Background to the EarlKendrick Snagging Survey delivered on 27 April 2021.
- 4 Feb. 2019. HHGE Board appoints JFC Associates/ John Chandler (Chandler) to project manage major repairs to the HHGE flats.
- 24 June 2019. HHGE Board signs contract with Armour Hart Group (AHG) for major works to the 255 HHGE flats for £385,080 plus VAT and fees
- 01 Jan. 2021. Chandler has approved payment for completed work on 97 flats at a cost of £258,338.77 which cost was 46.80% in excess of the agreed tender price.
- 01 Jan 2021. Following multiple complaints about the AHG work the HHGE Board commission an independent survey by James Paul of EarlKendrick (EK).
- 27 April 2021. EK Report lists 141 obvious defects in the work on c. 33 flats.
- EK do not report on upper floor windows or internal defects related to the windows because the AHG tradesmen used ladders not scaffolding.
- There was no opening up of defective work.
| TYPE OF DEFECT | QNTY |
| Peeling or delaminated paint due to poor workmanship | 23 |
| Rotten wood painted over in breach of the RepairCare specification | 17 |
| Separation Gap or open joint in breach of the RepairCare specification | 16 |
| Skirting Board used on external window repairs in breach of AHG contract spes | 5 |
| Paint overruns, drips or spillages | 42 |
| Defective lead glazing on the leaded light windows | 3 |
| Rusty steel windows not treated with rust inhibitor | 14 |
| Inappropriate use of wood filler epoxy resin or expanding foam | 2 |
| Slipped tile | 3 |
| Part finished decorations or prep work | 9 |
| Un-started work (not touched) | 7 |
| Total | 141 |
Follow Up
- Chandler resigns. His 7%+ VAT fee of £18,467.47 having already been paid.
- Glen Hardingham RICS of EarlKendrick is appointed to replace Chandler in managing the AHG Contract.
- 14. Dec. 2021 At the HHGE AGM Vivian Emanuel the HHGE Block Manager announces as follows;
- Blocks Ayr-Gloucester external works have all been re-snagged by Glen Hardingham of EarlKendrick and all work will be finished in Dec. 2021.
- Internal Repairs are almost complete and will be finished in February 2022.
- Phase 2 i.e., Blocks Hereford to York will start in March/April 2022 with the same contractor i.e., Armour Hart Group.
The Problem
- As described by James Paul of EK it is a fact that the AHG tradesmen used paint to cover up rotten wood in many cases.
- However, without “opening up” the defective work it is impossible to find out if the repairs were carried out according to the specification or not.
- From personal observations it appears that EarlKendrick never snagged other than the ground floor flats.
- From personal observation defects are much more common on the first and top floor flats than ground floor flats for two reasons. Working from ladders is much more difficult than working from scaffolding and no surveyor likes climbing ladders to inspect work.
- For these 2 reasons numerous flats on the HHGE on the first and second floors with seriously defective work were never snagged.
- Two examples are top floor flats such as Flat 31 Ayr Court and Flat 6 Essex House which have seriously rotten window cills and there are many other examples.
- Rotten wood concealed under paint will continue to rot and means that the whole project is worthless e.g 3 Essex House.