Tradie chipped facade wall concrete while drilling

DevD on 13/10/2021 - 19:12
Last edited 13/10/2021 - 21:09

Hey guys, hoping for some advice.
I got a tradie do facade light installation. When drilling hole into the facade wall, fairly big round chunk(probably diameter of a small orange) got chipped. On top of that the light I got him to install is quite slim, so the chipped area is very noticeable.

He is suggesting applying a super glue and saying he will try to fix, but I don't think that will work and afraid he may leave it with without properly fixing it.

When I saw some YT videos on how to fix it, people have cleaned the concrete then applied liquid concrete, let it dry and then probably colour it. I don't think this tradie will go to that length.

What can I do in this case to ensure he fixes it properly so that its either not visible or comes up with any other workaround?

Update: So far, he has basically applied the chipped part back on the wall using silicone, so its ok but not fully fixed. I paid him a little less than what we had agreed. I told him I would pay rest later once he gets its fixed with the help of the other tradie friend. But he seems like a genuine guy and not someone who is dodgy or would cheat. So I have no complains.

Home & Garden

Comments

  • Presence on 13/10/2021 - 19:18

    What material is the wall?

    Did his quote have T&Cs about damage like this?

    Have you paid him?

    • DevD on 13/10/2021 - 19:26

      It's concrete.

      Quote was just over text and it wasn't to this level of detail. Just labour and item cost. He came through another tradie who I know well but isn't an electrician.

      Not paid yet.

      It seems his helper is using silicone to stick the chipped area back to its place. Its looking ok so far but not great. Even if it seems fixed, do u think it will stay proper in the long term?

      • Presence on 13/10/2021 - 19:27

        Is it truly solid concrete or rendered?

        • DevD on 13/10/2021 - 19:34

          My understanding of that is not great so cant say what kind of concrete exactly it is but I just googled these two and it seems its rendered

  • Ocker on 13/10/2021 - 19:20

    Don't pay the tradie

  • [Deactivated] on 13/10/2021 - 19:38

    What did they say when you spoke to them about it?

    • poboy on 13/10/2021 - 20:45
      +1

      "Yeah mate, I know it doesn't look perfect. But trust me, the finish comes good in a few weeks, you won't even notice. You have cash, yeah?"

      • Jimothy Wongingtons on 13/10/2021 - 20:55
        +3

        Will he settle for a pack of darts and a farmers union iced coffee?

    • DevD on 13/10/2021 - 21:05

      He said, it wasn't something under his control. When they use the hammer drill, it shakes alot so thats what caused it, but it didnt happen on the other side

      • apsilon on 13/10/2021 - 21:09
        +5

        This is correct and actually very common on render, especially if it hasn't been applied correctly.

    • franks on 14/10/2021 - 17:59

      “Looks good from my house”

  • bradl822 on 13/10/2021 - 20:02
    +3

    Photos?

    If it's rendered then it could happen very easily, especially if not applied properly originally.

    I would see how the repair looks then go from there.

    • FLICKIT on 13/10/2021 - 20:41

      Yep, we need photos….

    • DevD on 13/10/2021 - 21:10

      I didn't take any today, but will post tomorrow.

  • brendanm on 13/10/2021 - 21:03
    +2

    Sounds like he is drilling into render that was poorly applied.

    • SF3 on 13/10/2021 - 22:06

      OP should go after the builder in that case.

  • MrFrugalSpend on 14/10/2021 - 03:33

    Welcome to the world of all things tradies these hectic days.
    It's painful even where good intentions then becomes an awkward discussion about cost of repair.

    E.g. a scenario I had:
    To Tradie A: "make sure you put something down on the floor to avoid damaging it when moving that in" (points to large / heavy piece of equipment)…
    Response from Tradie A: "oh no, it will be all good, we have a trolley which has soft tyres, if I use that it won't damage it and if it leaves rubber marks I will clean them".
    < 1 hour later Tradie B (his colleague) starts the job without talking to / following Tradie A's plan, does moving job without soft tyre trolley and causes significant damage to floor with bad scuffs and scratches over a large area. It can't be repaired easily as it won't match the rest of floor, a very large floor area would have to be repaired to match.

    Awkward conversation ensues with Tradie B where he believes it was unforseeable / unavoidable if I wanted the job done asap that day… despite being foreseen by me and a plan to avoid it developed by his colleague….. Good guys, good intentions, but that sort of thing is unfortunately all too common when they are rushing to get their job done, meet their commitments and earn a living without taking too long. Then you end up with a conflict you don't want to have because they otherwise did a good job and deserve to be paid…. but you are out of pocket as a result of them not taking the extra time / precautions (if you repair the workmanship or damage instead of putting up with it) … however they believe if they quoted you the extra to take more time to be careful they wouldn't get the jobs. Maybe that's true and therein lies the dilemma - depending on the engagement, sometimes the person commissioning the work does need to cop some damage if their expectation is low price = time driven.

    It comes back to the old adage: "There's never time to do it right…. but there's always time to do it over"

    • ShannonN on 14/10/2021 - 10:29

      and did Tradie A cover the repair and sack Tradie B

  • singlemalt72 on 14/10/2021 - 07:08
    +1

    An adhesive is fine, but not superglue. I would go bondcrete layer then a suitable adhesive for masonry.

  • JimB on 14/10/2021 - 09:34

    These things happen and it may be unavoidable as the render itself isn't stuck on properly for whatever reason.

    It's the same reason why you see some houses have render that falls off (without impact).

    Yes, the drilling caused the render to break off but if the render was stuck on properly, it wouldn't have broken off in a chunk.

    • resisting the urge on 14/10/2021 - 11:53

      Only possibly. At the end of the day, the hammer or drilling action is what caused the entrance to the hole to end up the size of an orange instead of the desired diameter.

      Sure render fail because of the backing, or the application, vibration, wear and so on.

      However the amount of pressure/speed/violence endured by the concrete render was entirely under the control of the tradie. Taking a bit of care in how the tool was applied, and a few minutes longer to make the hole, may well have been all that was required.

      @JimB as you suggest, of course, it may have been ultimately inevitable.

      Either way, if the tool induced any undue violence during the job, this was the result of the tradie. There's is always a way to do it well, a way to do it badly. And in this case, a onus to make a neat repair :-(

      • JimB on 14/10/2021 - 14:01
        +1

        Unfortunately it's one of those things that you can't predict the outcome or prove even if you are careful.

        • resisting the urge on 14/10/2021 - 15:20

          Agreed. But for every 5 jobs done on any particular site, there is seldom more than 1 done well. Exactly how that translates into neat-edged holes however… who knows

          If I had a dollar for the amount of times I used to hear 'don't wreck my bloody [tool]' screamed at both apprentices and tradies alike, before the day finally came that everyone got their own :-)

  • weezlebub on 15/10/2021 - 10:36

    Old rendered concrete can just chip and fall away, but because it's concrete, you still need to use a hammer / masonry drill to get through …

    Even the most qualified person will have difficulty not doing damage if it's old …

    If the guy is a sparkie, he's about as qualified as you to fix it …

    liquid nails & some tile grout that's a close colour should do the job!

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