When you live in Vietnam for long enough, you start to hear a lot of horror stories about construction here. A friend of mine mentioned the entire skylight of his new villa fell in after the first storm following the villas construction. It was a mess and caused considerable damage to everything inside the newly furnished home. Someone on the bottom floor nearly got hit as the entire thing came crashing down the three or four story stairwell. Did the contractor fix it? Of course not, he had already been paid.
Not at all surprising. We kept a daily eye on things. The builder saw me get very angry at him once and that was enough to keep him from wanting to see it again. The only way we got him to fix things was the clause that said he wouldn't get paid 'til I was happy. With your friend's sunlight, I wouldn't even consider asking the original contractor to fix it 'cause he's already shown he doesn't know how. Our guy came back six times to fix roof leaks and the seventh call was to someone else. We've not had one leak since.
I think all new construction should finish during the rainy season so everyone will know if the house will leak. Anything finished outside rainy season should have 10% of the total withheld until after the third hard rain. Then, if no leaks, they get paid.
When you live in Vietnam for long enough, you start to hear a lot of horror stories about construction here. A friend of mine mentioned the entire skylight of his new villa fell in after the first storm following the villas construction. It was a mess and caused considerable damage to everything inside the newly furnished home. Someone on the bottom floor nearly got hit as the entire thing came crashing down the three or four story stairwell. Did the contractor fix it? Of course not, he had already been paid.
Not at all surprising. We kept a daily eye on things. The builder saw me get very angry at him once and that was enough to keep him from wanting to see it again. The only way we got him to fix things was the clause that said he wouldn't get paid 'til I was happy. With your friend's sunlight, I wouldn't even consider asking the original contractor to fix it 'cause he's already shown he doesn't know how. Our guy came back six times to fix roof leaks and the seventh call was to someone else. We've not had one leak since.
I think all new construction should finish during the rainy season so everyone will know if the house will leak. Anything finished outside rainy season should have 10% of the total withheld until after the third hard rain. Then, if no leaks, they get paid.