Accounting, auditing, and bookkeeping services Directory for East Lothian, United Kingdom

Very poor quality product. We were recommended by our builder (Penicuik Joiners & Builders - Barry Rollo & Sons)to use pre-cast stone manufactured by East of Scotland Precast. What a big mistake. Our builder told us that this product was equal to our specified Forticrete pre-cast stone. The first batch of pre-cast turned up around one month late and was of such poor quality that large ....

Very poor quality product. We were recommended by our builder (Penicuik Joiners & Builders - Barry Rollo & Sons)to use pre-cast stone manufactured by East of Scotland Precast. What a big mistake. Our builder told us that this product was equal to our specified Forticrete pre-cast stone. The first batch of pre-cast turned up around one month late and was of such poor quality that large sections of newly built walls had to be pulled down and re-built with new pre-cast. This resulted in a further lengthy delay, around two months. Second time around we noted that the pre-cast had a very poor colour consistancy but we were assured by our builder that at the end of the pre-cast's curing process all the pre-cast would colour match. Unfortunately, this was not the case....well unless you close your eyes when looking. We have a wide variation of colours and in addition we have what should be identical blocks being of different sizes & shape. We also have a poor surface finish and widespread crazing & cracking even though the pre-cast is less than one year old! We contacted the United Kingdom Cast Stone Association, the main authority regarding pre-cast stone within the UK, and one of their experts inspected our pre-cast stone. He advised us that it was of a very poor standard and that it did not appear to comply with either the British Standards that cover the manufacturing of pre-cast stone or the requirements published by The United Kingdom Cast Stone Association. He confirmed to us therefore, that the pre-cast stone provided to us by Penicuik Joiners & Builders (Barry Rollo & Sons) was certainly not equal to the Forticrete pre-cast stone that we had specified. As a consequence of this product's poor quality we are being forced to seriously consider replacing all the pre-cast stone. This is a massive job and very expensive requiring the removal of large sections of the external walls of two buildings. We would have really wanted to have reported that our builder, recognising their error and taking responsibility, had been supportive and offered to resolve matters but sadly this has not been the case. Our builder has made matters worse and refuses to offer any meaningful help. Everyone makes mistakes but the difference between a good and a not so good builder is how they deal with their mistakes. Unfortunately, we now have no alternative but to raise a Civil action against our builder, Penicuik Joiners & Builders (Barry Rollo & Sons), so that we can recover our costs for the remedial works. The United Kingdom Cast Stone Association's expert that inspected our pre-cast offered a compromise solution where we would still have a sub-standard installation but if we actioned his recommendations it should appear much better than that what currently exists. We put this proposal to Penicuik Joiners & Builders (Barry Rollo & Sons) but they declined to action offering instead to give the stone a 'clean'... In January 2012 East Lothian Trading Standards issued a Prosecution File to the Procurator Fiscal recommending, we understand, that Penicuik Joiners & Builders (Barry Rollo & Sons) be prosecuted for mis-representing (mis-selling) East of Scotland Precast as a product that was equal in quality to the Forticrete pre-cast that we specified. Unfortunately, it would appear that East Lothian Council may not have included all the available evidence within their Prosecution File and consequently the Procurator Fiscal decided not to prosecute. We have therefore had to ask East Lothian Trading Standards to raise a further Prosecution File against Penicuik Joiners & Builders (Barry Rollo & Sons), this time with all the available evidence. Penicuik Joiners & Builders (Barry Rollo & Sons) have made various verbal offers to 'remedy' the sub-standard pre-cast stone, the last being giving it a clean. Unfortunately, none of the remedial actions being offered by Penicuik Joiners & Builders (Barry Rollo & Sons) are in accordance the advice being given by United Kingdom Cast Stone Association. At one point Penicuik Joiners & Builders (Barry Rollo & Sons) offred to replace all the pre-cast that an approved expert advised were non-compliant with the requirements of United Kingdom Cast Stone Association however once we reported back to Penicuik Joiners & Builders (Barry Rollo & Sons) that a member from United Kingdom Cast Stone Association had visited site and advised that none of the installed pre-cast met their requirements... guess what...Penicuik Joiners & Builders (Barry Rollo & Sons) withdrew their offer...or in other words they went back on their word. In fairness not all the pre-cast stone issues are the responsibility of East of Scotland Precast. Mistakes made by Penicuik Joiners & Builders (Barry Rollo & Sons) have most certainly added their part into making our buildings look appalling. e.g at one window cill each of its two sections run-off by around 20mm, we also have a lintol that is mis-aligned by around 60mm and our 6mm wide mortar joints vary from 6mm to around 15mm; a number of pre-cast elements have not been cut square and therefore their mortar joints varyfrom around 6-15mm within the same joint. The poor quality of the pointing doesn't help matters either...given that the mortar is often flush with the stone and in some places proud of the stone's face. My advice is only use pre-cast stone from a repuitable manufacturer that is a member of the UK Cast Stone Association and do your homework on selecting your builder. Follow up references. We did this afterwards for our builder and had we actioned this earlier we would not have given them the job. East of Scotland Precast appears no longer to be trading from their Drem workshops. We will recover our financial loss from our builder, Penicuik Joiner & Builders (Barry Rollo & Sons) but as you can imagine the process takes a fair amount of time and we would have rather been enjoying the use of our new buildings.