Reception des Travaux

[Stefan]

We are just about at the end of a long building project and about to be confonted by the joys of the Reception des Travaux.

Does anyone here have any pointers, hints and tips on what to look for or do on the day?  Also has anyone used any of the agencies that for a fee will "hold your hand" through reception? I'm not saying we don't trust our own architect to look after our interests on the day but.....actually, on second thoughts I am saying exactly that....[:@]  

 

 

[Stefan]

Oh well, just for the sakes of those who "suffer" reception in the future I'll answer my own question - it may be of use to someone.

To set the scene, the project  was an architect designed extension,. the architect also acted as project supervisor [:'(] There  were major items of work still to do  but reception seems to be the only way to force some of the artisans to actually finish their work ( by imposing a set time limit / penaty of not getting their reserve's if they fail).

We did  do web searches/phone calls to find other architects to "hand hold" but had little luck, however we did stumble across the fact (websites) that a hussier can act as an independant witness and  is recommended if it is suspected reception may be difficult.

On the day the whole process was tedious and there were constant arguments about who had/hadn't done what....of course every artisan was trying to get their work signed off with no comments and blame any mess on somebody else ( "not my sand/gravel/plastic pipes" etc) so they could run off with the money.  The architect, who was supposed to act as our representative, was just as bad, simply trying to get us to sign off on work as quickly as possible.  Frankly the whole process was quite confrontational, unpleasant, and in some cases bordered on bullying.  I hate to think how unpleasant it could have become if it hadn't been for the presence of the Hussier as a moderator, independant witness, and note taker. 

In conclusion, expect reception to be unpleasant,  expect your architect to side with the artisans, and seriously consider the services of a Hussier as a moderator and independant witness.

 

Stefan

  

 

 

[Cendrillon]

Stefan

Thanks for posting this information, it needs to be saved and could be very useful for others.

[united]

Stefan,

I think you identified the problem in your first post your architect. We had extensive work done, rooms altered, new bathrooms, new windows complete new wiring all designed and project managed by an architect.

We arrived at our home on a Friday to examine the completed work and I had arranged a review meeting with our architect on Monday thinking that we would find out any problems over the weekend.

 When we arrived there were a number of visible snagging issues so we brought forward the meeting to the Friday afternoon. The architect accepted all our points and by 6.30 Friday night the plumber, electrician, tiler and painter had all been and completed their outstanding tasks and in a good humour to boot!

Your experience is invaluable to others I would add that time spent choosing then building a relationship with an architect is invaluable.

We recently had a van crash into our front gates and our neighbours emailed us as did the architect who was driving past and has now helped sort out our insurance claim.

[Stefan]

united

Yes I agree the relationship with the architect is crucial, I'm glad you got a "good un". 

 In our case we spent a lot of time working with our chap at the design stage and thought we got on OK - we probably had a meeting with him once a week for over a year.  Sadly once work began we got the definite impression he was more interested in keeping his local artisans satisfied than with looking after our ( his clients ) interests. We live in a fairly thinly populated area and I suspect there's a small number of artisans and the architect has to work with them throughout his working life, whilst we were a one off, hence the apparent "bias". On the other hand he did do a decent job of the plans and someone had to control the builders so we probably did as well as we could - but it was much harder work than we expected.