A big *****!!

If you have seen or received a quote from Alan ***ner of Mibuild (Pty) Ltd SA - he has ****** his logo and company name from an Australian company) read below before making the decision to hire him: He came across as extremely professional when he came to give us a quote; told us the room to be renovated would look spectacular when finished by him, they would isolate all the work/rubble/dirt etc. to inside the room, only make use of one side of the garage for materials and he said the job would be concluded within 2 weeks. But what transpired was that he has no team of builders but rather sub-contracts all the work out to someone else - a snippet of information he did not tell us about and which we had to find out during the course of the build. The mess that these builders made was a nightmare - most certainly not anywhere near isolated to inside the room - throwing plaster and cement against a tree and throwing it in a garden bed. When I brought this up with the foreman I was told it is all easy for me to clean. They also used both sides of the garage and damaged the walls of the garage badly. A number of things were also ****** from our property, including 2 new golf shirts, paint brushes of ours and a plug adaptor. The builders also used stuff of ours in our garage without asking us and finally taking one of our brooms with them. The job started on the 18th of November - Alan told us it would take 2 weeks to complete, but gave himself an extra week in the contract as his deadline - but I had to furnish him with a formal letter to complete the job by 22nd February a week before that or else I would get another builder to complete the job. And all of January and in the first 2 weeks of February Alan did not answer almost all of our phone calls or whatsapps when we tried to find out where his builders were and when they would come to finish the job, and when we did manage to get hold of him he made perpetual excuses as to why they could not be at our property. At one point (after we had already paid him 90% of the fee to do the job) he told us no they can't come because they have lots of new jobs and are quite busy with these jobs. As if the job we had already paid him 90% for is not one of these jobs!!! Alan also **** on the quote in terms of the square meterage to be covered by paint & plaster - charging us for 79m2 but the surface area was actually 61m2 (this he did rectify but only after it was brought up by me with him and after I measured the walls myself). So he overcharged by 36m2 for both painting and plastering. He also charged R90m2 for the aerolite to install on top of the R46m2 the product actually cost to purchase - charging us R138m2, and when this was brought up he told me that this was the price we agreed to. Also Alan was the most expensive quote we got by at least 30k on the job to renovate the room, but according to when he came to quote us and how he came across we decided to hire him because we thought he would be the most professional. The whole experience was without a doubt the most unprofessional we have yet experienced and we've had other builders at our house, all of whom did not ***** anything, left everything nice and tidy each day after work and they all completed the job in the time they said they would. To renovate this room by Alan we eventually ended up paying him R95 000, and according to what we got we could have got better from one of our previous builders by at least R30 000 less for the job. Also even though Alan and his sub-contractor were more than 2 months late in finishing the job (which should have taken 2 weeks), he still demanded and instructed me to pay him the outstanding amount immediately upon completion of the job on the 22nd February. All-in-all the amount we paid Alan and the quality and professionalism of the work we received are miles apart; the one wall where they covered up a doorway started cracking twice during the build, in places the colour of the grouting is different - we asked for grey grouting but there are areas where they have inserted black grouting and the ceiling wasn't installed properly. Also they lost the keys to the security gate for the room, he did replace the locks (but I'm sure this cost was added to the cost of the room in the overcharge of later items), but they made such a mess of the security door when inserting the locks by drilling the holes for the keys hopelessly too big - the security gates are now irriversably damaged.

Based on what I've said if you're thinking of hiring this man think three times even four times before hiring him, because - as were we - you will be very sorry that you did, as well as extremely dissappointed with the finished product this man delivers, not to mention the ordeal you have to go through during the course of the build.

He is based in Fairland. P.O. Box 731230 It was impossible to find any reviews on this man and his company so I am placing one on hellopeter to help prevent him from ******** anyone else who happens to find this review and takes the time to read it.