Roof not built as designed, what do I do?

My roof is not built as designed. There is a 64 course pillar on the front elevation of my house, and the roof gutter is meant to end 190mm inset from the side of the pillar.

The roofies built the roof to the edge of the pillar, and the people who were doing the gutters then put their gutter on the outside, now from the front of the house, there is a pillar with a gutter randomly sticking out the side of it. It does not look like the elevation written on the drawings, where the pillar is a straight beam up and down.

There is a section detailed in the working drawings of exactly how to build the roof in this location. In fact this gutter itself has a detail all of its own including dimensions of how to place it.

Additionally, the lower section of the roof is also not built to specification. The section details very clearly how it is meant to look from both sides of the pillars.

I will post pictures of the section and floor plans which clearly show the extent of roof over is setback from the pillar's corner if required.

The builder told me they would not rectify it because it's impractical to remove the roof and replace it. I would tend to agree it's impractical but it's not built to the clearly specific engineer's details which were provided. I guess there's something in the contract I signed which means they can clearly not build it as specified if it's too hard?

The question is, what do I do?

As a builder myself I can tell you that if builder does not follows plans and specifications he has nowhere to go and nowhere to hide, it's a breach of warranty and a a breach of contract.

In your case it seems that architectural appearance of your home has been altered without your consent and builder is now saying "too hard to fix tough luck".

You are well within your rights to demand that plans be followed however you may need expert help to compel your builder as he may try and ignore and bluff you.

enkayz... I 100% agree with building-expert. If they have not built it according to plan then you have the right to have it redone. If your dilemma is as clear cut as it seems from your explanation then your builder would not have a leg to stand on if you lodge a formal complaint with your state's Building Commission.

building-expert... no posts on your blog this year!?... you must be a very busy man!

Yes, too busy and being told to slow down to enjoy what I have, I will be 65 in 3 months (good advice)
I have been taking a week off work every month for the last 2 years and soon the plan is to be week on and week off

Most likely I was suffering from writers block for blogging but then I have been posting a lot on this forum.

I still have a million stories to tell so keep checking

Hi Enkayz
Sounds like you are having a bad run with supervision and some of the trades.
Please put up the photos, although roofs and gutters are a tough one, and it's often accepted that designers make mistakes and it is something clients can live with, did they have separate details for the front pillar? In the end it often comes down to how much you are aggreived at the out come? As for Structural defects I advise all clients to explore that possibility first.

Here is the ground floor plan showing the roof extents, as well as the section that details how the gutter is meant to be placed, and a picture showing the gutter placement. Thanks for your help guys. I guess my building inspector will help with this on his report?

Ground Floor Design

Section Y-Y

Result (standing at the bottom of the pillar, looking upwards)

Here is a couple more for good measure.

Have you checked the dimensions on site but it appears the pier should have been designed wider, I cant see how it's the roof/plumbers fault.

Pier to mee looks like its the right size but set out wrongly. The frame would have followed the slab so it is more likely that the frame is OK. Had the pier been forward a little and out to the side a little it would have avoided the problem with the gutter.
My bet? Builder will have to do the pier again.

Hmm, I hadn't considered that it was the pier setout. They had built the left one in the wrong spot and knocked it down to rebuild it - given that, I assumed the right pier was in the right spot; but you may be on to something. I'll take a measuring tape down and check that 1690 dimension from the middle pier and report back. If that is the case then I guess it will be easier to rectify than rebuilding the roof? There's already a structural support for the roof in that pier, so knocking it down won't be an issue for the roof, if I understand correctly?

The other thing it might be is the roof pitch since the rise is in constant brick coursings measure the eaves and check the drawings ..goodluck

Well, I've measured the piers, the width of them (with render on) is 900. The distance between the outside of them is 1670. I remember that the render is meant to be 50 thick, so I guess that means the brick work was 890 wide with 1690 gaps.

I have scaled up the plans in Bluebeam though, and the drawings have the rendered elevations with 890 width:

Measure the distance between your LVL beams on site and check them with detail Y-Y

I don't think I can do that anymore, because the ceiling plaster and electrics are done, so I can't see the beams. I only really noticed this issue recently as I had been concentrated on other things. I have measured the piers themselves though.

The right pier (as per section y-y) is 900 X 325, the left pier is 900 x 318. The middle pier is 915x515. The distance between them is 1670.

Obviously none of these measurements match the plan, most notably the extra pier depth and width.

It appears the brick pier may not be the problem, in which case it will be the pitching points (off the LVL), also there are no dimensions on your plans... so it will be hard to prove where the mistake ******... goodluck

There are definately dimensions. The scale is given in the title block and also in the drawing itself. The section Y-Y is scaled 1:50@A3 and additionally there are dimensions specified which can be scaled off, even if the scale was not given. The section may not have all the dimensions specified but they are easily measured using basic measurement tools scaled off the dimensions given for the ceiling level in the Y-Y section, which also does match 1:50@A3 scaling.

There are also dimensions given for the 100mm window mouldings in the elevation drawings which I calibrated from to get the measurements which then match the ground floor plans which do have the dimensions given, so the drawings definately all match up with measurements.

I am just still trying to figure out what went wrong so I can attempt to get it rectified. It appears as though the piers are built too wide, especially the middle pier.

I think the plans says somewhere no scaling, so it's difficult to figure out what went wrong and who's responsible.

Just checked, nowhere does it say anything like 'no scaling' or 'do not scale from these drawings', it does say 'ALL DRAWINGS TO BE READ IN CONJUNCTION WITH ENGINEERS DETAILS' though.

Is building design done by the builder or by your own contractor?