By Matthew Baring-Gould, Kingscliff-based drainage plumber. Servicing Tweed Heads for 4 years. 5.0 stars across 173 Google reviews. Licensed NSW 383340C and QLD 15036450. ABN 74 605 392 348.
Customer paid a builder to do the drainage. Builder liquidated. Drainage failed. Homeowner is left with a river of water through the house and no way to recover. We rebuilt it properly.
What we found
Vacuum excavated the full perimeter outside the wall. It became clear immediately: a large volume of groundwater had been sitting against the foundations, and nothing the builder had installed was draining it. We pumped out the water that had collected overnight, and then the morning showed a steady underground flow (basically an underground spring) hitting the back of the house.
What we did
- Vacuum excavated the entire outside wall perimeter.
- Dug a drainage trench from the back of the house out to the street, essentially a channel for the underground spring.
- Waterproofed the wall exterior.
- Tunnel core, geofabric, Aggie pipe, 20mm blue metal, drainage sock, the full external perimeter drainage spec.
- Connected the trench out to the street stormwater.
The hard reality on QBCC and liquidated builders
The homeowner tried the QBCC path. QBCC primarily covers rectification of larger builds. For a renovation drainage install this size, the homeowner ended up out of pocket for the rebuild because the builder was no longer trading. This is unfair but common. The best protection is to hire licensed trades directly on the drainage portion of a build, which many builders will push back on but is worth insisting on.
Takeaway
If you are doing a renovation and the builder is sub-contracting the drainage, insist on a licensed drainer directly, with a separate quote and invoice. If the builder goes under later you still have a plumber you can call.
Call Matty on 0447 188 394 for drainage work across Tweed Heads, the Northern Rivers, the Gold Coast and inner Brisbane.
Customer names and addresses have been withheld. Individual results vary. Drain Masters Plumbing is licensed in NSW (383340C) and QLD (15036450).
Frequently asked
Why does builder-installed drainage fail so often?
Drainage is specialist work and often rushed by a builder covering too many trades. Perimeter drainage done properly takes several days (excavation, three coats of waterproofing between dry days, pipe install), a builder trying to compress the schedule routinely compromises steps.
Can you repair rather than rebuild?
Sometimes. On this job the original install was so poor that excavating to inspect it was almost the same cost as rebuilding, so we rebuilt. If the original is close to spec, repair is usually cheaper.
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