Personal Experience: 6 Silly Mistakes by Builders in Apartment Renovation

Architect Olga Dmitrieva shared the mistakes made by builders during the renovation of her apartment. It's hard to believe, but it happens: scroll down to find out who the foreman actually was.

Olga Dmitrieva is an expert. She works as an architect for more than eight years and is currently on maternity leave, renovating her apartment.

Our renovation started in February and was 'completed' by the end of April. We were recommended a foreman by close friends, so we trusted him completely.

During the initial meeting, the foreman immediately asked if I had floor plans and assured us that work would now go smoothly. Then he took photos of the apartment, made notes in a notebook, and together we calculated the renovation timeline based on the plans.

Then the crew arrived and started the work. Initially, we had no complaints, and everything was going well. But then something went wrong.

Error 1: Incorrectly calculated the size of the niche in the bathroom

The niche for the washing machine was supposed to be 64 cm, but in the end it was only 60.3 cm. To achieve these dimensions, the builders had to tilt the tiles. The foreman admitted his mistake and slightly enlarged the niche. However, it still wasn’t enough — only 61.5 cm.

In an ideal case, we would have had to demolish the entire wall to get the desired result. We compromised and looked for washing machines that would fit in the narrow niche. We found a model with a dryer on top, but the water connection taps were in the way.

The foreman promised to move the taps and remove the water shut-off valve for the washing machine from the installation. According to him, if we open the access panel to the pipes, we can easily shut off the water.

My husband went to the store several times to check the washing machine. Together with a consultant, he measured everything with a tape measure and drew detailed sketches and took photos to make sure the foreman didn't get the dimensions wrong. But when the apartment was handed over, the tap remained in its original place, so we couldn't shut off the water.

Error 2: Poorly applied and painted wallpaper

According to the builders, the wallpaper in the bedroom was defective, so the seams between rolls were very visible.

We bought wallpaper for the children's room that was meant to be painted, but even here it turned out to be 'too thick.' We returned to the store and bought the thinnest wallpaper. But now we had problems with the paint, which turned out to be 'too light,' leaving stains on the wallpaper.

The same issue occurred with the wallpaper in the hallway and kitchen: 'too thin and stretching in different directions,' so now there were visible seams between the rolls. It's a pity we didn't stop using their services at this point.

Error 3: Floor not leveled

When we tried to install the doors, the installers simply left with the words: 'What to install? The floor is not prepared.' It turned out that there were dips in the floor under the door frames. There were gaps of 0.4 cm on one side and 1.5 cm on the other. I called the foreman and received a response that he didn’t see any problem, but I forced him to come.

Error 4: Balcony and ceiling were not painted

The balcony was painted only in one layer, and wallpaper was applied to the ceiling — 'because it's faster.' We had to deal with complaints to get them to redo everything.

Error 5: Wires not tidied up

On the day of apartment handover, the doorbell wire was hanging over the wallpaper. A television cable was added to it that wasn’t connected to TV outlets in the rooms.

Error 6: Bathroom not properly repaired

The towel rack in the bathroom was not installed or connected. The tap for the washing machine remained in its original position. Grout was missing around the entire perimeter of the bathroom.

What happened after the renovation?

We waited for the crew to fix the problems, as we ended our cooperation on bad terms and didn’t close the financial matter. In late June, we wrote to the foreman and asked him to come.

He said he had done the job perfectly, and we were just being picky. 'You can live with that,' he said. The worst part is that our foreman was not a foreman at all, but a plumber! Luckily, only my husband was present during the meeting, who doesn't like conflicts. But even he couldn't handle such brazenness and threw the man out of the door.

Now we are looking for a new crew to fix all these mistakes.

Furniture layout plan

What people regret after renovation?

Sometimes builders do their job flawlessly, but apartment owners create problems for themselves. Here’s the sad experience of our heroes.