We had one of those nightmare experiences of buying our new house/selling our previous one - first buyer pulled out on day of exchange, vendors & their solicitor were hopeless leading to long delays, vendors let themselves back into the house after completion, they still haven't forwarded their post, etc etc. I have found a lot of comfort in reading old MN threads where the same - and much worse - has happened to others!
Now we are about 3/4 through renovating the new house (BIG project - loft, side return, internal walls, plumbing, wiring etc) and I've had it up to here with our builders. They have:
- continually increased the cost of the project, the latest being an email today which has added £10k out of nowhere
- demanded that we order a whole bunch of stuff which wasn't on the client supply list, like data points and shaver sockets and all sorts of stuff I've never heard of but which we only wanted standard fittings for. This has taken us hours and hours and then there's always something else we should have known to order at the same time (nails for fence posts, screws for hinges) which he comes back and has a strop about
- called our joiner behind our back to tell him that he couldn't come at the time we'd agreed two months earlier to start fitting shelves etc
- refused to do things we've asked for and which were in the scope of works from the very beginning, like install an extractor fan and demolish an old shed in the garden
- demanded lots of feedback by email and yet seemingly not read any of our emails to him (e.g. quibbling about not knowing the types of fans/oven which would need to be installed despite having been sent the client supply list with them on three times)
There is a lot more - he is incredibly petty and a total prima donna and there is something to be resolved/ordered/discussed/challenged every single sodding day. DH is ill with the stress of the project on top of work and wakes up every morning wanting to fire them. The builder has totally fallen out with our architect, who is also project managing. The only redeeming feature is that the work is really good quality and the end is in sight so although we have been close to firing him, we've so far just decided to grit our teeth and hope that he'll be out of our lives soon enough. I have been comforting myself with the thought on the online review I'll leave on Houzz (and anywhere else I can find he's listed) saying basically 'do not hire this guy'. Is it fair to do that? On the one hand, he's made our lives miserable. On the other, I would still feel a bit bad if he went out of business thanks to a review we left. AIBU? Or just being an idiot?