Does Price Matter?
The owners of this rental house below, contacted me to inspect work done 2 years ago by another house-restumping contractor. The tenants complained about doors and windows jamming and big gaps between the house and tops of the concrete stumps. The owners had paid for a full house restump. They felt the job was not done properly and felt they got “ripped off”. They did!
The owners tried to contact the original contractor to come back and fix the job with no success. I was contracted to fix the problem at the owner’s cost, which meant he had to pay for the job a second time. No one should have to do this if the job is done the right way, the first time round.
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- I found that the whole building had sunk out of level and the tops of what was to be new concrete stumps were in fact the old concrete stumps – only packed on top (and not very well I may add).
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- What new concrete stumps that the original contractor put in, had no concrete base under them but only a couple of house bricks as a foundation – causing stumps to sink 75 mm!
Note in the next photos when the concrete stumps were pulled out, there was no concrete base under the stumps or around the stumps, for if there were you would see a solid square concrete block around the base of the stumps and up the side of the stumps. Also note how deep the stumps were in the ground? By the dirt marks on them; 300 mm in depth only…That is only 12 inches deep not as deep as they should have been.
Would you like to know or see this after paying good money to have your home re-stumped only to have the job done over again? I would not like to pay twice for a job to be done a second time.
Note the timber on the side of the stump where it was allowed to touch the ground? In fact, it was only 75 mm into the ground, allowing termites (white ants) access to the timber to further cause more problems for the owners.
The cheapest price is not always the best price. Don’t make the mistake of having to pay to re-do a job because it was not done right the first time.
Do not ever think that if a contractor is five hundred or even a thousand dollars more expensive in price to the next, that you are being ripped off – for that is not the case: Quality is not cheap and it does cost money to do an honest & properjob.
The Palframan family have been in the house restumping trade for 61 years. If we cut corners we would not have been around as long as we have, nor would we have the reputation that we built. We submit a fair price to do a good job and we have never had a call back in 61 YEARS.
