Terrible workmanship, apalling service, blatant disregard

Our nightmare with Industrial Floortech (IFT), managed by Donovan Sterley, began in 2015. We were renovating an old Victorian home in Tamboerskloof Cape Town and stumbled across Industrial FloorTech as a service provider that could assist us with laying screeded concrete floors in our main bathroom, kids bathrooms, Scullery area, Patio area and steps leading up to the house from the front entrance at the road.

We were quoted, accepted the quote and works commenced. We should have realised early that something was amiss when we found their labourers sleeping on the bathroom floor. Nevertheless, we continued and despite having to claim on insurance for a basin that was smashed when one of the labourers fell off the ladder in the bathroom, we paid all of the invoices in full for the work that was done – a figure of over R130,000.

The problems began to show a few months later. These were as follows:

1) Huge cracks in the floor in the main bathroom and in the kitchen area – not hairline cracks – cracks that you could fit your whole finger into! 2) The screed on the wall in the main bathroom started “delaminating” from the wall 3) The countertop in the kitchen delaminated from the surface 4) The staircase from the road up to the house started de laminating and huge pieces of screed were falling from the stairs.

We then started the process of trying to get Donovan and his team back to the premises to fix the problems. After much frustration, literally dozens of phone calls, emails etc they eventually returned to “fix” the issues. To be honest this was an even bigger mistake on our part as the fixing process just made the whole thing even worse. Donovan would send around second rate labour to try and resolve the issues and without any management supervision they just made the problems even worse.

We would struggle for weeks to get a team around to the house. They would then arrive, work for half a day and leave the site leaving behind an unsightly mess. Mixed concrete left on top of the stairs cluttered with litter, coke bottles and general trash. It would then rain, the concrete all hardened on the stairs. We eventually got the guys to return weeks later and they had to chip off the hardened mess on the stair case.

This process of false promises etc has continued for all of 2016 and 2017. A copy of the whatsapp transcript between myself and Donovan and or Tracy is attached and you can appreciate exactly what has transpired through this process.

When you speak to Donovan it is always “yes Sir, no problem. We will come and resolve all the issues” but there is a continuous failure to deliver or even pitch for agreed meetings.

Where are we now? We have received quotations from someone else to come and rectify the issues but the cost is in excess of R100k. We cannot afford this. Our bathroom, kitchen, staircase is still in an unsatisfactory condition and we have been left with no choice but to voice our concerns on social media and issue a warning to any other potential clients out there.

DO NOT use Industrial Floortech. They are absolutely useless and will ***** your money!