Browse Forums Kitchen Corner 1 Feb 11, 2023 10:00 pm Hi guys, I am here today to seek your advice. Sorry for the long post, I wanted to give as much detail as possible to explain my problem. My home is newly built and completed in Oct 22, I moved in on 12 Oct 22. On 29 Dec 22, I noticed my kitchen cabinets warping and a bit of mould near one of the skirting boards. I suspected there is an issue and called my builder. Note we were still in the 3 month warranty period. They were all going on holidays and told me I had to wait or get a plumber to come out myself. I was hesitant as invasive works would be required to see what is going on under the cabinets and may affect my warranty with them. Anyway their plumber did come before on holidays, found that the drainage pipe of the kitchen sink was incorrectly connected to a conduit instead of sewerage. Therefore, this whole time since installation, but mainly since I started using the kitchen all the water had nowhere to go and been accumulating under the cabinets, tiles, plaster, skirting, adjacent rooms' floorboards without being detected. A horrible thing to happen to any home. The plumber rectified the pipe connections and left. I emailed the builder the next day asking for them to organise the house to be stripped and ventilated, but they said they are away and I need to wait till the 16th Jan 23. On 5th Jan 23, I organised for.a water damage restoration company to come out, at my own cost, to examine the damage, report and quote. On 16th Jan 23 I sent the report to the builder. They took a few days and asked me to start the works and to make the payments and I will get reimbursed. I declined and said no, you start the works as the house is under warranty and your plumber caused all this mess. After much back and forth, they came back later saying the plumber has decided to put an insurance claim to sort this mess. The insurer has advised plumber liability insurance takes a long time to process, and they have mentioned that I have a duty to mitigate losses and should consider stripping and ventilating and provide final amount of claim. I do not have such kind of money which is costing more than $10,000 dollars in stripping and ventilating alone. The insurer has not confirmed if they will accept liability yet want me to start the remedial works. Moreover, my house is under warranty and I really do not want to do things on my own given it can void my warranty on the house as well. The builder does not want to spend any money until the insurer has confirmed acceptance of fault. Given the house is under warranty, should the builder be starting the works? However the insurer has not directed us to do so, stating it needs to be done at my own volition and expense, as part of my duty to mitigate. If I take an example of a brand new car under warranty, but faulty, the dealer would be organising all repairs, not me. But the builder is not initiating any remediation work, and on top of that, I am the claimant on the form as I am the owner of the house, even though the builder is liable under warranty. What do I do? Re: Plumber incorrectly installed kitchen drainage pipe 2Feb 12, 2023 12:25 am Make a claim on your own home insurance for the rectification works. Your insurance company will pursue the cost from the builder and plumber's insurance. Your builder should be paying the excess as it's their responsibility. Accessible Carpentry & Cabinets accessiblecarpentry@gmail.com accessiblecarpentry.com.au https://www.facebook.com/pages/Accessible-Carpentry-Cabinets/583314911709039 Re: Plumber incorrectly installed kitchen drainage pipe 4Feb 12, 2023 6:55 am ![]() You have contract with builder, not with plumber or plumber insurance company. And does plumber insurance cover this??? Builder is responsible, period. Hi thank you for your reply. The plumber's insurance is currently assessing the claim , they have not made a decision yet. We do not even know, yet they indicated my duty to strip out the house to "mitigate losses" at my own volition and expense. I told exactly what you said to the builder, that my contract is with them not the plumber, and therefore they need to rectify and then claim whatever they need to claim from the plumber, to which they replied that the course of action they have taken is through insurance and as such i need to wait and that it is a process. I asked VBA helpline, they said the fact that something is being done (insurance process), the builder is doing "something" about it.. Re: Plumber incorrectly installed kitchen drainage pipe 5Feb 12, 2023 7:00 am ![]() Make a claim on your own home insurance for the rectification works. Your insurance company will pursue the cost from the builder and plumber's insurance. Your builder should be paying the excess as it's their responsibility. My home insurance started from when i moved in. The installation was done a long while before that. I spoke to my insurance company and they said claiming through them is not going to make the process any faster , that gradual water damage is not usually claimable, that the house is covered by warranty, and the fact that the defective installation was done before i moved in and before my cover started does not help. Given all these factors , it will be as slow as the plumber's insurance company process.. Re: Plumber incorrectly installed kitchen drainage pipe 6Feb 12, 2023 9:11 am Did you ask the VBA if they knew whether incompetent non compliant workmanship is covered by the plumber's insurance? 3in1 Supadiverta. Rainwater Harvesting Best Practice using siphonic drainage. Cleaner Neater Smarter Cheaper Supa Gutter Pumper. A low cost, siphonic, eaves gutter overflow solution. Re: Plumber incorrectly installed kitchen drainage pipe 8Feb 12, 2023 2:00 pm ![]() Did you ask the VBA if they knew whether incompetent non compliant workmanship is covered by the plumber's insurance? No I did not ask this question, I assumed it was covered as it is an error... That plumber has been working for the builder since 7 years.. Probably let apprentices do the job without supervision ![]() Re: Plumber incorrectly installed kitchen drainage pipe 10Feb 12, 2023 2:38 pm ![]() Probably let apprentices do the job without supervision That would explain it. 3in1 Supadiverta. Rainwater Harvesting Best Practice using siphonic drainage. Cleaner Neater Smarter Cheaper Supa Gutter Pumper. A low cost, siphonic, eaves gutter overflow solution. Re: Plumber incorrectly installed kitchen drainage pipe 12Feb 12, 2023 5:04 pm I have no idea, I feel I should not have to wait for so long to remedial works but then again the builder keep referring back to the "insurance process". The loss adjusted indicated I have a duty to mitigate as the claimant, but really, under the building contract, it is the builder's responsibility to mitigate and make good especially so early in warranty period. Re: Plumber incorrectly installed kitchen drainage pipe 13Feb 12, 2023 6:47 pm i think they have you on the merry-go-round. the builder is where all needs to be resolved. need to be in the exact same position as if none of this occurred. That is up to the builder Re: Plumber incorrectly installed kitchen drainage pipe 14Feb 12, 2023 7:19 pm ![]() i think they have you on the merry-go-round. the builder is where all needs to be resolved. need to be in the exact same position as if none of this occurred. That is up to the builder Yes I feel the same. Is there any way I can get them to act on this and then recoup their cost from the plumber? I was thinking of lodging a dispute, but given the staff at VBA informally told me over the phone that the builder has at least involved the plumber's insurance, I am worried I might fall flat on my face. They also have not addressed the 3 month period defects yet so there are still ongoing things to deal with them. Re: Plumber incorrectly installed kitchen drainage pipe 15Feb 12, 2023 7:49 pm You need professional advice. I'm sure that the builder has been through this situation before.If he hasn't, then he has 'mates' who have. I was hoping for you that one of the forum members experienced in the legals would present but it is still early days. 3in1 Supadiverta. Rainwater Harvesting Best Practice using siphonic drainage. Cleaner Neater Smarter Cheaper Supa Gutter Pumper. A low cost, siphonic, eaves gutter overflow solution. Re: Plumber incorrectly installed kitchen drainage pipe 16Feb 12, 2023 7:54 pm ![]() You need professional advice. I'm sure that the builder has been through this situation before.If he hasn't, then he has 'mates' who have. I was hoping for you that one of the forum members experienced in the legals would present but it is still early days. yes indeed, thank you for all your replies I do appreciate. Re: Plumber incorrectly installed kitchen drainage pipe 17Apr 06, 2024 5:35 am Super frustrating to deal with warranty runarounds and insurance red tape, especially when it’s about water damage. Feels like the builder should step up and sort it out, right? Just like if your brand-new car went kaput, you’d expect the dealership to fix it without making you jump through hoops.
I had a bit of a plumbing scare myself not too long ago. Ended up calling Sydney Plumber to take a peek. They were on it and gave me some solid advice. When you’re tangled up in this kind of drama, having a pro in your corner can make a big difference. Re: Plumber incorrectly installed kitchen drainage pipe 18Apr 06, 2024 4:42 pm ![]() Super frustrating to deal with warranty runarounds and insurance red tape, especially when it’s about water damage. Feels like the builder should step up and sort it out, right? Just like if your brand-new car went kaput, you’d expect the dealership to fix it without making you jump through hoops. Thank you... it has not been easy. The builder ended up agreeing to do the repairs and restoration and claim from the plumber's trade insurance.. I am glad it is over but it has been a really stressful experience .. This is not installed to the manufacturers installation specification and hence is not fit for purpose, voids warranty and possibly not meet code. I’m not sure on the… 3 12788 The issue is the door is quite heavy and will be hinged off a narrow panel against the wall. You can have a flat panel of glass that runs across the narrow panel over the… 1 6103 ![]() DIY, Home Maintenance & Repair We have a hot water copper pipe that runs from our hot water unit on one side of our house under a concrete slab to our bathroom and laundry...old house so not ideal. The… 0 17909 |