Examples of Work by Other Companies

  Join is not fully welded and is mis-aligned. This type of join allows dirt and other contaminants to settle in the join due to the gap, as can be seen.

   The handrail bracket is also mounted upside down.

   Here, old style swaging is used and is done incorrectly - the wire should be snug around the tear-drop shaped thimble.

   No tail should be visible past the swage and this has occured due to lack of knowledge on how to apply/swage the end correctly as they have tried to trim the wire tail after end has been done.

   The swage should be hard up against the thimble.

   Correct tool has not been used to compress the swage - looks like a pair of electrical pliers have been used.

   Ugly, unattractive bracket and swaging has been very poorly done (as read above).

   Builder informed the customer of that they were experienced in this area - obviously not.







 

   Knock-in end fittings used instead of fully welding. This is usually done by inexperienced or unqualified installers who buy knock-in end fittings and lengths of tube to assemble a job onsite without taking advantage of welding stainless steel to achieve a smooth and continuous finish.

   It is interesting that this style of installation is usually no cheaper than having it properly fabricated due to the cost of the fittings themsleves.

   Poor welding job - rough and messy.

   Posts aren't aligned and are appearing to lean at different angles.

   Pintle bent due to poor construction of the post head in not having allowed for the tension that is applied when the wires are tightened - a very common problem and this is why the front post appears to be leaning. It has actually been pulled over.

   Wires are too loose due to poor initial design of the balustrade which comes from a lack of understanding of how a tensioned structure works.






 

   On this job the wires were way too loose to comply with the Australia Building Codes. The problem is due to cheap construction of the posts and their connection to the handrail, which were flexing under the wire tension.

   Handrail is only installed with nails, yet it needs to be installed to withstand the tension that it applied to it by the wires.

   Cheap, open-bodied stainless steel hook and eye turnbuckles used.

   This on a $100,000+ landscape design job!?!

   Commonly used base-plate and cover arrangement. Covers like this rattle in the wind and are kicked loose by people's feet, not to mention they are big, bulky and ugly.

   Interestingly, take a close look at the photo and you'll see that the cover cannot be lowered to cover the baseplate due to the installer having placed the bottom rod in position prior to lowering the cover. This is why we used our own trained staff to install - to avoid mistakes like this happening. 

   We lost this job due to price.

The photo is indicative of the shortcuts taken to achieve the cost reduction. We had quoted for all the vertical rods to be scalloped to the profile of the handrail and fully wleded, not square cut and tacked in position. The whole job was a rough as this.

   Same job as above. No explanation necessary.

 ^^ This is an example of readily available, over-the-counter DIY end plug fittings that a lot of so-called "experts" are currently using. The directional forces of the handrail are dislodging the plug as it is only a press fit and not welded in, and the pintle arrangment is hopelessly inadequate to carry the load. The cost by the builder, incurred by buying the product, attempting to install it himself then hiring two "experienced" installers, was more than our original quote. 

   We were finally called in to rectify, but had to walk away as there was no possibility of fixing it other than a complete replacement, which the builder refused to do.

Client was left very unhappy.

Look closely - you'll also see that the stainless steel is scratched and the glass is cracked.

   Knock-in end fittings used again in both this photo and the one below. In this instance the pintle is tack welded to the handrail, but the weld is not pickled or cleaned. Very poor pintle to handrail connection.