This is for a secondary house in another part of the country (not close to hand), but we were there early in the year and met with a local reputable company, well rated and they were open and friendly. They installed a new door and some double glazing, but have left a terrible finish where the old ones were removed, and forgot to remove the shutter for the front door as was requested… Also damage to the newly painted walls (which wasn’t cheap!). I’ve been sent these photographs as it’s too far for me to travel and see in person.
I’m waiting to hear back from them, but had assumed when a window company install everything, they tidy up their work, so it doesn’t look like a total mess?
Must confess, we had similar experience when we first arrived. We’d arranged for the local build to change the windows…
When I spoke with him, I gently mentioned the lack of finition… as my husband was expecting to find the walls around the windows ready for him to paint…
The builder smiled and said that he had quoted to replace the windows. Which he had done.
If I asked for the walls around the windows to be prepped for painting, he would have quoted for that too…
fair comment…
My husband did the necessary, to hide the expanded foam etc etc… replastered and repainted… .
after that I always specified exactly what I wanted done… and checked the quotes very carefully.
EDIT: La Peyre did a fantastic job replacing the remaining windows a few years later (when we’d saved up the money). They left everything immaculate !
Agreed - mind you, a real challenge the first time it happens as coming from the UK we don’t know what to expect. Brit builders much more likely to say “do you also want me to …?” whereas in France, if it isn’t mentioned by the person specifiying the job it won’t be volunteered.
Tough when one has never restored a property before and one doesn’t know all th steps involved.
If it’s not in the quote it often won’t happen. If the quote was just for ‘la pose” then that’s what they’ll most likely do, especially if as in your picture it looks as if they would have needed additional material of some sort. Although you can get lucky.
We made very clear that the finition was imperative.
Thanks for the replies… I guess you learn from experience. I’ve never had new windows or doors installed, so assumed (haha) they wouldn’t leave a mess behind. For the interior where the newly painted walls (done by a professional) are damaged, do they have any liability for sorting that out?
I guess we’ll have to get another quote to have it finished properly as we can’t do it in person ourselves.
One of the workers who installed the windows is currently in hospital after putting an angle grinder into their face working on the house. I don’t know the extent of their injuries, but the gendarmes had to come (as a matter of course) to investigate. I hope they’re not left with life changing injuries.
As frustrating as I’m sure it is, if the damage happened as part of the work they were contracted to do, then I can’t see how they’d be liable to fix it.
If they damaged another wall or were negligent in some way, then you could pursue it. But from the view of an objective outsider, I think you might unfortunately have to chalk this one up to an expensive lesson learned (i.e. get the painting done last).
We always itemised our devis with making good to to walls etc as a seperate item and not included in the removal and re-fitting of new doors and windows. To leave rubbish mess is not good but a wall that needs tidying, painting,plasterboarding etc is not considered leaving in a mess unless the artisan has agreed to make good.
Looking at the bits pf scrap pb thats just been inserted and the lack of a continous fill of foam so it wont actually prevent cold bridging spots, I am sorry to say did they clear up after their horses which presumably they tied up outside. What a sh1t job.
Seems I have been worrying for nothing, the company got back and due to the employee being badly injured they won’t able to finish the work. They will be coming back, and will do all the necessary finishing and repairs, so that’s good news.
It’s still a good lesson - always check the devis carefully and never assume.
Do you mean did it cause the accident because it might have been damaged? The company haven’t given me much details, other than it went into their head and they are in hospital with serious injuries. It sounded pretty horrific.
When we had similar work done there was a charge to remove all old stone flooring and debris. As it was an original flagstone floor I declined and told them to leave everything on site. They were not pleased at all. One of the workers told me they had already sold the flagstones on.
and checked the quotes very carefully.