take to rectify the damage and when.

Mick

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Hi Mick,

Thanks for the reply - much appreciated:wink:. As I had mentioned previously on another thread we were having the job done by a well known AUSTRALIAN company which I thought belong to the Greg NORMAN empire but does not - if you get my drift:wink:. It stated on our contract that having an experienced and professional team provides you with piece of mind and they value our customer and provide the service and support to make the swift transition of your kitchen a reality:roll::roll: - excuse me while I throw up. Not only have we had stress over the above mentioned problem but other issues of bad workmanship, unprofessional customer service etc. Given the bad experiences with tradespeople in the pass we thought going with a so called professional group would save us the stress - even if it cost us more than 20% extra but I suppose that was wishful thinking when it comes to tradespeople in this country.

I do hope they come to the party and are professional to admit their errors and all is resolved at the end of the project. In regard to the money, they have a 95% up front fee (no exceptions - we were told if your not happy go elsewhere) with the remaining 5% on completion of the job ($1,500 in our case). Glad to hear Mick that they should be able to sort out the scratches on our T&G floor but wether they will will have to be seen!!.

Btw, I tried phoning their showroom last night but a message stated that the store was closed for a few days while renovations took place at their showroom. Obviously their best tradespeople are at their own super store making the products look like the ones you will get when you put your 95% deposit down on it.

Regards
David

David,
is there a licensing body for building trade work in Victoria? Contact them and ask about the best way of getting this resolved. 95% up front? :o Can't do that in Qld, and it wouldn't suprise me if it's not allowed in Vic either, ask the licensing body about that too.

Mick

95% up front? Would be roundly denounced by our licensing board. On gummint contracts, and many private, we have about 10% "retainage," i.e. pay only 90% of progress invoices; final payment makes up accrued retainage, after approval of work quality. Most unpopular, and some subs boost their bids in retaliation, but provides at least a modicum of protection for clients.

Joe

Quote:

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Originally Posted by journeyman Mick

David,
is there a licensing body for building trade work in Victoria? Contact them and ask about the best way of getting this resolved. 95% up front? :o Can't do that in Qld, and it wouldn't suprise me if it's not allowed in Vic either, ask the licensing body about that too.

Mick

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Thanks Jo for your contribution.

Hi Mick,

I just quickly Googled the item and came up Domestic Building Contracts Act which referred to the size of the deposit - it may also talk about the size of the repayments but I will look for that later - I am in the middle of some painting atm.

However, with this be the document I need to refer to?. The people working on my kitchen are working for $$6747(% NORMAN so I don't know if it comes under this:?.

Cheers
David

David,
you need to talk to the licensing body or whomever administers that legislation in your state to see what they define as "building work" to see whether the contracts act covers your situation. In Qld it would definitely be considered building work, but it may be differrent in Vic.

Mick

I think that somewhat different parameters would be applied if you were prefabricating something off site, such as a kitchen.

A manufacturer might end up with $ 200,000 worth of kitchens sitting in his factory ready to go, and he may have only received $10,000 in deposits if he's only entitled to 5%. That's an awful lot of cash to have to carry if he gets screwed.

It is very difficult just to Polish out scratches in a floor, Best thing to do is to get a licensed floor sander in to assess and estimate the cost to repair the damage. He will be able to identify where the scratches came from , he will know if they are fresh or have been their for a while. Take the assessment and the quote to the Department of fair Trading and lodge a complaint along with any documents relating to the deposit conditions. Some people do not take care in protecting the timber floor when doing their work. You have every right to pursue the cost to repair your floor that they damaged. It happens on the biggest building site.

It would have been wisest to have left the floor sanding till last. Perhaps leave the kickboards off the cupboards until it was done. In a lot of cases they just clip on any way.

correct

John,
in Qld it doesn't matter how much the materials cost or whether there's a large off-site manufacturing component, only a small percentage is allowed to be asked for a deposit. (Can't remember the % at the moment.:- ) Even writing seperate invoices for the supply and installation won't get you around this. The only way out is to have two seperate (licensed) legal entities, one supplies, the other installs.

Mick

You may be right, but a kitchen manufacturer isn't a builder as described in Metal Head's document. Perhaps a builder may have to wear the deposit on a kitchen, but if Metal Head is dealing direct with a kitchen company it may be different. I know that a lot of suppliers for all sorts of materials won't accept C.O.D. I had to pay (from memory) at least 50% for the glass for my bifolds up front before they would cut it and send it out. I just trusted them and paid the lot to save hassles.