Was that a mistake?

This means the skirting is not nailed down permanently so it can be easily removed. But exactly how it is done, I am not sure Maybe a carpenter can answer this one???

Ed, this did cross my mind. However, apart from my Year 9 and 10 wood work classes, I have no carpentry experience I am not too sure what tools to use, what nails or glue to use, where to nail, etc, not to mention needing to cut at the precise angle and length! If there is a tutorial out somewhere I can read or watch, I am all for it!!

Same as me, I did wood work in year 9 and 10 LOL.
Did the scotia when I did my laminate flooring and it wasn't too bad. The drop saw I borrowed let me change the angle of my cuts so I did all 45 degree joins on straight sections and you soon find out that not all walls meet at 90 degrees so had to wing it a bit in the corners.

If you paint your skirts then the parts you putty up will not be visible if you sand them down good.

Some pics of the scotia
http://blog.edwardhor.com/wp-content/up ... g_0097.jpg
http://blog.edwardhor.com/wp-content/up ... g_0098.jpg

I'm in IT so not a tradesperson at all.

I am in IT too!

What do you mean by "wing it a bit" if not meeting at 90 degrees??

means you might need to guesstimate it
some corners I had to cut about 3 times before I was satisfied with it, looks a lot better once you putty up all the gaps.

Get someone to show you how to scribe. It avoids expansion at joins etc

We have the same prob, builder refuses to tack the skirting on so we are thinking about doing it ourselves after hand over however not sure how it will match in with the tiling they will do in the wet area.
Another option we thought of was asking the builder to mount the skirtings 10mm about the floor level which will suit the skirting in the tiled areas, then we can just cut away the bottom of them as needed to fit the timber under. Has anyone done anything like this? Of course the likely hood of the builder agreeing to this is not very high considering they wont even tack them on