Ive been caught out a few times when ive gone in to pull up an old floor and theres something under there not expected. Today it was 4 rows of laminate that had been gripfilled to the ceramic floor underneath. Rest of the floor was ok, but those rows took some getting up. I should of known something was wrong when the guy told me he did it himself and it was a rite bodge job
In every quote and order confirmation we send out it states - and not in the small print! - that before the installation takes place the existing floor covering needs to be removed and underfloor has to be sound, dry and level. If in the event we get a surprise like this - depending of course what we find - we can then easier discuss matters with the client and where needed, in agreement, add extra works/materials to the final bill. It happens sometimes we get a panicky phone call a few days before the works start: I found this and that under my floor covering - what now? Often we can solve these problems quite easy, but the main thing is the client knows what is expected of them and don't leave things to the last minute. Communication upfront - on paper and face-to-face - prevents most real big surprises. But then again ;-) Went to start a job once (small hallway) and the client apologised for not cleaning - vacuum cleaning - the carpet that was still there! ;-)
So you dont get involved in any take up at all then. That does make sense. I always have that conversation when some1 wants wood flooring throughout the downstairs and its all carpeted. I say I can give them a quote but with out seeing under the carpet you cant tell what prep you need to do. I would say 95% of customers say to me, Im sure its very level under there.
woody, i think you are lucky with alot of the jobs you go out to. Maybe because you specialise in real wood flooring rather than carpet vinyl etc. We suffer from customers not uplifting carpets every day. We have it in writting on our quotes and we also tell the customers that they need to remove while out doing the quote. I have a checklist that i go through and write in the comments or what has been discussed with the customer and they still dont remove. We never used to have this issue but over the last maybe 10 years its getting worse and worse.
i think this must be a generation thing. I times gone past ppl would even wash the floor prior to the fitter arriving,nowadays mainily the younger ones do as little as possable, even arrivied on job the to find the weekly laundry lying all over the floor (dirty smalls every where). bedrooms still smelling of the ppl sleeping it, beds still warm, mind you have had some laughs, finding the teenagers fag stash under the cpt, or the kids porno mags (pre internet), i mean what do you do with them ,hand them over to his mother
LOL, ye once i was greeted with some home made pics (couple in there 70's) . I had to leave the job and let another one of ours lads complete the job. 1- i felt sick 2- what the hell was i going to do with these pictures? Do i give them back? Do i dump them in the rubbish? would they now think i have kept the pics? 3- i would not of been able to keep a straight face in front of the customer It was easier to leave and let the other lad deal with the situation LOL.
Many "problems" are prevented also because we deliver the wooden floor a few days (either wood-engineered or 10mm parquet) before the installation starts. Delivery is done by my partner, who also often does the fitting. During the delivery the clients are kindly reminded of removing the existing floor covering so Ton can better see how the state of the underfloor is and if further/extra materials/preparations are needed. When nothing is done yet to remove the floor covering he offers a "helping hand".
When ever I do a lounge carpet and the room is suppose to be cleared u can bet there will always be a tv and a sofa that they just couldnt move, makes me wonder how they got in there?
When nothing is done yet to remove the floor covering he offers a "helping hand". Hope you dont mean in a violent way :lol:
