Warranty for construction work: What is usual, what makes sense?

[OneMoreFarang]

I just read the contract from the contractor who is supposed to renovate my condo.

If all is ok I plan to sign it next week.

Currently the contractor writes about 6 months warranty after the work is completed.

Is that the usual amount of time?

Is it reasonable?

I guess with many problems they will be visible right away, or soon, like a water leak or something like that.

But how about floor and wall tiles? If the tiles are not installed according to standard will they be lose within 6 months?

Or is it more likely that problems would show later?

What other areas may seem ok at the beginning and show only after many months or every years problems which are related to the construction work?

 

I know that having warranty and actually get it fixed for free is not the same. For this thread I prefer that we concentrate on what should be the warranty time. How many months do you think makes sense and is fair?

[jastheace]

i don't think warranties count for anything in LoS. worth less than the paper they are written on. The only thing that can be done, if the contractor is confident about their work is to retain a percentage of the bill for 'x' amount of months until you are happy that all the work has been done to your satisfaction. don't know if thats the done thing here though...

6 months seems reasonable....

Edited July 31, 2022 by jastheace

[scubascuba3]

28 minutes ago, jastheace said:

i don't think warranties count for anything in LoS. worth less than the paper they are written on. The only thing that can be done, if the contractor is confident about their work is to retain a percentage of the bill for 'x' amount of months until you are happy that all the work has been done to your satisfaction. don't know if thats the done thing here though...

6 months seems reasonable....

I know someone who had a house built, he paid in advance at different points but held back the final payment until everything was finished, good job he did because the first tradesman ran out of money (gambling problem)

[OneMoreFarang]

Thanks for your answers to the not asked question.

I tried to make it clear that my question is about the warranty time and not about what can go wrong if the contractor doesn't care about the contract he signed.

 

Let's start with the beginning: How much warranty time is necessary and usual in Thailand?

[KIngsofisaan]

One year. 

 

If the contractor is worth his weight, he should have no problem with a one year guarantee

 

And that guarantee need to be very explicit about who is responsible for labor and materials.

 

If no problems within 1 year, you are good to go.

 

A common warranty in the US is the 2-10 warranty. 2 years on anything that does not include structure. 10 years warranty on the structure (roof etc)

[Dante99]

I think getting a good Project Manager to take care of this for you would be a good step.  They should know about warranty periods that are standard and reasonable.  

[rumak]

38 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Thanks for your answers to the not asked question.

I tried to make it clear that my question is about the warranty time and not about what can go wrong if the contractor doesn't care about the contract he signed.

 

Let's start with the beginning: How much warranty time is necessary and usual in Thailand?

6 months........ sometimes a year (if a house)   .  Problems will generally show themselves within a short time.      The reason i wrote about maintaining a good relationship in your other thread is because  :      if you don't they will NOT come back to fix

Edited July 31, 2022 by rumak

[OneMoreFarang]

29 minutes ago, Dante99 said:

I think getting a good Project Manager to take care of this for you would be a good step.  They should know about warranty periods that are standard and reasonable.  

I will talk to my project manager tomorrow. 

And additionally to that I thought I ask the community here. That is why I asked.

 

I think if most problems show within 6 months then 6 months warranty should be long enough. Longer is obviously better. But if 6 months is usual in Thailand (which I don't know) then it's difficult to insist on one year.

[FriendlyFarang]

Houses in moo baans from a developer have usually one year from my experience. I don't know what is common for renovations, but one year should be possible, you can definitely try to get it.

[Bill97]

Get one year or get another contractor.  
They should be building to last for 30+ Years.

 

[smutcakes]

When i fitted out and furnished my condo i had a 1 year warranty and withheld 10% of the payment until expiry of the 1 year. The contractor i used was very good and came readily when anything went wrong which was very rare. At the end of the year i made a defect list and they came around and touched a few things up before i released the final payment.

[treetops]

14 hours ago, Bill97 said:

Get one year or get another contractor.  
They should be building to last for 30+ Years.

 

Nobody is building anything.  It's a refurb.

[userabcd]

1 year is about right for renovation work.

 

Usually one withholds a sum of money (say about 10%) to be paid out at the end of warranty period when all the defects have been cleared and all documentation and test certificates have been handed over.

 

Has the water piping and drainage pipes been tested prior to covering up?

 

Does your contract signed before commencing mention any of this?

[OneMoreFarang]

4 hours ago, userabcd said:

1 year is about right for renovation work.

 

Usually one withholds a sum of money (say about 10%) to be paid out at the end of warranty period when all the defects have been cleared and all documentation and test certificates have been handed over.

 

Has the water piping and drainage pipes been tested prior to covering up?

 

Does your contract signed before commencing mention any of this?

I get all new fresh water pipes. And I told them I want the drainage pipes tested. But this is not yet in the contract. Do you know anybody who does such testing in Bangkok and how much it costs? 

Thanks for the reminder. 

[OneMoreFarang]

4 hours ago, treetops said:

Nobody is building anything.  It's a refurb.

Actually I have a couple of sqm new walls.

[treetops]

10 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Actually I have a couple of sqm new walls.

Unless they're part of the structure to make you wind and water tight then I would not expect anything more than a year warranty, even if they're expected to last much longer.

[OneMoreFarang]

Good news for me. My contractor agreed to 1 year warranty - after his initial quote was 6 months.

And I have a clause in the contract that money will be deducted if he is late.

So far it looks good...

 

And yes, I know, things can go wrong. I will address them when they actually happen and don't ruin my day now with thinking about what can go wrong. 

[Bill97]

21 hours ago, treetops said:

Nobody is building anything.  It's a refurb.

Cheeit suppose they put a new wall in,  that could not be called refurbish it would be called build.  Check it out, the op is tearing out everything except external walls.

[BostonJoe]

On 7/31/2022 at 8:39 AM, OneMoreFarang said:

Thanks for your answers to the not asked question.

I tried to make it clear that my question is about the warranty time and not about what can go wrong if the contractor doesn't care about the contract he signed.

 

Let's start with the beginning: How much warranty time is necessary and usual in Thailand?

You may get lucky and get a tail lamp warranty   when you give him that last payment and he drives away as you watch his tail lamps fade away  Well the warranty is up

[OneMoreFarang]

1 hour ago, BostonJoe said:

You may get lucky and get a tail lamp warranty   when you give him that last payment and he drives away as you watch his tail lamps fade away  Well the warranty is up

It's always nice to get competent and relevant answers.

 

And then there are people who just want to write something, anything. Maybe that makes those people feel important or whatever...

[Bill97]

On 8/2/2022 at 1:28 AM, OneMoreFarang said:

I get all new fresh water pipes. And I told them I want the drainage pipes tested. But this is not yet in the contract. Do you know anybody who does such testing in Bangkok and how much it costs? 

Thanks for the reminder. 

Plumbers who installs new water pipe should test that installation for leaks.  He can probably test the drain piping too but takes more effort to seal open ends for the pressure test.

[Dante99]

On 8/7/2022 at 10:47 AM, OneMoreFarang said:

It's always nice to get competent and relevant answers.

 

And then there are people who just want to write something, anything. Maybe that makes those people feel important or whatever...

please look at your incompetent irrelevant posts on the L N electrical topic recently

[OneMoreFarang]

20 minutes ago, Dante99 said:

please look at your incompetent irrelevant posts on the L N electrical topic recently

Thanks for your comment.

I looked at the replies to my posts many hours before you posted this, and I realized I was wrong because I misunderstood the original post.

This is why I apologized as soon as I realized that, and I explained why I made that mistake.

If you would have read the first (and currently only) page of that thread, then you would have seen my apology and explanation. 

[Northstar1]

I’m a plumber, testing piping is simple, he should have the pipes connected to the fixture and it should be valved coming

out the wall before the fixture.

EVERY fixture should have a shut off valve so you don’t need to shut the whole house down when trouble arises.

simply turn the water on before the walls are enclosed and visible. Making sure off course all valves are off. I’m certain any plumber would do this to avoid floods. But it is Thailand ????

Ask the project manager to make sure pressure piping has been tested 

drainage pipe is simply capped, filled and visual checked.

no pressure will be present in drainage with every day use!

good luck! Nice to see you got a warranty ????

[BostonJoe]

On 8/6/2022 at 11:47 PM, OneMoreFarang said:

It's always nice to get competent and relevant answers.

 

And then there are people who just want to write something, anything. Maybe that makes those people feel important or whatever...

I would ask to see some previous work he has done  You'll get a better piece of mind seeing his work 

[OneMoreFarang]

On 8/14/2022 at 8:19 AM, Northstar1 said:

drainage pipe is simply capped, filled and visual checked.

no pressure will be present in drainage with every day use!

good luck! Nice to see you got a warranty ????

Thanks for your answer.

About the drainage pipe. I see two problems with that approach.

 

In my condominium, and I guess in many others, some of my drainage pipes go from my condo through the concrete floor to the ceiling of the unit below me. Or to be more precise, they are hidden under the (tile) ceiling of the unit below. And in my case that unit is currently empty. The building manager agreed to help us and open the condominium below to look. And maybe we can remove a ceiling tile or two or three. But I guess there won't be a big inspection happening in the other person's condo.

 

Some leaks could be just small leaks. Just a few drops, but maybe steady. If we poor water down the drains we won't easily see if maybe 1% of that water is leaking slowly through the pipes or connection of the pipes. And if nobody is watching for some time in the condo below that might cause some bad damage...

[Northstar1]

2 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Thanks for your answer.

About the drainage pipe. I see two problems with that approach.

 

In my condominium, and I guess in many others, some of my drainage pipes go from my condo through the concrete floor to the ceiling of the unit below me. Or to be more precise, they are hidden under the (tile) ceiling of the unit below. And in my case that unit is currently empty. The building manager agreed to help us and open the condominium below to look. And maybe we can remove a ceiling tile or two or three. But I guess there won't be a big inspection happening in the other person's condo.

 

Some leaks could be just small leaks. Just a few drops, but maybe steady. If we poor water down the drains we won't easily see if maybe 1% of that water is leaking slowly through the pipes or connection of the pipes. And if nobody is watching for some time in the condo below that might cause some bad damage...

Yes, that’s the problem with condos, at least you have an empty unit below and are able to inspect and do your do diligence. Capping filling testing etc will be the most you can do, 

remember drainage will (should) only be 1/4 to 1/3 full during everyday use, no pressure, unless clogged. 
drainage pipe generally is the least of your worries in regards to leaks if installed correctly 

wTer pipe is always under pressure and is more likely to leak over time.

correct grade on drainage is important as to carry waste , solids , and not leave anything in the pipe after use