Problem with tiler

[rohan22no]

Hey guys,
So in March, I noticed the ceiling of my PPOR was leaking quite badly. I got roofing people to come take a look at it (local business in Canberra, they looked at it on the 17th march). Sure enough, the guy said I've got a bunch of cracked tiles and they can fix it "within 10-14 days". I also made an insurance claim for internal damage (ceiling/carpet replacement).

Anyway, fast forward 2 months and a bunch of phone calls, the work on the roof had still not been done, they said it was due to rain (we did have a bit, but not 50 days worth!). The work finally gets completed and I pay for it on the 24th May.

Now today, the ceiling guys are here to replace the ceiling (different company, covered by insurance), and as they go to do it they find inside the roof is still drenched and they cant go ahead with the work.

So, not only did the roof people take 60 days instead of "10 to 14" to complete the work, it looks like theyve ****ed it up aswell. I've been on the phone to the owner of the company who is in the process of chasing up the tradesman that did the work, who is going to come around an inspect it.

This is very significant to me as the damage is in the lounge room and 3rd bedroom - which I've been unable to rent out in the meantime due to the water damage. Is there anything I can do here? Its costing me a bunch as the room has previously been rented out at $180 per week, and it looks like its going to be a minimum of 3 months total where it is un-lettable, when it should have only been a couple of weeks.

If anyones got any advice, I'd love to hear it. Im in the ACT, can provide any further information if required, and will give updates of any calls i recieve from the roofing company.

Thanks
Rohan


p.s Sorry if this is in the wrong forum, if it is, mods please move.

 

[weg]

They really should have told you that it was an anticipated time and that there could be holdups. I would be very annoyed too.

That said, I can't see how you could sue them, unless you had a special contract drawn up, similar to the ones that impose fines if work is not done by a certain time.

Was it not possible to dry the carpets, temporarily seal up the roof (which should have been done anyway, along with drying the roof space) and continue letting the room?

 

[Melbournian]

best to contact fair trading and consumer affairs to get them onto it.

then when it is done - negotiate some terms with the supplier or roof company.

 

[weg]

best to contact fair trading and consumer affairs to get them onto it.

then when it is done - negotiate some terms with the supplier or roof company.

Are you sure about this?

What can the Dept. of Fair Trading and Consumer Affairs enforce, that would make the roofing company have to pay lost rent?

Courts decide these things - hence why I mentioned the word 'contract', one of the few things that carries weight.

 

[Melbournian]

Are you sure about this?

What can the Dept. of Fair Trading and Consumer Affairs enforce, that would make the roofing company have to pay lost rent?

Courts decide these things - hence why I mentioned the word 'contract', one of the few things that carries weight.

i never said consumer affairs would enforce compensation or damages.

the 1st step if you have a dispute with any trader is to contact consumer affaris. they mediate and talk to the trader well at least to pressure the trader to finish off the work.

if all else fails - that you go to the tribunal but i would be more focused on getting it the roofing done ASAP as oppose to getting lost rent. that is something later down the track

very true - a contract carries weight - without it you're stuck in "you said i said" scenarios

 

[weg]

I thought the OP biggest concern was time taken to get through this job, which is why I responded as I did - Fair Trading and Consumers affairs won't care about that.

What Fair Trading and Consumer Affairs will do is get the OP to do is just as he has done, and that's get the the roofing company to come out and inspect the job to see if it was done correctly or not, and go from there.

A Q to the OP... was the roof temporarily waterproofed AND dryed out between the original damage and having the roof fixed? Clearly that first event resulted in a LOT of water entering your roof space.

 

[rohan22no]

Hi,
I noticed lots of leaking when it rained here in canberra for about 2 weeks straight in early march. I immediately got the tilers in to inspect (when they said yep I have broken tiles and the bedding and pointing wasnt done correctly). They then completed the work 2 months later (20th may roughly). I did not check inside the ceiling at any point before or after this...

R

Edit - The guy who completed the work is coming to inspect it tommorow. Will update you guys on what happens...

 

[UKinvestmentpro]

See if you can work something out with the owner. If he isn't willing to offer some sort of compensation, you could write about your experience on consumer sites to prevent this from happening to someone else. Give the owner a chance to come up with an amicable resolution first though.

 

[Doovalacky]

Its possible that now you have the roof finally fixed there is a great big sponge called insulation keeping everything wet.

 

[rohan22no]

@Doova, thats what I first thought, but apparently the insulation is fine, and its reasonably hot up there so it definetely would have dried out by now. There's an active leak.

The guy inspected it today, said the bedding and pointing is fine, but the previous owners had hand painted the tiles...which is somehow letting water seep in through the roof.

No idea what that actually means or where to go from here!

 

[rohan22no]

Just got off the phone to the boss of the company, who offered to come around when it next rains to see if he can see if there is some sort of leak that they've missed. Blah, so frustrating

 

[Doovalacky]

I do remember hearing some types of old tiles become porous after the sealing on the weather side erodes. Perhaps that's why someone has had a go painting them.
Rusted out gully is another possibility but should be able to tell if that is the issue from an inspection.

 

[weg]

Perhaps you can join this Australian forum and see if someone there is able to guide you.

http://www.renovateforum.com/forum.php

 

[rohan22no]

Im hugely frustrated by all this, I've got a bunch of internal work waiting to be done and this guy wants me to "wait till it rains" so he can come have a look??

 

[Macca]

Maybe you could arrange a hose onto one part of the roof and get up and have a look yourself. If nothing obvious there, move the hose and have another look etc.

Your current leak may only happen when the tiles get waterlogged but if there is an isolated leak you may pick it up.