Here we go again

[hughnique]

Some years back I had the front of the house rendered with the creamy coloured enduit, by a, so called, professional company local to me, shortly after which I noticed that where they had met with some older, intact render it was beginning to crack and come away from the wall. I notified the company that I had a problem, unfortunately they chose to promise this and that and never showed up to do anything. This culminated in a couple of LRAR letters outlining what I expected in the way of rectification, again to no avail, so the services of the huissier were instigated, and it must have been the shit hitting the fan moment, as they turned up within a week and effected a repair. However when I asked the renderer if his boss had given him a cheque to cover the cost of the huissier, I drew a blank, so LRAR again threatening court proceedings for the recovery of the 399€ fees, that worked and payment was effected.
Fast forward and I have another problem, at first I thought the local Chasse were up to their tricks as in a couple of places it looks as though someone has fired a projectile at the wall and there are several missing pieces of render within a square metre. I had some recent dealings with the conciliator at the local Dept of Justice, he helped me with a rogue roofer that had tried to rip me off for 4K€, so I asked him to help. Eventually he made contact with the enduit company and a site meeting to look at the fault was arranged in May this year, yes no problem, but not until September, fine by me. September came and went so in October I sent an email to the company asking what year they were talking about, a reply came back they would be here in the next week, as expected no show.
I have emailed them again setting out that he, the owner, promised, in front of the conciliator, as to when he would attend, and has not, I also asked him to recall that the last time this happened, it cost him dearly, but no response as yet, so it looks as though I am going to have to start sending the LRAR demands and take it from there. I just don't understand the mentality of these artisans, do they treat all their customers like this or is it the old English card.

[MAD87]

I feel for you, H, very frustrating. We used to do quite a few building disputes and it emerged that a surprising number of artisans had huge excesses due to the number of claims against them. In the end they'd be unable to pay the premiums.

[Lori]

Always dread problems like this (anywhere in the world). And LRAR's and Huissiers do not come cheap - however, in the few cases we have ever used one, they do seem to put the fear of God in people.

Good luck hughnique. Does this enterprise have any presence on Social Media ?? Post there.

[hughnique]

I think that is the problem, MAD87, the frustration, and it gets to you and builds up, eventually you want to go to war with the bloke, over half a days work. I have had further enduit carried out by another artisan and was very pleased with his work, I wonder if it would be better for my blood pressure, just to get him in to do it. I am somewhat confused as to why this has happened, the artisan concerned says he can't just patch up the render to match, as it is a reaction between the ancient Tuffeau stone and the new render and it will reappear in a few years time, so he will have to make a feature brickwork pattern to cover it all up. I did pay extra to have a scratch coat put on first, I thought in order to prevent that sort of occurrence.

[Quiksilver]

I can confirm that the enduit Cos. don't like 'patching up'. We were warned by the Co. that we used that eventually we'd have hairline cracks in the crepi where the parpaing joints shrink and move slightly. They were right but it was a real challenge to get them to come out and seal the cracks. I think the problem is two-fold. It's impossible for them to match the original finish and it's costly for them to send out a team with all the equipment involved just to do a minor repair. Frankly, it's a better proposition to ask them to supply a bag of enduit and use an 'icing bag' to do it yourself. Fortunately, Our Co. left us with two spare bags as it was a non-standard colour. They've been extremely useful for tackling minor repairs over the years.

[demi]

Whjat is LRAR,please?

[ajm]

Lettre recommandée accusé de réception

[demi]

Many thanks, ajm.

[Blaze]

so he will have to make a feature brickwork pattern to cover it all up.

That's what someone near us did : there were a couple of long thin cracks in the enduit on the wall at the edge of his property. He patched each crack with a few false bricks and it looks very good.

[Spectrum]

You should try having a full house built by French builder and artisans shouting matches, threats, notaries involved, Avocate involved (300€) an hour, walk outs, non compliance with the many Devis we all signed, withheld a few grand in the end but still not up to my standard, and no it not just Brits that are getting stuffed, and don't forget there are a lot of Brit owned companies that like to screw their fellow countrymen, so I feel for you Bonne Chance.