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I recently had a new front door and doorframe constructed an installed in my Victorian terraced house. The old frame and door were ripped out, and a new frame and door installed. On inspection, I think that some of the work is well below standard, but I wonder if this is considered normal?

Which of these things are considered normal practice, and which things am I reasonable to complain about?

The top of the frame was left looking like this. Shouldn't they have replaced the whole frame? Poor quality top of door frame

The new sealant around the inside seems to have been applied by a novice in an extreme hurry: Poor quality sealant Poor quality sealant Poor quality sealant

The bottom of the frame looks a mess: Messy door frame

There are no mitred corners in the frame: No mitred corners

Where the ironmongary is sunk into the frame, it's not very tidy:

Poor quality door fittings Poor quality door fittings

Added: This job was done by a professional contractor, for a decent amount of money.

Rocketmagnet
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2 Answers2

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It really does look like a hack job. The piece on top of the frame is sort of crown molding and replacement should have been specified in the contract. The contractor should have at least caulked the seams to make it look better.

The caulking is horrible and should have been smoothed out and cleaned up especially at the bottom.

The mitered frames are also something that should have been mentioned in the contract but many windows I've seen don't have them.

The hardware cutout looks sloppy too. There are some nicks and gouges that should have been repaired. The corner and spacing is also bad for a professional job.

JACK
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The thing that is not mentioned in your question is who did you hire to do this work. A licensed contractor with an established business or more of a handy-person? If you have hired a contractor then yes- the work is very sloppy and ill-fit. If you have just hired a self proclaimed carpenter then you probably misread their abilities (or they vastly misrepresented them).

Bottom line is with a contractor or an established business you have every right to complain and withhold payment and demand they rectify the situation. If this is a "handyman" then you are pretty much in the same situation of having to negotiate an acceptable solution but there is much more responsibility for the state of things from your side and not much legal footing to stand on.

Kyle
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