would you call back your builder...

If you aren’t happy with the finish on your reno, do you get tradespeople back or hire someone else instead? Two readers give their reactions

...to fix a poor job? We share two opposing stories

YES ‘You have to give people the opportunity to put things right’

Amanda Dagnall (@schoolhousetohome) lives with husband John and one of their three children in a period cottage in Yorkshire

‘I think you have to get people back in to sort a problem out. If you bought something you were unhappy with, you’d go back to the retailer to resolve it. If they don’t, you take it higher. You have to give people the opportunity to put things right, though you might not have much faith in them if they’ve done such a bad job in the first place.

‘We had a company come to turn a bathroom into a wet room. It was a nightmare. The ceiling wasn’t stripped properly and they just plastered over paper, a wall where a door had been filled in was moving and they cut through carpet in our hall. We had no choice but to get the company back to sort it out. We were patient but assertive.

‘I had windows replaced at another property and seven small opening windows were cracked. The workers patronised me. I went ballistic. I was paying thousands and they were broken. I told the manager I wanted them as soon as they were reordered, and I asked for, and got, compensation for the time I took out of work to deal with their error. I was furious, partly because what the workmen were telling me was rubbish. I’m sure there are tradespeople who get away with shoddy work as people lack the confidence to challenge it. But this is our home and there’s no way we’re paying someone to not do a job properly.’

NO ‘I’m not naturally confrontational. I’d rather ignore my instincts’

Alison Jones (@alisonjones103) lives in a three-bed Victorian semi in Walsall ‘Unsatisfactory experiences with workmen have ended up costing me hundreds of pounds, which I’ve put up with rather than calling them back to rectify the jobs I was unhappy with.

This is my first major renovation so I am learning as I go and placing my faith in the professionals. But I am not naturally confrontational and would rather ignore my instincts than cause a fuss.

‘In the bathroom there were a number of small issues I was unhappy with, but the biggest was the workaround with the basin frame. It was meant to be floorstanding but had been left perched on the boxed-in pipes beneath it– the bulk of the frame jutted out over the edge.

‘I think it was the plumber’s pride in his ingenuity that led to me reacting like it was a bad haircut – lying that everything was fine while hoping it’d grow on me. However, it pained me every time I opened the door. I bought a wall-hung version and got a builder friend to fix it, and to sink the water pipes underneath the basin into the wall, which I’d been ‘persuaded’ wouldn’t be possible/too expensive to do.

‘More infuriating was the plasterer I hired to do my living and dining rooms. The mess he left was devastating and I am still finding the evidence of shoddy finishing. There were even holes in the coving I had to pay a specialist to repair.

‘Both times I should’ve called them back to fix their mistakes, or at least protested over poor work. But the projects had dragged on so long, I wanted them over. I’d lost confidence in their ability to do what I wanted. And I blamed myself for not keeping a closer eye and being fobbed off with excuses when I should’ve stuck to my guns.’

People lack confidence to challenge shoddy work, but this is our home and there’s no way we’re going to pay someone to not do a job properly