Carpet fitters cockup
Discussion
Six weeks ago I decided to repaint/emulsion all the stair rails, posts, skirting boards and walls on our hall, stairs and landing.
As I wanted to do a proper job, I went to my local carpet store where we bought the carpet from six years before and asked if their fitters could come and uplift the carpet and come back two weeks later when I had finished the job, to put back.
The staircase and skirting boards were white and the walls buttermilk, and I was going to change the paintwork to light grey and the walls navy blue.
The shop explained the fitters only worked for them freelance, but would charge around £125 to do the full job.
I agreed to this, the fitter turned up with his son (about 19), when I opened the door I recognised the bloke as the man who fitted our brown carpet six years previously.
The carpet was as new showing no signs of wear at all.
I said, "Right, you know what to do, I'll leave you to get on with it" and went in another room,
The dad said to his son "I'll make a start upstairs and pull the stairs up, you do downstairs"
After two minutes, to my horror, the lad was cutting the downstairs carpet into little pieces with his craft knife
The man flew down stairs and said "What the f
k are you doing?"
The lad said "I thought we were taking it up and putting new carpet down"
As all the carpet was matching throughout it was a disaster,
The lad was mortified and said "I'll have to pay for a new one downstairs myself"
I felt really sorry for them as they were both very nice, and the dad had obviously not told the son what the job entailed"
The son whispered to me "He never told me"......
As it was impossible to get another piece of exactly matching carpet I bit the bullet and said "OK it was a genuine mistake, the carpet was six years old anyway, so we will order some new (blue) carpet (at a cost of £700) providing you fit it free as it was your mistake,
He readily agreed to this and said you choose your carpet and I may be able to get it cheaper trade.
To cut a long story short, I re decorated, the new blue carpet arrived which he got for £600 (Which actually was a much better match to the new colours),,and they did a great job of fitting it and new underlay in nearly four hours.
As they were going, they apologised again, but they had worked very hard so I gave them £100, as I felt a bit guilty.
The moral of the story is always check and double check what the job is BEFORE you start work.
As I wanted to do a proper job, I went to my local carpet store where we bought the carpet from six years before and asked if their fitters could come and uplift the carpet and come back two weeks later when I had finished the job, to put back.
The staircase and skirting boards were white and the walls buttermilk, and I was going to change the paintwork to light grey and the walls navy blue.
The shop explained the fitters only worked for them freelance, but would charge around £125 to do the full job.
I agreed to this, the fitter turned up with his son (about 19), when I opened the door I recognised the bloke as the man who fitted our brown carpet six years previously.
The carpet was as new showing no signs of wear at all.
I said, "Right, you know what to do, I'll leave you to get on with it" and went in another room,
The dad said to his son "I'll make a start upstairs and pull the stairs up, you do downstairs"
After two minutes, to my horror, the lad was cutting the downstairs carpet into little pieces with his craft knife
The man flew down stairs and said "What the f
k are you doing?"The lad said "I thought we were taking it up and putting new carpet down"
As all the carpet was matching throughout it was a disaster,
The lad was mortified and said "I'll have to pay for a new one downstairs myself"
I felt really sorry for them as they were both very nice, and the dad had obviously not told the son what the job entailed"
The son whispered to me "He never told me"......
As it was impossible to get another piece of exactly matching carpet I bit the bullet and said "OK it was a genuine mistake, the carpet was six years old anyway, so we will order some new (blue) carpet (at a cost of £700) providing you fit it free as it was your mistake,
He readily agreed to this and said you choose your carpet and I may be able to get it cheaper trade.
To cut a long story short, I re decorated, the new blue carpet arrived which he got for £600 (Which actually was a much better match to the new colours),,and they did a great job of fitting it and new underlay in nearly four hours.
As they were going, they apologised again, but they had worked very hard so I gave them £100, as I felt a bit guilty.
The moral of the story is always check and double check what the job is BEFORE you start work.
That was a good save. Many people would have stamped and shouted and taken them to court etc.
I once had a carpet chap come in to measure up for a new carpet - 25' long room. Two weeks later his fitter arrived with the carpet; we unrolled it - and it was only 23' 6" long... Fitter rings his boss, hands me the phone, boss says we can either get a new piece of carpet, or make a join and knock £100 off. As the offending end was under a desk I took the £100 discount and everyone was happy
I once had a carpet chap come in to measure up for a new carpet - 25' long room. Two weeks later his fitter arrived with the carpet; we unrolled it - and it was only 23' 6" long... Fitter rings his boss, hands me the phone, boss says we can either get a new piece of carpet, or make a join and knock £100 off. As the offending end was under a desk I took the £100 discount and everyone was happy
Wacky Racer said:
I said, "Right, you know what to do, I'll leave you to get on with it" and went in another room,
You live and learn, and having had our house and extended and refurbed a couple of years ago, I quickly learned that if there's anything non-standard (which in itself is open to intrepretation) being done then you have to explain it to everyone on site. Even then it still goes wrong - my wife cried when the specially sourced white oak staircase was stained dark. The decorator was furious too - he felt it hadn't been explained properly by either us or the boss builder.
Whole thing strikes me as unnecessary- once a carpet has been fitted it usually stays fitting.
At least every time I've removed a carpet for decorating both the lifting and refitting have been trivial. Not even a need for a stretcher as it usually stays stretched after it goes in the first time.
At least every time I've removed a carpet for decorating both the lifting and refitting have been trivial. Not even a need for a stretcher as it usually stays stretched after it goes in the first time.
muscatdxb said:
Is it even possible to lift and relay a carpet? I suspect the end result would look substandard?
How complicated do you think it is? Most of the effort is in making it the right size and shape in the first place, one it's gone in once it'll do it again with a fraction of the effort.Sheepshanks said:
Even then it still goes wrong - my wife cried when the specially sourced white oak staircase was stained dark. The decorator was furious too - he felt it hadn't been explained properly by either us or the boss builder.
When I was renovating my house in Bulgaria, The downstairs is about 100m2 open plan lounge /kitchen/diner , with a hallway /bathroom seperated by double doors. I wanted underfloor heating with a stone floor. I really like old flagstone flooring , but this wasnt readily available.
I found an underfloor heating expert ,explained that i wanted heating throughout the ground floor, open plan room /hallway and bathroom.
I then went direct to the quarry and ordered 130m2 of big flat stones ,which they had to hack out of the mountain especially for me.
I had to come back to uk for a few weeks , I then returned to see the progress .
The underfloor heating guy had only done the open plan lounge . He explained that I didnt need it in the hallway, bathroom as I dont spend any time in there. , This annoyed me but as the screed was completed and the stone floor started. I had to put in radiators
But the stone flooring was devastating. The big stones were no more. The truck craned the stone onto my driveway and the workers proceeded to break the stones into small pieces to move them into the back garden before laying them. . The job was 80% complete when i returned.
What is unbelievable is that the foreman explained to me we would have to go direct to the quarry for the stones . He came with me to order them and organised the transport.
When people first see my house they all say I love your floor... I feel the anger rise up , make an excuse and leave the room before I go on a expletive landen rant.
I understand that things can be lost in translation etc, but the foreman is a natural english speaker, and sourcing the stones delayed the job for 2 weeks , so even the guys laying the floor knew I was getting special stones.
I found an underfloor heating expert ,explained that i wanted heating throughout the ground floor, open plan room /hallway and bathroom.
I then went direct to the quarry and ordered 130m2 of big flat stones ,which they had to hack out of the mountain especially for me.
I had to come back to uk for a few weeks , I then returned to see the progress .
The underfloor heating guy had only done the open plan lounge . He explained that I didnt need it in the hallway, bathroom as I dont spend any time in there. , This annoyed me but as the screed was completed and the stone floor started. I had to put in radiators
But the stone flooring was devastating. The big stones were no more. The truck craned the stone onto my driveway and the workers proceeded to break the stones into small pieces to move them into the back garden before laying them. . The job was 80% complete when i returned.
What is unbelievable is that the foreman explained to me we would have to go direct to the quarry for the stones . He came with me to order them and organised the transport.
When people first see my house they all say I love your floor... I feel the anger rise up , make an excuse and leave the room before I go on a expletive landen rant.
I understand that things can be lost in translation etc, but the foreman is a natural english speaker, and sourcing the stones delayed the job for 2 weeks , so even the guys laying the floor knew I was getting special stones.
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