What to do When Contractor Run Away

My contractor stopped all the work at the end of the March 2016 without completing renovating my house. Although, I already made 95% payment, the contractor refused to continue to do the work. Below are some of the pictures of the works were done:

Outside drain was not built

 

Balcony glass walls were not installed

Windows' frame and windows at the top were not installed

Top windows' frame and windows were not installed

Top balcony was a mess. The extension was not done properly.

The kitchen door was not installed

The ground floor window was not installed

Kitchen was not completed

My neighbour add his wall at the last moment. My contractor have to add the wall to the edge of the roof's slab.

When I asked for 3rd party opinion, most of them estimate, only 70% of the works were done. This means I was cheated 25% of the contract value.

If you are in my situation, what will you do?

New House Renovation Part 5 - Man Versus Machine

This is the current 5th week work in progress:

     While the top floor support was almost completed, I discussed with my contractor how much it takes if I extended the balcony to almost the front of my house? But, the extended balcony should be in lesser width than the one already prepared. After considering the price and benefit to build the balcony extension now, I decided to do so. Thus, for a couple of days, my contractor has to extend the stagings and support woods.

     My contractor prefers to use a pre-order cement than mixing the cement manually. His justification is a pre-order cement has a better consistency, guaranteed quality, saves time and does not over burden his workers. If he uses manual technique to mix the cement, he may need a week to complete the task. Whereas, he can complete the task in half a day by using pre-order cement. The initial capital looks a lot. But, after careful calculation, it is more profitable to use pre-order cement. In order to use a pre-order cement, he must order the cement using an automated lorry cement and also a crane to lift the cement to the top of the building. In addition, any cement residue must be properly thrown away.

    The poured cement is manually flatten. While the edge of the new floor and the poked wall is carefully filled with the cement. You have to use "Phua Chu Kang" shoes to work inside the wet cement. Or else, you clothes and feet will be damaged or injured.

Top left is the balcony extension to the front

     After completing the flatten process, we can see the reflection on the surface. Cement is a lot heavier than water. As a result, the water inside the cement will be pushed out or up to the surface. You can also see at the top left, the dummy wall was broken. It is a dummy because it serve no other purpose than ecstatic viewing. In side the dummy wall, it is only filled with polystyrene.

     The contractor of my neighbor house was lucky to have my contractor assistance to pour the remaining cement to my neighbor house. My neighbor want to prepare a lot of parking space for the house residences. This is because there will be many families living in the same house.

     After some time, the higher density cement will force the water out from the wet cement. The worker wash the wall to prevent any residue from attaching to the walls.

     The surface looks like a shining floor because the water is forced out from the cement.

New House Renovation Part 4

These are the 4th week work in progress:

Most of the work still concentrated on the ground floor especially the kitchen. The side balcony is to be extended to that it is at the same with with the kitchen. The extended space will be an open air space. My new home has quite a strong wind flow either in the morning or afternoon. Thus, the open space will take advantage of this wind condition. My wife plan, the open space will be the 2nd place for dining.

Viewing from 45 degrees angle

 

                        From side view

 

The side view of the kitchen

 














Looking to the front from the back area

     My neighbor at the front of my house is also undergoing extensive renovation. The house to be extended by about ten feet from front to the back of the house, ground and top floor. He is a Chinese. He hope to be able to move in before Chinese New Year.

 

The pole idea is from my contractor.

     Meanwhile, I don't want to wait for the renovation to be completed before I do something more to my new home. So, I decided to plant banana trees: lemak manis, emas and kapas. As per expected, when I dug the soil, there were many small stones which must be eliminated. The holes were refilled with better soil before the banana trees can be planted. I enjoyed plating trees. It is good for both mental and physical. In addition, the fruits can be consumed without any chemical additive.

     During this week, my contractor had also prepared to build the top floor. They are using the stagings to support the woods which will contain the concrete. The process is not easy as it seems. A careful craftsmanship will ensure there will be no damage to the structure to be built and existing structure.

 

     The woods must be arranged tightly so that the concrete will not sip through the woods. The woods must be supported with enough strength from the staging to ensure the woods will not break. All the woods must be carefully nailed to ensure sufficient strength.

  

     Beams were constructed to strengthen the floor. The beams at the back of the first floor at the boarder to my neighbor house. There are two beams because there will be a special space at the back of the new room.

     The new room at the top floor is not connected to the existing balcony. This is to ensure the existing room can still have a window. Originally the existing room have two windows. One of the windows will be sealed with the new room's wall.

 

     The existing side balcony will be extended to be at the same width of the new room.

 

     Steel rods about 1 cm diameter is used to strengthen the concrete. These steel rods will be arranged in parallel at about 1 feet distance to each other. The most critical part is some of the rods' tip must be connected to the steel rod in the existing building. Thus, they have to carefully find the steel rod in the existing building by poking several holes. The new rod will be clipped to the found steel rods. This is very important to ensure the floor to be built must have a strong support from the existing building.

 

     The clipping or rods is critical especially where the beam will be built. The poked holes will be cemented by the concrete later on.

 

The beam at the edge of the new balcony

     The work in progress is getting exciting. I often visit the site to learn more about the development process.