Help: Terrible Aftermath After Neighbour's Renovation

[happymaltzu 0]

Hi, need some help and advice here

background story:

neighbour (inter-terrace) did a major A&A (2 storey to 2 1/2, extension front & back); My roof started leaking a couple mths after they started their reno, their ID promise that they'll fixed it after their completion. (our neighbour on their other side, suffered damaged custom cabinets and roof leakage)

They actually tried fixing a couple of time (can't rem how many times approx):

1st repair (4 days) :

they patched/fixed new ceilings (added some metal strips below existing ceiling & plastered) for my affected areas, insisting they cannot detect any roof leakage (with their naked eyes).

Along the way they broke a vase, scratched my floor badly and stained some of my furniture with paint (didn't bring enough plastic covers and didn't cover the floor). to add on to the horror, they borrowed my ladder, mop, vacumn cleaner and the likes. btw, the contractor promised that they will get PROFESSIONAL cleaning svcs to clean up, all who came was 2 of their workers whom did a sloppy job. (yes, with my tools, haha). paint job was terrible the 1st time, patchy everywhere (think they only did 1 layer), so we insisted they do a repaint; it ended up slightly better but still can see the streaks at some areas.

2nd repair (2 days) :

After the 1st repair, we heard weird noises like things falling on the ceiling, cracking sound etc and the roof is still leaking (we can hear the raindrops). We got them back to take a look - roof specialist A came to take a look, insisting he cant see anything wrong. A few days later, they got roofer B to check and he claimed that part of the roof structure warp slightly so they used some wood? to put it back in place and rearrange the roof tiles.

The ceiling suffered some hairline cracks but they claimed that it is due to the intense banging and it's not going to be a problem.

Being so tired of their weekly visits, we didn't press on to get them to repaint the ceiling nor engage professional cleaning svcs to their charge.

Sidenote: we claim against their insurance for the vase and damaged floor, till date there's no update.

3rd repair (2 days)

The ceiling developed watermarks and we still can hear water seeping/cracking sounds. They tried to work it on the outside this time round (BTW our neighbour newly reno house is leaking too.)

despite their HARD WORK, the roof still leaks and the so called msyterious sounds persisted haha. Now the new ceiling is stained with random huge watermarks and the occasional mini waterfalls when the rain gets too heavy.

(to be cont'd)

[happymaltzu 0]

Advice needed:

1) Should i still make the contractor make good all those defects but that's going to take donkey years (got a tingling feeling it's about who-gives-up-first)

2) OT a bit, after their reno i can hear almost every movement my neighbour makes (switch on switches, open/close door etc),I tried tapping on my wall, some parts sounded a bit hollow? I've never heard any of such from the previous owner, maybe except loud quarreling in the midst of the night, haha.

Is it necessary to get a surveyor(?) to take a look? (given that they have bad records - they attempted to install water heater pipes on our other neighbour side of the wall, luckily the other neighbour was kaypoh & view the reno and insisted they remove that)

3) Is it in my rights to engage a separate roofer then charge to them? (I'm tired of them doing slipshod job) or should I get BCA involved so perhaps they will buck up a bit?

Thanks for reading all the rantings, any advice is appreciated!

[leechaorui 2]

Put in writing your claims, with evidence (eg. photos) and send them to the insurers. I don't think it is a major issue as they could always change a new roof for you and repaint cum patched up the cracks on your wall. I assume the cracks are not structural in natural. You can get the insurer's engineer to certify that the cracks are non structural.

If your vase is not the antique expensive type, I think they will just pay you off. For the floor, they probably will redo your tiles on the affected area or pay you a lump sum as compensation.

On the complaints about the sound from door opening, etc... I think you probably won't have a case against them.

[scenic98 0]

Advice needed:

1) Should i still make the contractor make good all those defects but that's going to take donkey years (got a tingling feeling it's about who-gives-up-first)

2) OT a bit, after their reno i can hear almost every movement my neighbour makes (switch on switches, open/close door etc),I tried tapping on my wall, some parts sounded a bit hollow? I've never heard any of such from the previous owner, maybe except loud quarreling in the midst of the night, haha.

Is it necessary to get a surveyor(?) to take a look? (given that they have bad records - they attempted to install water heater pipes on our other neighbour side of the wall, luckily the other neighbour was kaypoh & view the reno and insisted they remove that)

3) Is it in my rights to engage a separate roofer then charge to them? (I'm tired of them doing slipshod job) or should I get BCA involved so perhaps they will buck up a bit?

Thanks for reading all the rantings, any advice is appreciated!

hi, sorry to hear your plights. i hope my current reno will not cause the same problem to my new neighbours. they are nice people. just hope my contractor will be careful in his works.