Atrocious workmanship

[Will B Good]

The quality of the workmanship re: my wife's new house, is staggeringly poor (shock, horror)

 

Some people are passive/aggressive........I have a tendency to be aggressive/aggressive and my wife has been at pains to keep me out of the way during the build.

 

I am almost too embarrassed to show these photos, but the tile edging (or is it just beading?) is atrocious and I am looking for ways to recover the situation. 

 

All I can think of doing is gluing right-angled aluminum trim over the top?

 

Any other suggestions/advice?

 

Just as an aside are spirit levels, plumb lines, chalk lines, measuring tapes actually illegal in Thailand?

[Will B Good]

Please no laughing emojis......I am close to tears already.

[Bangkokhatter]

Truly shocking, i would personally remove it and the first row of tiles and tell them to do again.

 

A cheap fix is to file the edges round and fill the holes with sealant but will only look slightly better. You can also remove the grout with very fine sandpaper but will still leave scratch marks,

Actually you are never going to be happy with any cheap fix, your eyes will be constantly drawn to the edging.

 

Having tiling done here is one of my major pain points, just FxxxXXX useless. I once removed a complete wall that had just been tiled as it was probably worse than your pictures. Was funny to see the contractors face when he returned the next morning to a pile of cleaned tiles waiting to be refitted.

Edited April 27, 2022 by Bangkokhatter
added extra

[Kwasaki]

8 minutes ago, Will B Good said:

Please no laughing emojis......I am close to tears already.

Bad workmanship and frankly I wouldn't pay them until they put it right. 

[Will B Good]

1 minute ago, Bangkokhatter said:

Truly shocking, i would personally remove it and the first row of tiles and tell them to do again.

 

A cheap fix is to file the edges round and fill the holes with sealant but will only look slightly better.

 

Having tiling done here is one of my major pain points, just FxxxXXX useless. I once removed a complete wall that had just been tiled as it was probably worse than your pictures. Was funny to see the contractors face when he returned the next morning to a pile of cleaned tiles waiting to be refitted.

A major underlying problem here is village politics and 'face'.

 

The builder is my father-in-law's boss in tessaban ...........negotiations are more delicate than in the Middle East.

[Denim]

Wouldn't cost a fortune to have the really bad bits done again . Price of a few tiles plus bead edging  less than 1000 baht. Finding somebody to do it more difficult as Thai builders generally don't like taking on small jobs. Easiest thing is to do it yourself. Not difficult . I did ours and it was better than the builders.

 

But if the people who did it are still on site, get them to redo it and withhold payment until they do.

 

 

Edited April 27, 2022 by Denim

[Will B Good]

2 minutes ago, Kwasaki said:

Bad workmanship and frankly I wouldn't pay them until they put it right. 

My response to the wife!

[Will B Good]

1 minute ago, Denim said:

Wouldn't cost a fortune to have the really bad bits done again . Price of a few tiles plus bead edging  less than 1000 baht. Finding somebody to do it more difficult as Thai builders generally don't like taking on small jobs. Easiest thing is to do it yourself. Not difficult . I did ours and it was better than the builders.

Might just do that.

[Sparktrader]

Beginners!

 

Do u have insurance?

[Will B Good]

Just now, Sparktrader said:

Beginners!

 

Do u have insurance?

Not for something like this?

 

But about to start researching for general household insurance.

[OneMoreFarang]

26 minutes ago, Will B Good said:

my wife has been at pains to keep me out of the way during the build

So it seems she accepted this horrible work, correct?

Under that condition you will have difficulties to get it repaired. 

 

I don't like to be the bearer of bad news. But I think you have to decided who is in charge of the quality control. If you do it then you do it and you don't pay until the work is done properly.

And if she does it then it's her decision.

I understand that is not the way you want it but I guess you and she have to make up your minds of who is in charge.

 

 

 

 

 

[OneMoreFarang]

13 minutes ago, Will B Good said:

14 minutes ago, Denim said:

Wouldn't cost a fortune to have the really bad bits done again . Price of a few tiles plus bead edging  less than 1000 baht. Finding somebody to do it more difficult as Thai builders generally don't like taking on small jobs. Easiest thing is to do it yourself. Not difficult . I did ours and it was better than the builders.

Might just do that.

But keep in mind that if you do it yourself you have to make it perfect. Because otherwise there is a possibility that somebody will remind you for a long time that you wanted to do it yourself. And look what you did...

[Will B Good]

1 minute ago, OneMoreFarang said:

So it seems she accepted this horrible work, correct?

Under that condition you will have difficulties to get it repaired. 

 

I don't like to be the bearer of bad news. But I think you have to decided who is in charge of the quality control. If you do it then you do it and you don't pay until the work is done properly.

And if she does it then it's her decision.

I understand that is not the way you want it but I guess you and she have to make up your minds of who is in charge.

 

 

 

 

 

I do feel bad about having stepped back.....I didn't want this house, I was more than happy living in Bangkok.

 

As far as I am concerned she is just pouring money down the drain.

 

Having said that I have a sneaky suspicion that I am looking forward to correcting everything. I am an engineer by trade and qualification and have been twiddling my thumbs for sometime......I think there will be plenty to keep me going!!!!!!

[Will B Good]

3 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

But keep in mind that if you do it yourself you have to make it perfect. Because otherwise there is a possibility that somebody will remind you for a long time that you wanted to do it yourself. And look what you did...

Ha....good point.....555

[CharlieH]

Step back, too much influence and local politics going around there making it almost impossible.

Frankly, they should never have been asked to do the job as complaint was a non starter.

 

STOP it all, and get new, or wait til its finished and then get a new crew to put it right.

[NanLaew]

14 minutes ago, Will B Good said:

As far as I am concerned she is just pouring money down the drain.

If it's her money, who cares?

[ezzra]

2 choices here, its damn if you do and damn if you don't and in both you lose, either get in their faces and demand the job to be done right, something they obviously can't do anyway, or get others, much more skillfull to do it properly and save face and arguments...

[BangkokReady]

I have no suggestions, but you have my absolute sympathy.  It's looks awful.

 

I think people just have a completely different idea about what is acceptable or good workmanship in Thailand.  I guess the lack of critical thinking, apathy, aversion to criticism, potential for anyone to blow their top over the slightest perceived insult, etc., lead to very poor workmanship being tolerated.

 

I don't know how anyone can look at what is in your pictures and think that that is OK.

 

I hope there is a way that you can fix it and maintain your familial bridges.

 

If it wasn't fixable, I would be thinking about ways to cover it up.  Some sort of shelf with an overhang, a valance that hangs down and covers the horror, pictures, sachets, towel rails, etc..

[Will B Good]

23 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

If it's her money, who cares?

Well I guess as her husband I should?

[The Fugitive]

Paving (flagging or floor tiles, whichever you like to call it) seems to be beyond the capability of builders everywhere. You always end up with pools of rainwater in the depressions. Do 'Master Paviours' still exist?

[kokesaat]

Those are mostly cosmetic fixes (not necessarily easy, but fixable).  I'd be more worried about the integrity of the structure......beams, walls, floors.......if the photos are any indication.  

[sometimewoodworker]

The problem is that they did not use a corner piece. It is impossible to make it look remotely OK if you can’t get a corner piece of the correct profile.

 

It is likely that correctly shaped pieces exist, it is also likely that nobody in the village believes that they do or would spend the time to discover them.

 

So the possible cure is to spend the time, maybe days, finding them for that (or any other) profile. Then using an oscillating tool with a diamond head to carefully cut out the required gaps.

Edited April 27, 2022 by sometimewoodworker

[Will B Good]

1 hour ago, CharlieH said:

Step back, too much influence and local politics going around there making it almost impossible.

Frankly, they should never have been asked to do the job as complaint was a non starter.

 

STOP it all, and get new, or wait til its finished and then get a new crew to put it right.

Yes......have stopped them.....too late, but better late than never.

 

I think it was getting to the point where they were doing things badly on purpose!!!!!

 

 

[OneMoreFarang]

One of my favorite Thai sentences is: "I can do that."

 

Like: I need someone to repair my car. Don't worry, I can do that.

Someone to build a house: Sure, I can do that.

It's wonderful that so many people can do so many things. ???? 

[Will B Good]

48 minutes ago, BangkokReady said:

I have no suggestions, but you have my absolute sympathy.  It's looks awful.

 

I think people just have a completely different idea about what is acceptable or good workmanship in Thailand.  I guess the lack of critical thinking, apathy, aversion to criticism, potential for anyone to blow their top over the slightest perceived insult, etc., lead to very poor workmanship being tolerated.

 

I don't know how anyone can look at what is in your pictures and think that that is OK.

 

I hope there is a way that you can fix it and maintain your familial bridges.

 

If it wasn't fixable, I would be thinking about ways to cover it up.  Some sort of shelf with an overhang, a valance that hangs down and covers the horror, pictures, sachets, towel rails, etc..

Yes....there are other problems.................I am already sorting them into things I will demand are corrected, things I will correct and things I will try to disguise.......it does beggar belief that they thought what they were doing was acceptable.

[Will B Good]

26 minutes ago, kokesaat said:

Those are mostly cosmetic fixes (not necessarily easy, but fixable).  I'd be more worried about the integrity of the structure......beams, walls, floors.......if the photos are any indication.  

100%......the major items (foundations, roofing, brickwork, electrics, kitchen) were overseen and carried out by other larger companies subcontracted to do the work......but I have said as much to the wife......this is what we can see.......what about the things we can't???

[Yellowtail]

 

It's you wife's house, what does your wife think about it and what does your wife want you to do? 

 

If my wife hired someone to do something, regardless of how it came out, if she were happy with it, I would do my best to bite my tongue and not start playing my tired, condescending chin-music and ruin it for her. 

 

If she's not happy with it, but does not want you starting a sh*t-storm, then why not just try to make her a little happier with it?

 

Are the workman finished and has she signed off? If not,  try suggesting she tells the workman my husband's an a-hole can you fix this...

 

If she has signed off and it's done, try to fix it. Start with something cheap and easy.  While it's painful to look at, it may not be as bad as it looks. 

 

First, get it all cleaned up and see what you have. If it's pretty much just the corners just try block-sanding them with wet-paper (start with #80) and get them rounded out nice and re-grout. A few hundred Baht in material and some labor and you might be surprised.

 

It's your wife's, the important thing is that she's happy with it you. 

 

[PETERTHEEATER]

Nearly a lifetime ago, shortly after we married, my Thai wife and I built our first house. A recommended carpenter/joiner built us fitted furniture to a high standard and I was pleased with the workmanship.

I had procured high-quality hardwood including balusters, banister, treads and risers to construct a staircase but our joiner (rest his soul) died unexpectedly. A replacement was recommended, an elderly man, and he was let to carry out the work during our absence in BKK.

 

Upon return next day, I stepped from the car to hear heavy thudding sounds and, on entering the house saw our artisan completing the staircase assembly with a club hammer and six inch nails.

Jesus did not weep; I did!   ????

[Yellowtail]

27 minutes ago, sometimewoodworker said:

The problem is that they did not use a corner piece..

 

Boonthavorn sells these in Aluminum, I have not see them here in plastic. 

 

I used aluminum on my kitchen counters, easier to work with than getting the miters right....

[bbko]

Looks like they didn't cut the tile trim correctly, either ask them to do it right (preferred choice) or slap in some putty and sand it smooth.