Hello everyone,
To my surprise, I noticed today that the roofer has already installed or laid out glossy black glazed tiles instead of the agreed matte black glazed tiles.
We are meeting with the roofer tomorrow – he has already admitted it was a delivery error. Now, I’m unsure how to proceed...
We could certainly request a replacement, but I don’t want to put the company at risk of bankruptcy – although it might not be that serious.
The zoning plan allows for both types – the house opposite also has glossy glazed tiles.
However, I have read that neighbors might be able to file complaints. I want to avoid leaving the tiles as they are and then having someone complain in three years because of glare.
What are your thoughts on this?
To my surprise, I noticed today that the roofer has already installed or laid out glossy black glazed tiles instead of the agreed matte black glazed tiles.
We are meeting with the roofer tomorrow – he has already admitted it was a delivery error. Now, I’m unsure how to proceed...
We could certainly request a replacement, but I don’t want to put the company at risk of bankruptcy – although it might not be that serious.
The zoning plan allows for both types – the house opposite also has glossy glazed tiles.
However, I have read that neighbors might be able to file complaints. I want to avoid leaving the tiles as they are and then having someone complain in three years because of glare.
What are your thoughts on this?
You don’t have to pay attention to all this “let’s exchange” talk online. Everyone always feels they must insist on their right no matter what. It is true, of course, that you can insist on having a replacement. However, there is no need to make things more difficult than necessary all the time. Often, even you don’t want that because there is a risk that new problems may arise from the exchange.
I understand if you have chosen very specific premium roof tiles (for example, matte blue) and now you receive glossy red ones. Depending on the type of house, this matters more or less. On an urban villa, the tiles are hardly visible from your own property. For me, the most important thing is that the tiles still look good after 15–20 years and don’t get overgrown with moss.
Some things always go wrong during construction. You usually have to make some compromises. According to forums and the internet, you have to fight the contractor at all costs wherever you can. If you like the tiles somehow and they are higher quality than what you ordered, you could accept them and spend the €1000 on something else to make up for the wrong roof tiles.
You can also insist on an exchange, but then the new tiles will arrive in 4 weeks while construction stops (no interior work without a roof) and you might get completely soaked inside due to a once-in-a-century storm. During the removal of the tiles, some bricks might get damaged or a tile might hit a window, which then only gets patched up.
We also had one or two moments on our projects where we could have made a big issue out of things but chose a reasonable solution each time. The client does not hate us and doesn’t cause trouble over other disputes (where we were right but couldn’t prove it) and everyone is satisfied. What’s more important is that the work is done professionally. As long as the roof is watertight in the end and lasts 40 years, the color is a secondary issue—unless you have a special design concept or the color is completely wrong (for example, red instead of blue).
I understand if you have chosen very specific premium roof tiles (for example, matte blue) and now you receive glossy red ones. Depending on the type of house, this matters more or less. On an urban villa, the tiles are hardly visible from your own property. For me, the most important thing is that the tiles still look good after 15–20 years and don’t get overgrown with moss.
Some things always go wrong during construction. You usually have to make some compromises. According to forums and the internet, you have to fight the contractor at all costs wherever you can. If you like the tiles somehow and they are higher quality than what you ordered, you could accept them and spend the €1000 on something else to make up for the wrong roof tiles.
You can also insist on an exchange, but then the new tiles will arrive in 4 weeks while construction stops (no interior work without a roof) and you might get completely soaked inside due to a once-in-a-century storm. During the removal of the tiles, some bricks might get damaged or a tile might hit a window, which then only gets patched up.
We also had one or two moments on our projects where we could have made a big issue out of things but chose a reasonable solution each time. The client does not hate us and doesn’t cause trouble over other disputes (where we were right but couldn’t prove it) and everyone is satisfied. What’s more important is that the work is done professionally. As long as the roof is watertight in the end and lasts 40 years, the color is a secondary issue—unless you have a special design concept or the color is completely wrong (for example, red instead of blue).
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Bieber081531 Aug 2015 21:54It's a pity we will never know whether the roofer knew from the start that it was a wrong delivery and whether he tried to contact the construction manager or the homeowner.
Well, if the only difference is one version with “matte” and the other without, nobody would have noticed it for sure. This happens when products always have the same names. I also hate products with identical names where only a small detail changes. Most of the time, you can’t even look them up online by that.
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Sebastian791 Sep 2015 20:45Between matte and glossy, there is more than just a minor difference... and you don’t even have to Google it.
For us, there would have been no compromise – our neighbors have theirs glossy, and even worse, theirs look blue-glossy.
For us, there would have been no compromise – our neighbors have theirs glossy, and even worse, theirs look blue-glossy.
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