Aarons outdoor creations - kit office assy

Aaron;s Outdoor creations

This company supplies and erects all types of wooden kit form constructions from dog houses to home studio's. The kits are reasonably priced and include construction from their official installers [ average - one day ]. Council approval is not required as the kits are under one square. A concrete base is usual but any reasonably flat surface will do though I gather that any surface can be accommodated as the footings would be set in concrete. As kits go, they look fabulous. The main trouble would come at the construction stage and as I have had one built, lets all pull these constructions to pieces, so to speak, and see where the MAJOR stuff-ups are.

The first hint of trouble was [ you guessed it ] with the wankers putting the thing together. Dispite a concrete base to work with, it seems that it is not mandatory to support the structure [ and bolt it to the concrete ] on steel pins; like to prevent termite invasion. Oh no sirree bob, just stick the whole thing on hardwood blocks and no need to bolt it to the concrete as the weight alone will keep it there. I'll accept that premise for the moment. The next thing our intrepid assemblers did was secure the roof [ ripple color-bond] with screws fastening the said roof in the troughs and not the high points [ hello leaking roof ]. Because no kit units are manufactured perfectly [ made in Melbourne ] any gaps in the pieces were not filled, as a result, one could see daylight through the walls where they were joined to form one solid side wall. Another blatant point of contention is, not one surface is diametrically level in position. That is, nothing is perfectly square with respect to horizontal or vertical level as well as joining surfaces - shit sloppy construction by building standards [ all this pointed out by another qualified builder and the plasterer ]. Get a life guys, and care a little more about your job and customer satisfaction.

Now lets look at it from a builders point of view. Firstly, the main beam holding the roof up [ vee shaped ] is far too small for the weight of the roof let alone any plastering etc that has to be done. As a result, the roof sags in the middle ever so slightly and had to be strengthened before plastering was done.[Re-enforced struts and cross members]
Even the walls are out of plump [ mentioned above ] enough to give the plasters headaches [ more expense ]. On a plan view, this kit would be slightly rhombus from the top perspective AND the side perspective. In short; the kit was manufactured with too many tolerances and as little strengthening material as they could safely get away with. Every distance between uprights, is different; no uniformity at all. This makes it hell to fit noggins and stop a hurricane wind from twisting or flexing the whole structure. The plasterer has to use flexi-joints and warns that nobody can stand on the roof [ especially the middle where one would tend to stand ] else the structure would sag too much and crack all the roof plaster. Well done Aaron !! you've taken a good concept and cut corners so much in production to render the weather proof studio useless to finish off unless we spend a sh*t load of money shoring the thing up. I do NOT recommend this studio construction [ in spite of it's cheap price ] as the extra money you would have to spend on it to make it granny-flat compatible, would be near enough to getting a better kit from another maker. I estimate, we have to spend half as much again for a chippy and plasterer to make the unit worthy of their color brochures. A little more care in manufacture and assemblers who don't cut corners for a few bucks would see a reasonable fix up.

Submitted to 'building today', 'My builder', 'Kit revues', ;Business monthly'. Also posted on my 4 internet sites and here in the blog.

UPDATE:
Sunday 11th Feb 2009

Well it seems, I can pick-em alrighty. In the Sunday Mail today is a story concerning
a bogus building firm that has been struck off and investigated in Vic and NSW. Now operating in Queensland. A warning has been given by authorities about dealing with this firm. No prizes here. Aarons

I guess I was lucky, I had the nouse to have it fixed up at the finishing stage by another builder and it cost me a few bob. The refinished kit IS acceptable but only because I knew where the stuff ups were; most people would not be so lucky.