Unscrupulous apartment repairmen. Divorce in your own apartment. How do they cheat when renovating a home? Underestimated estimate at the initial stage of repair and finishing works
Having decided to make repairs in your apartment, it is worth delving into the features of this process so as not to become a victim of deception.
If you do not have proven specialists in repair and decoration, then it is all the more worthwhile to sort out these issues.
It is important to understand that you should not go too far with control. Not all builders are scammers. If negotiating with apartment renovation specialists, they raise doubts in you, it is better to spend time looking for other specialists.
And now we will consider the main types of deception of customers by negligent builders.
Underestimated estimate at the initial stage of repair and finishing works
The scheme of deception is very simple. Estimate for repairs. In this estimate, everything is painted in detail, it will be on several sheets. An ordinary person does not delve into all the points, but looks at the final amount. And it will be significantly lower than that of competitors.
And the essence of the deception is that the estimate is drawn up according to a standard project. That is, in a typical project there are 10 pieces of sockets, and in your apartment there are 40 of them. And in the estimate, the price for one outlet will be much higher than the average market. After all, you looked at the total amount, but this amount is for 10 sockets. And under the contract, you will have to pay much more, because you need 40 outlets, not 10, respectively, the price increases by 4 times. And so with many clauses in the contract. And it's all completely legal.
And when the client begins to understand what situation he is in, it becomes too late, since they have already taken an advance payment for their work. And by terminating the contract, he loses the advance payment.
Deception when supplying an object
When hiring a team of builders or a construction company, not everyone wants to go shopping for building materials. Someone simply does not have time for this or it is difficult to navigate in a huge range of finishing materials.
Almost all teams and companies are happy to take over the supply and delivery of finishing materials. The positives about this:
- Builders know better than you where and at what price they sell building materials and what quality they are.
- You save your time.
- Builders doing repairs in your home may have individual discounts.
But how do you know how much money you need Decoration Materials? The standard scheme is usually like this, you give money, and they give you checks for the material spent. Everything seems to be simple. But do not relax, take the supply into your own hands for many negligent builders, this is a way of cheating you on buying material.
But how do you get checks for money spent? Having acquaintances in the construction markets, you can easily make sales receipts for any amount and write any product you like.
In stores when buying building materials issue a cashier's check and you can ask for a copy of the check. A copy of the check can be given to you, and a certain amount of building materials can be returned using a cashier's check. But in many stores, after returning the purchase, the check is left to the buyer.
It is very easy to check whether the return was by check, you need to come to the store and ask to see if there was a return by check.
To reduce the chances of cheating when supplying your apartment, you can have your builders make a list for you necessary materials. Come to the site at different times. But before that, take an interest in the schedule of work. Try to understand why and how much you need. Feel free to ask questions.
It is worth paying attention to the required amount of material, it can be bought with a surplus. And then, not by cunning actions, these surpluses will be turned into money. You can fight this by demanding that putty bags, paint cans, etc. be left behind. Of course, they can bring empty bags from another facility. But you can write the lot number on the bags, most likely it will not match with the bags brought from under the putty from another object. This may not save you 100%, but it will significantly reduce the possibility of theft of building materials from your apartment.
When choosing contractors for your repair, immediately cut off those who do not immediately say the price, referring to the fact that they need to look at the object. (In other words, he wants to look at you and decide how much you can put on shoes.)
A good specialist will even tell you on the phone how much his services will cost.
You should not contact those gentlemen who have the same prices on the site, and when they come to measure, they rise for some reason. You have not started working with them, and they are already fooling you! So what else can you expect from them.
When negotiating to renovate your apartment, demand the final price, and if you are told that the price may increase, demand an explanation of why this might happen. It will not be superfluous for the contractor to make a list with the necessary material.
In general, be vigilant, but do not become paranoid.
One of Murphy's laws says: "Usually, only after work we understand where it should have started." Not so long ago, we came across an interesting selection: ordinary people who made repairs on their own share their recommendations and various mistakes that they made in the process. All comments are based solely on personal experience and express the personal opinion of people who survived the repair.
We are sure that after reading the selection, you will be able to avoid many common mistakes when renovating your apartment.
"So, what I would never repeat if I started a renovation again:
1. Linoleum is terrible, and whitewashing ceilings is doubly stupid.
2. I don't trust my wife with repairs. Let her do it under the guidance of a designer. And then most of the apartments of my friends are no different from each other - they copy each other where necessary and not necessary.
3. In the kitchen, it is better to provide a box for a corrugated hood.
4. I will never share a kitchen cutting area with a hob!
5. I will never use carpet!
6. Never hang kitchen top cabinets above eye line!
7. I would not put laminate in the kitchen or parquet board. The first leak - and everything was swollen ...
8. In vain put kitchen furniture along the entire wall in a rectangular kitchen, it is much more convenient to place it at an angle.
9. I will not save on plumbing and tiles: then it will look miserable for several years, but you will not begin to redo it.
10. In vain they made a small dressing room so that more space was left in the room. These half a meter will not save the room, and when the dressing room is packed, you can’t build another one.
11. Based on the stuffed cones, I would never do the wiring of electricity around the apartment without first making a plan for arranging the furniture.
12. Lots of open shelves with lots of souvenirs. This is a real dust collector!
13. Do not install floor sockets. It is very inconvenient, constantly open, dust accumulates and it is impossible to clean the floor normally.
14. Do not forget to install sockets right in the bathroom for a hairdryer, an electric manicure set and a razor. You can have one, but then choose a mirror, which also has built-in sockets in the manner of an extension cord.
15. Provide rheostats (dimmers) in the child's bedroom so that the light does not turn on abruptly, but slowly.
16. Make a warm floor. In principle, at first you can not even turn it on, but it’s better to do it right away.
17. Halogen bulbs are better to choose with an angle of inclination, and not rigidly fixed.
18. If the wiring is old, completely replace it. By the way, it would be nice to write down (or photograph with measurements) its location, otherwise you won’t get into the wiring later.
19. Provide an entrance to the apartment for all possible cables (wide cable channel).
20. Switches are all "euro" (at a height of 80-90 cm) - so that children can turn on the light without jumping.
21. Light and socket on the balcony just in case.
22. Illumination in the kitchen above the work surface (built-in lights in the kitchen canopy - it's beautiful, but not functional).
23. Use two switches / switches - at the entrance and by the bed in the bedroom, so as not to get out of bed, wanting to turn off the light. The same goes for the long corridor.
24. The floors are always warm with a timer, otherwise if you turn it on in the morning, it warms up in 2 hours.
25. Choose a place for the counter in advance. And then the hallway is now not properly attached. The counter hangs unsuccessfully, and it’s scary to drill a wall above it - wires.
26. Doors with a glass insert did not like it: if a child falls asleep in the room, the light in the corridor shines.
27. Near hot surfaces should be placed refractory materials. We have polypropylene trim near the chimney of glass on the wall - it has melted.
28. Batteries do not need to be sewn up too tightly, you need to leave access to their overlap.
29. If you're going to build custom built-in wardrobes or chests of drawers, be sure to level the walls!
30. It is necessary to think over the little things in advance. After the repair, we bought an 80-liter water heater, decided to install it in the toilet, we needed an outlet - we had to ditch the new wallpaper.
31. When installing the bathroom, borders were not placed on the wall where it joins the tiles, but simply rubbed silicone sealant… Bottom line: there is always water in the corners.
32. We have very beautiful Spanish tiles in our kitchen, one minus is very deep chamfers, where any dirt quickly accumulates and is poorly washed out. It was necessary to choose absolutely even, but not glossy, and so that there were almost no chamfers.
33. Sockets are a problem. They need much more than it seems, especially in the kitchen. Better not single, but double: the price is the same, but then you will not get enough.
34. When installing the bath, make sure that the bowl is tilted towards the drain, otherwise the water almost does not go out if the bath is leveled.
35. Don't forget the towel warmer!
36. Very noisy sewage pipe when the upstairs neighbors use the toilet. Everyone is good plastic pipes, but they make a lot of noise, so do soundproofing - wrap the pipe with something.
37. Stretch ceilings are great! Do it all at once to the whole apartment and bargain in the company where you will order.
38. I would never make a corner dryer in the kitchen - very inconvenient.
39. Do not use white grout for tiles in the kitchen - it will look dirty.
40. Heated floors wherever there are tiles are a must.
41. When installed interior doors, it didn’t even occur to me that the switch should be next to the handle that opens the door. And we hung them so that the switch was on the side of the hinges.
42. If there is any space you can donate to a storage room, do it! Vacuum cleaners, rollers, sleds, skis, Christmas toys, mops, basins, buckets, Appliances, which we do not use every day - everything is there.
43. We have dark merbau parquet. Looks very nice, but dark floor, especially on a sunny day, every speck of dust is visible, so you have to clean it every day.
44. In the toilet, bathroom (and wherever there is a lot of moisture) you definitely need stretch ceiling. It’s beautiful, nothing swells, doesn’t fall off, but the most important thing is that if your neighbors flooded you, the water does not spread widely around your apartment, but collects in this very ceiling. Saved us 2 times already. Then the masters were called, they removed part of the ceiling, drained the water and installed it back.
45. In the bathroom, sockets must be waterproof (with a cap) - washing machine, hair dryer, shaver and electric Toothbrush are simply vital.
46. Need a forced exhaust in the bathroom.
47. Make hidden places for storage (for example, buckets, rags, chemicals and other household items).
48. I would fork out for a designer to see the whole picture at once! A lot of things I don't like because of the ill-conceived.
49. Door handles with sharp corners - from time to time someone touches them with a hand or something else, it hurts and the clothes are torn.
50. I will never stick “fluffy” wallpapers in the nursery that can be torn off in the process of falling asleep. Children pick their fingers there all the time - they have already stripped everything near the bed.
51. All exact dimensions I would have known the furniture before the renovation. In the kitchen, the sofa we want to buy has a back height of 90 cm - the sconce switch starts at a height of 86 cm. It hit the back.
53. We've been through overhaul and realized that the most important thing is not to save on materials: wallpaper, paint, glue - everything must be of good quality!
54. I have a lot of bad moments in the kitchen. For example, a small sink made of porcelain stoneware: now I have a mountain of dishes next to it waiting in line for the dishwasher. I ordered few sliding mechanisms - it seemed expensive, but it had to be done. In vain I ordered translucent glass doors - you can see everything that lies on the shelves."
A brief summary of this long list
- Think carefully in advance, if possible, create a full-fledged design project, including plans for electricians, sockets, underfloor heating, and furniture placement.
- Don't save on quality materials and plumbing - the difference will be noticeable.
- The secret to creating a functional and comfortable interior: underfloor heating, a large number of outlets and storage space.
The foreman, who organized more than 400 successful repairs in Moscow, spoke about how to distinguish bad workers from monstrous ones. Either way, you will be deceived. But losses can be minimized.
1. The workers will beg you to trust them with the purchase of all materials.
Don't agree. Otherwise, the cost of a bag of cement will be comparable to the annual budget of Côte d'Ivoire.Counter attack
Buy all materials yourself. As a last resort, go on a tour of the construction markets or on the Internet, where you can always find not only the best prices, but also approximate estimates. Remember prices and repeat when communicating with workers as a protective mantra.2. The workers don't have tools and they say you need to buy them yourself.
Counter attack
You can just send them away. It is not necessary to beat for an attempt at brazen extortion.3. Often workers are asked to live in a renovated apartment.
At the same time, they have a very Samaritan character and are happy to make repairs at your neighbors, in the neighboring area, and generally anywhere but not at your place. And do not be surprised if, suddenly arriving at the apartment, you find a worker's mother there, who is very harmful to the climate of Azerbaijan. And in the telephone bills after the departure of the workers, strange unfamiliar codes and four-digit sums in rubles will suddenly appear.Counter attack
Call the PBX in advance and ask them to block the G8. And no permanent residence - let them work under your supervision. Even if it is only two or three hours a day, the repair will not last long.4. Workers can name unrealistically compressed or unrealistically inflated repair deadlines.
In the first case, speed increases at the expense of quality. The second means that the workers have a lot of orders besides yours, so the repairs will be carried out in their free time and from the remnants of building materials.Counter attack
For repairs one-room apartment an area of about 20 sq. m. for a team of three people should take about two weeks. Example: three bedroom apartment 80 sq. m., in 2 months - the repair began from the pre-finishing finish (the walls were plastered, the floors were leveled), 3-4 people worked (personal experience).5. Most brigades work according to the principle "We don't live here."
Sockets can be glued to the wallpaper, forgetting to bring electricity to them, and pipes made of cheap plastic can be walled up in the walls.Counter attack
Control the process at all stages, especially when laying hidden communications. Otherwise, you will have to pay for repairs and neighbors. Record all expenses. Don't pay all at once, pay in installments. And sign a contract with the workers, according to which they are obliged to compensate you for all delays and damages. Of course, you won't get any money back from them. You just pay less than you promised.Remember the three basic words: level, slope and plumb. Eating any of them with a serious expression on the face makes the builders feel guilty and want to sink into the ground. For they, as a rule, do not have a level and a plumb line, therefore the slopes turn out to be crooked.
This is a terrible word "repair"... The foreman Alexander Veselov, who organized more than 400 successful repairs in Moscow, spoke about how to distinguish bad workers from monstrous ones.
1 The workers will beg you to trust them with the purchase of all materials. Don't agree. Otherwise, the cost of a bag of cement will be comparable to the annual budget of Côte d'Ivoire.
Counter attack
Buy all materials yourself. As a last resort, go on a tour of the construction markets or on the Internet, where you can always find not only the best prices, but also approximate estimates. Remember prices and repeat when communicating with workers as a protective mantra.
The workers don't have the tools and they say you have to buy them yourself.
Counter attack
You can just send them away. It is not necessary to beat for an attempt at brazen extortion.
Often workers are asked to live in a renovated apartment. At the same time, they have a very Samaritan character and are happy to make repairs at your neighbors, in the neighboring area, and generally anywhere but not at your place. And do not be surprised if, suddenly arriving at the apartment, you find a worker's mother there, who is very harmful to the climate of Azerbaijan. And in the telephone bills after the departure of the workers, strange unfamiliar codes and four-digit sums in rubles will suddenly appear.
Counter attack
Call the ATS in advance and ask them to block the G8. And no permanent residence - let them work under your supervision. Even if it's only two or three hours a day, the repair won't last long.
Workers can name unrealistically compressed or unrealistically inflated repair terms. In the first case, speed increases at the expense of quality. The second means that the workers have a lot of orders besides yours, so the repairs will be carried out in their free time and from the remnants of building materials.
Counter attack
For the repair of a one-room apartment with an area of about 20 square meters. m, a team of three people should take a week.
Most of the brigades work on the principle of "we don't live here." Sockets can be glued to the wallpaper, forgetting to bring electricity to them, and pipes made of cheap plastic can be walled up in the walls.
Counter attack
Control the process at all stages, especially when laying hidden communications. Otherwise, you will have to pay for repairs and neighbors.
All terms and prices multiply by two. Three is better. Record all expenses. Don't pay all at once, pay in installments. And sign a contract with the workers, according to which they are obliged to compensate you for all delays and damages. Of course, you won't get any money back from them. You just pay less than you promised.
Glossary
Remember the three basic words: level, slope and plumb. Eating any of them with a serious expression on the face makes the builders feel guilty and want to sink into the ground. For they, as a rule, do not have a level and a plumb line, therefore the slopes turn out to be crooked.
Recently, complaints from customers about deception in the repair of apartments by unscrupulous competitors have become more frequent. There are several ways to cheat customers. Let's consider the main ones.
Method one is a scam
The construction team takes an advance payment from the Customer and simply hides, turning off the phones or changing mobile numbers and one-day websites. Those. the brigade was not initially going to fulfill its obligations under the contract, which is an ordinary fraud.
If you are not sure about the reputation of the Company, do not pay advances for work. It is normal practice to pay for work upon completion. Prepayment is possible only for materials.
In the Fundamental Group of Companies, payment for both the development of a design project and repair and construction work is made upon completion and acceptance by the Customer of each stage. As an exception, for Customers who are confident in Fundament Group, a bonus of 10% discount is provided for full prepayment and trust in the Company.
According to the statistics of Fundament Group of Companies, only 45% of Customers are ready to pay the entire amount at once.
The second way is not professionalism
Having taken an advance payment from the Customer, the team performs the work of poor quality and unprofessionally, which leads to the termination of the contract with this team, and not small funds have already been spent on materials.
As statistics show, such companies do not return advances and do not compensate for damaged materials. On the contrary, constant threats against the Customer begin.
If, nevertheless, you are ready to pay an advance, but you are working with the Company for the first time, then you do not need to pay large amounts. Let there be several small advances for 20-50 thousand rubles. After the workers complete the work for the advance amount, the next small payment is made, and so on.
Fundamental Group of Companies does not work with partial advance payments at all.
Method three - low wages for workers
Having lured the Customer with a low cost, an unscrupulous company hires unskilled workers who are not able to perform quality repair. At the same time, most often the workers simply live free of charge in the Customer's apartment, and carry out repairs somewhere in neighboring apartments. As a result, the customer loses both time and money.
If the company offers a low cost repair, ask the company how many workers will be doing the repair and how long it will take to complete the entire repair.
If you are offered to renovate an apartment of 80 sq.m. with a guarantee from the Company for only 5000 rubles. per sq.m. - this is a reason to be wary and take a calculator. The company usually pays workers between 50% and 70% of the cost of the work. The rest of the money goes to managers, foremen, etc. Even if you count to the maximum, then 70% of 400 thousand rubles is 280 thousand rubles. Repair in compliance with all technologies will be carried out for about 3 months by a team of three people. In total, each worker will earn an average of 31 thousand rubles per month. Given the fact that it is rare that small companies can afford to pay 70% of a contract to workers, the real wage will be significantly less. The qualifications of the workers and the quality of the repairs performed will be appropriate.
Remember that for the 4th quarter of 2013 the minimum wage of a skilled worker cannot be less than 50-60 thousand rubles. per month.
Method four - extortion of money
After signing the contract, the foreman begins to extort money from the customer - for food or travel for workers, for tools, for consumables, etc. As practice shows, repairs with such teams do not end up to the end.
If the contract has already been concluded and such conversations begin, we recommend immediately terminating such contracts, and if they refuse to return the advance, write a statement to the police on the fact of fraud and extortion.
In the Fundamental Group of Companies, foremen are generally forbidden to take cash from customers. All payments are made according to payment documents at the office or through a bank.
Method five - subcontractors
The repair contract indicates a completely different company, not the one indicated in the name of the official website. Most often, this is simply a subcontractor, to whom the Customer was transferred for a fee (or “kickback”). This subcontractor has nothing to do with the company listed on the site and the photographs of the work published on the site.
In the case of poor-quality repairs or damaged materials, it will be impossible to find the culprit, because. legally the contract is concluded not clear with whom.
Before the conclusion of the contract, it does not hurt to visit the office of the Company, the address of which is indicated on the website, to see who works in it and whether it works at all, or all employees are subcontracted. It is better to come to the office without a preliminary call - this will allow you to see the real office of the company "without cuts".
Often it is written on the site that visiting the office by appointment - this rather means that, at best, 1-2 people work in the office, who can go to lunch, and at worst, the office will be rented for an hour especially for a "performance" for your parish.
Foundation Group of Companies is located in a large and bright office in the center of Moscow, where you can come at any working time without warning and see most of the working employees. Pre-registration is required only for visits on weekends and public holidays.
Method six - underestimation of the cost
This is the most popular and relatively legal way to deceive Customers.
Often for Customers when choosing a Contractor, the key factor is not the reputation and name of the Company, but repair price. This is most often used by unscrupulous builders.
When concluding a contract, unscrupulous builders deliberately underestimate the cost of work and materials according to the estimate, so that the choice of the Contractor falls on their Company. And after the conclusion of the contract and the completion of part of the work, it turns out that the estimate does not contain a large number of necessary and very expensive works or materials for which you need to pay extra. As statistics and customer reviews show, the final cost of repairs upon completion increases several times.
Difficult to prevent for non-experts this method fraud and the best way to prevent it is to contact a large Company with a name.
On the website of the Fundament Group of Companies, how to choose the right designer or construction company and don't fall for the scammers.
Contact the Foundation!
