We are having significant building work done on our rented house. Because it's rented we don't get a choice on who the builders etc are. Builder faffed around for 15 months before starting and kept telling us that he would be starting "any time in the next few weeks" so we spent 15 months with support struts in the living room and loads of our stuff in storage. Finally work started and we've had delays and more delays. They do less than a week of work and then we have to wait 3 weeks for the plumber, the electrician, more wood etc. We were hoping to be finished and back in the house (we had to move out while the work is being done) by end of november but the work is only about half done and the builder is now saying end of January for completion. Landlord says this is normal and they know someone with a half built granny annexe in their garden who has been waiting for much longer for building work to finish. I'm slowly going mad though and so fed up of living in overcrowded conditions 30 miles away from home and the dc's schools.