Ever dealt with a customer complaint about damage to their property during a building project?

It’s tough. Sometimes it’s not clear who’s responsible for the damage. “It wasn’t me!” -  tends to be the common cry among the various tradies on site.

The floor often takes the hit.

Tools get dropped, ladders get scraped, materials get spilled. And if the floor is not adequately protected it can cause you some grief at the end of a project.

The rose tinted glasses come off

The trouble is once a customer sees a mistake or damage they become hypersensitive. They start looking harder in case there are other mistakes.

No one wants these difficult conversations at the end of a project. It can leave a sour taste after an otherwise successful project.

Last one’s it

Because it’s often hard to pin-point who is responsible for the damage, the last tradie on the job often has to carry the blame, or the supervising tradie (usually the builder). Hardly fair - but what’s the alternative?

Who’s responsible for protecting the floor? Is it the party who laid the floor - the tiler, concrete polisher, or carpet layer for example? Or is the party who might damage the floor - the electrician, painter or builder responsible for protecting the floor?

Someone – or everyone – needs to take responsibility.

Take the plunge and add it on

We know a few wise tradies who are factoring good quality floor protection into their jobs.

Some are adding it on as an optional extra for the homeowner to agree to. It’s a good opportunity to show that you respect their property and are being proactive about protecting it.

Also note with the new Health and Safety at Work Act just launched there is extra responsibility on PCBUs (Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking) to ensure the health and safety of your workers (or workers influenced or directed by you).

When protecting floors, laying a product such as Ovaboard, has the added advantage of providing a non-slip, non-trip hazard surface.