What does 'removal' mean? Dispute advice please

[Time's Ran Out]

Diplomacy and tact!:lol:
For £100 I think the tiler would appreciate the majority in support of his stance. As we can only reply to 1 side of the issue, this OP has received a courteous and varied reply to his thread.

 

[Colour Republic]

Blimey, not sure what everybody is getting so worked up about?!!

It seems that it's a very simple misunderstanding over the use of the word 'removal'. Don't think anybody is at fault here, clearly removal to most of us means removing from the substrate. But I think the customer has every right to question what was meant as they clearly thought it meant clearance/disposal as well.

personally I list clearance from site as a separate charge and if it's only a small amount of waste I explain to the customer that as a business it cost me to dispose of waste but as a homeowner they can get rid of the waste free of charge at the local tip.

Some say they will do it to save a couple of quid but you can understand that many don't want a pile of building waste piled up in the back of the immaculate family salon.

im sure the OP's remark about using the withheld £100 to pay for a skip was a sarcastic remark to some of the sarcastic remarks aimed at him/her.

 

[Chalker]

Just out of interest do you have the appropriate licence to carry refuse from a job.?.

out of interest I do. I also have a pass to take recycled waste to the tip. ( I have to pay for that) .

i don't think the op got a balanced debate here. It was just tilers sticking up for themselves.
Personally, it was his tilers fault for not mentioning that he would be leaving waste behind. I try to give customers options of, paying for a skip or disposing of waste themselves.
but this needs to be discussed before the job starts or you will have a disgruntled customer like the one here.

 

[thompsonbrown]

Blimey, not sure what everybody is getting so worked up about?!!

It seems that it's a very simple misunderstanding over the use of the word 'removal'. Don't think anybody is at fault here, clearly removal to most of us means removing from the substrate. But I think the customer has every right to question what was meant as they clearly thought it meant clearance/disposal as well.

personally I list clearance from site as a separate charge and if it's only a small amount of waste I explain to the customer that as a business it cost me to dispose of waste but as a homeowner they can get rid of the waste free of charge at the local tip.

Some say they will do it to save a couple of quid but you can understand that many don't want a pile of building waste piled up in the back of the immaculate family salon.

im sure the OP's remark about using the withheld £100 to pay for a skip was a sarcastic remark to some of the sarcastic remarks aimed at him/her.

About to post a comment, but colour republic has said what would have taken me 10 mins.

 

[Fliselege]

Lets hope the tiler is not as petty as you are. Or you could be spending a long time looking over your shoulder. .

If the tiler was the petty type he'd take the tiles away, get his money, then deliver them back along with a written quote for disposal.

 

[mike1979]

On the plus side people thank The Lord for Friday

 

[prceramics]

i agree removal means removing them disposal means disposing of them

the tiler should of explained this to you

 

[AliGage]

out of interest I do. I also have a pass to take recycled waste to the tip. ( I have to pay for that) .

i don't think the op got a balanced debate here. It was just tilers sticking up for themselves.
Personally, it was his tilers fault for not mentioning that he would be leaving waste behind. I try to give customers options of, paying for a skip or disposing of waste themselves.
but this needs to be discussed before the job starts or you will have a disgruntled customer like the one here.

Inclined to agree. Some comments prehaps were a bit brutal. I'd hazard a guess that some members may have been in a similar if not the exact same situation.

However, that said by definition the words "removal" and "disposal" explain enough. Agreed the tiler could/should of explained more clearly. I'm sure he/she will be crystal clear in the future.

Also agreed is you are a satisfied customer. There has been no complaint about workmanship and he has infact neatly collated your waste for you.
Your local council website will confirm trade waste is chargeable. However, its free for you to take the tiles to household waste.

I'm sure of you asked your tiler he would be more than happy to help you load them into your car. Certainly if it means he gets his full pay.
And i think that's ultimately why you've had the responses you have. It's your tilers frustration vented through third parties.
The guy deseeves his pay. Confusion or not.

 

[Martyn Leeds]

I'd like to see a picture of how the tiles have been left.
Bagged up round the back? stacked neatly?
or all just chucked anywhere and everywhere in the back garden?

 

[Andy Allen]

Op says left tidy. This would tell me he tends to care about the job as opposed to just chucked out the back door. Ali is spot on I've allso been in this situation. ....if customers understood how difficult it is to dispose of business waste then maybe they wouldn't be so quick to jump over the tradesmen back. What I would like to know is if the tiler had added the cost of a skip onto the job would he still of used him..?

 

[Brian the Tile]

Bang out of order imo, if that is your only complaint, pay the man his money that I will assume that he worked dam hard for, I just hate customers like your type

 

[SJPurdy]

So a reminder for us all to be clear on our quotes/estimates.

Secondly all customers of any tradesman should be aware that if they let them take away waste without a waste carriers licence then both the customer and tradesman can be fined!

 

[Mr Tiler]

I have to say in all fairness to the customer, if I go and do a quote i always ask at the end.... what about the rubbish do you want it removed or do you want to dispose of it yourself, stranbge that the tiler didn't specify it? everybody else ask this?

 

[mike1979]

It's all ifs and buts and two sides to the story I'd do this I'd do that we can all pick faults after it's done and do it in a different way to glorify ourselves for all we know he could of stated that the rubbish stayed but a few trips for the customer down the tip job done I feel strongly that tiler should of been payed his full money

 

[tubs]

Hi,

I've just had a job done and am withholding part of the payment pending resolution.

I had new tiles fitted in my house and the tiler, as part of the quote, agreed to the 'removal' of the old tiles. He did this - but left them all in a (tidy) pile in my back garden! He contends that he only agreed to remove them from the floor, I understood that removal included taking them away. After all, if I asked someone to remove a tree I wouldn't expect them to just cut it down, I would expect them to take it away. That is implicit.

The tiler maintains that he never meant to take them away and that this would cost extra. Could someone please advise?

Thank you,

DQ.

Get the tiler paid and stop wasting your time on this issue , customers like you don't realise the stress involved in petty issues you have raised , be a man and discuss it with the tiler and move on , obviously his work was spot on and you had to get your last word in , get your car filled and get in to a tip or pay for a skip like most sensible people would !

 

[Sean Kelly]

Sorry to drag this one up again. We have not seen how the quote was written. If the words used were 'Remove tiles' and then make good wall, prime, tile, grout, polish then it is obvious that 'remove tiles' meant removing tiles from wall. I very much doubt the tiler would say 'tile, grout, polish, remove' in that order. Like most of us we would describe the job in chronological order.

 

[gobby]

I make clear disposal be it old materials, packaging, wastage or whatever on any job is for the customer unless they are happy for me to organise a skip at an additional cost, I don't build it into the price. I suggest disposal themselves is the cheapest option if they are able. The finer details here aren't clear and though removal isn't disposal I can understand the customers surprise if your not familiar with building work practices. Interestingly though on the tree felling similarly used, the timber has a resale value and removal sometimes forms part of the agreement and affects the price because of this. Mark

 

[IHB]

Interestingly though on the tree felling similarly used, the timber has a resale value and removal sometimes forms part of the agreement and affects the price because of this. Mark

Yes, removal is ambiguous. I bet if a builder was "removing" Lead then it would have been "removed" to the scrappy. 🙂

 

[Dan]

Christ, this thread got 4 pages longer than it should have done! ha

 

[Perry]

I never take away any materials that i don't supply, even cuts of tiles.

 

[Andy Allen]

Christ, this thread got 4 pages longer than it should have done! ha

Probably because a lot of tradesmen on here are sick of getting ripped off. .....and for what? ....a misunderstanding of the word remove......most customers would of just got rid of the rubbish and moved on......not kick up a song and dance about it and kept money back....:incazzato:

 

[On one]

I never take away any materials that i don't supply, even cuts of tiles.

Me neither. I've been asked before if I can take away the waste materials that a customer has bought..........''if you bought the materials,their yours!''

 

[Ajax123]

And still it rumbles on... 🙂

 

[J Sid]

Perhaps this thread should be 'Removed' now

 

[On one]

Still waiting for the OP to come back on here and say he's done the decent thing and paid his tiler in full.

 

[J Sid]

Still waiting for the OP to come back on here and say he's done the decent thing and paid his tiler in full.

you think that's going to happen?

 

[On one]

Wellllllllllllllllll,he could just pay his tiler and keep it to himself then!

 

[spooner68]

Another example of why we as tradespeople need to make all of our contract terms as clear as possible to our cutomers to avoid confusion. I have an "exclusions" section in all of my quotes and clearly state that I will bag/stck up the waste for the cluent to dispose of themselves. Otherwise, if they prefer they can have a skip at an additional cost.

Had a one last week where he rang me up after the job and asked when I would be taking it away. He hadnt read the quote but took the stuff to the tip himself. Easy. Pay the guy and take it to the tip.

 

[andy8758]

Why does so many people get upset with customers (even if they ain't yours)? The customer is always right.

If you regularly dispose of waste created by your business (tiling) you must register as a waste carrier (£154 for 3 years). You will then have to pay the local authority to dispose (our local rate is £47/tonne sorted waste, £115 unsorted). There are a number of alternatives - and all my customers get quotes that include trade terms and conditions including:

· Waste disposalis charged as an extra in our quotes. The contractor is happy to moveand bag (if possible) all waste generated from the work, to place in a suitablelocation on the premises (or garden) so the customer can dispose of itappropriately (at local recycling centre) and have no waste charge applied. Weare also happy to arrange for skip hire. Our charge includes bagging, transport,licensing and disposal of rubbish. Please note that we separate our waste forrecycling, and ask your support not to allow waste mixing of the bags whilst weare not on site (e.g. throwing sandwich wrappers or tins into rubble sacks) –the costs of disposing of unsorted waste is currently £115/tonne.

So I recommend making waste disposal policy very clear to customers - I find a lot of them expect you to include disposal but don't understand what it costs us. I recently had a new carpet - and the fitter wanted to charge me £75 to dispose of the old carpet. So that became my "standard" disposal fee. Of course a hippo bag might be cheaper...

 

[White Room]

I wondered why I was charged £80 for a load of unsorted waste recently....

 

[Qwerty]

I want to be spending my working day making money, not spending it (& my cash) dealing with other peoples waste. I have enough to do as it is and yet to have a customer complain. I've considered getting a waste carriers licence, but really can't see any point when a hippo bag is so easy to book!
It's all on my quotes T&C's in black & white!