Morning All
We are in a dispute with the company who provided our engineered plans for our extension we are currently building, and its gotten to the stage where the engineer has stopped responding to our calls and emails. It never got heated, we have both been polite and diplomatic throughout so we are a bit surprised by this. They are still in business, so haven't gone bust or anything like that.
The slab layout plan and the floor plans did not align, so when it came time to put the frames up, it was apparent that one of the brick columns to our Al Fresco area was going to end up floating over thin air. The frame and truss company went off the floor plan measurements which were correct. It was the concrete slab layout plans which were out by 450mm. It wasn't the concretors fault, he just went off the plans that were supplied.
At the time we went back to the company who supplied the plans, they agreed that the engineer had messed up, and they agreed to fix the issue at their cost, and pay for the additional strip of concrete slab that would be required. We received the amended plans, engaged the concretor to come back and lay the new bit of concrete so we could finish off installing the brick column. The only thing we didn't do, is get an additional inspection by the PCA prior to pouring the extra bit of slab, as it was only a 900mm strip we formed and poured it on the same day.
When it came time to settle the costs, the company who supplied the plans have wiped their hands of it and asked us to engage directly with the engineer as it was his error, the engineers initial response was that he was surprised that the error was not picked up prior to laying the concrete slab. I suppose as an owner builder, I put all my faith in the engineer providing accurate plans. The error in the plans was also missed by the PCA, the concretor and the frames and trusses company. So in my opinion, it was not a glaring error and he has to take the responsibility.
So, the engineer has not responded since despite numerous emails and phone calls. We are not talking about a great deal of money, the extra concrete was about $1,500, we ended up having to tile the al fresco area to hide the join in the concrete, which was about $3,500 inc materials and labour.
So i suppose the question is what course of action do we take. Is this something we should take to Fair Trading NSW to try and agree on a compromise? Is it worth it for $5k? Or does anyone think that the responsibility was on us to check the plans and we should just suck it up and move on?
Appreciate anyones feedback
Cheers for reading!