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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Aibu to think enough is enough

189 replies

Teaandbiscuits82 · 30/01/2021 12:59

2.5 years ago my OH stopped working to temporarily focus on building an upstairs extension on our house and fit a new kitchen downstairs. In that time I have paid all bills etc as was agreed at the start and I was happy to do this so we could make the changes to our house quicker. In this time I have been redundant then had to leave a new job as working from home with Young children just wasn’t working for me and I couldn’t meet the requirements of the job. Fast forward to now we have a shell of an upstairs extension and the kitchen area is gutted (basically back to bricks and a shell not a useable space) we have a temporary kitchen set up in garage.

AIBU in feeling like I have had enough of living in a building site while being financially responsible for 5 people. I agreed to him taking time off work to do the work but was thinking a year tops not 2.5 with no end in sight. I am very resentful and I don’t know how I can return to not feeling that way. I dare not question him as I get met with a torrent of how I shouldn’t question him and any suggestion of getting someone in to help basically gets met with the same. I feel it’s just to put me off asking him again but I can’t continue like this forever financially or mentally and I want my kids to have a home not half a home they can’t use.

Would anyone else be happy with set up, I am shot down for suggesting I am unhappy about it

OP posts:
Jerima · 20/07/2021 16:28

@Teaandbiscuits82 I just want to say that you are doing the right thing. Your partner sounds like he has issues he sounds depressed but also in denial/refusal to do anything about the situation except pull you all down into a really shit load of misery and chaos. He sounds like he has no process in his work and no plan just starting bits and not finishing them. I am quite familiar with your situation so I'm wondering what his father was like when it came to working, did your partner grow up in a building site?

My dh did and his father was building that house for over 30 years!! His father was behaving the same way your partner is and my dh mum was shut down shouted at and bullied to the point she couldn't question him and wasn't even allowed to get builders in or choose tiles or anything. In the more than 30 years that my DP family grew up with no floors and walls smashed down and half built crap,his father only ever finished the downstairs toilet but managed to always be too busy building other family members houses and actually completing those. He would then scream at dh mum if she questioned anything about their house. When dh father died it took a year for the builders to complete all his work.

Now in our house as soon as my dh picks up a paintbrush he turns into some kind of mad man behaving the same. He starts things and don't finish before starting new things. Our house is full of jobs half done and is a mess.

The difference is I have somehow recently been able to get through to him show him that his behaviour is that of somebody triggered by his childhood experiences and he finally agreed to listen and make a list to work through. He is still very slow with work and at times me saying anything is complained about but he is far less likely to act like a knob when it comes to DIY these days. This is because he is willing to look at himself and see the comparison with how his father behaved.

Sadly your partner is not willing to admit there is an issue so unless you want to be living like that in 30 years time, I think you are doing exactly the right thing. Good luck

supersop60 · 20/07/2021 16:29

Please get professional advice BEFORE you talk to your OH. I assume you're not married, which will make things easier in many ways.
Solicitor re rights
Mortgage company re deeds/ownership.
I'd say don't discuss anything with him, because he seems to be able to manipulate you into letting things go.
Do it in stages - eg take yours and the DC passports to your parents or a friend for safekeeping. Then start clearing stuff out to the "charity shop" little by little.
Don't make your DC grow up with this as 'normal' - it's not.
Wishing you all the very best.

PurpleWaterBlue · 20/07/2021 16:30

He is a builder who is taking time off to "build you a home".

No, my friend. He is an unemployed layabout. Gets up, potters about all day doing fuck all while you pay for it.

  1. A professional builder should be done by now.
  1. He's ended up with 50/50 house ownership when it sounds like he has put very little money in.
  1. He is constantly gaslighting you into thinking you are being unreasonable when you are not being so.
  1. He is a complete and utter lazy bastard.
  1. Sounds like you are frightened that he may get physically abusive

For heaven's sake, get some legal advise.

Do not let him take it all just to get away from him.

Please don't let the fucking cocklodging piece of shit come out on top as he is currently on course to do.

user1471538283 · 20/07/2021 16:40

I agree he is not a builder. My DUncle is one and absolutely understands that time is money. If stuff needs doing at home he squeezes it in between jobs. He pointed and rebuilt some of my walls, made me a double outside step, fixed the fence, fixed a line and other bits in four days!

You've been a saint with this but now you need legal advice.

LannieDuck · 20/07/2021 16:44

Wow, definitely speak to a solicitor about that £80k deposit. No idea if you can get it back but worth trying.

I can't believe you had to give up your job (only family income) to homeschool when he was unemployed. That would have been a good excuse for delaying the build.

But he's just lazy, isn't he?

vixeyann · 20/07/2021 16:47

I genuinely think you have the patience of a saint. I couldn't live like that or shoulder the solo burden for so long. Hugs to you x

RandomMess · 20/07/2021 16:49

Perhaps you need to play the situation and he either needs to get x y z done by the end of August or hers a job and you both pay to get the house finished.

Could you afford to buy him out at its current valuation as surely with no kitchen and so half finished it cannot be worth much?

He has utterly taken the piss for 3 years hasn't he Angry

OhtheVulgarity · 20/07/2021 16:54

Oh, god, OP, I could feel my blood pressure spiking as I read this. It's largely irrelevant to you you should concentrate on following the good advice given above about getting your affairs in order to leave but in fact I know two men like this.

One is a close relative who inherited a house, his own childhood home, thirty years ago. It was a substantial rural house that needed some work, which is he was perfectly fitted to do as he was a carpenter and builder who regularly roofed, built and repaired houses of the same time, and had all the skills, tools and experience, needed. He had/has an extreme attachment to the house which he does not live in and worries constantly about it, and what the neighbours must think of its increasingly shabby appearance, but in 30 years, he has not done one single thing to it other than to turn off the water 'in case it leaks'. It is now falling down -- you can see through the walls to the outside, and the roof leaks, the stairs is dangerous, the front wall fell out into the road. He continually talks about doing the work, or, alternatively, selling it, but does neither. I think he's got significant MH issues, but the house has become a specific fixation on which he is 'stuck', to his wife's despair. Even though they don't live in the house, he can't go on holidays because he should be working on the house, he can't get it valued because he'd be cheated, he can't buy something because he should spend that money on the house etc. He's now in his 70s, so it's likely he'll die with this still on his mind.

The other man is a former colleague and friend. We did exactly the same job at the same level of seniority. I only realised when I visited his home and met his wife that he'd given her the impression his job was so full-on that he needed to be in the office from eight in the morning to eight at night five days a week, and to go in one if not two days at weekends, or, if not, to work in his home study while she wrangled their children, did all housework and held down her own demanding FT job.

Once she met me and realised I did exactly the same job doing three days in the office only, I could see things dawning on her -- that she'd been had for years. He'd absented himself from his children's lives to bumble around procrastinating, surfing the internet etc while technically 'working', and in fact he was notorious within the workplace for his disorganisation and his (strategic?) incompetence in key admin tasks. (Obviously I didn't tell her this.)

I'm not even sure he was consciously lying to her -- he was just an incompetent procrastinator who had never been forced to do what most of us have had to learn to do, fit work into the time available, and work, and what he viewed as his irreplaceability, had become a permanent alibi for not having to engage in family life.

So you're not alone. The former colleague and his wife are now divorced, and she's far happier. Good luck to you, OP. You don't have to go on like this.

lastcall · 20/07/2021 16:56

I'm amazed you've stayed as long as you have, OP. He's taking the complete piss, and he's put your 50% investment in the house at risk with his refusal to pull his thumb out and get on with it. Be thankful you're not actually married to him.

Stand firm. I think you're doing the right thing following through on leaving. Should have done it 2nd June.

DGFB · 20/07/2021 16:57

Yanbu, his behaviour is disgraceful.

Gingernaut · 20/07/2021 17:01

You don't have a kitchen.

If you try to sell, you will probably have to accept cash buyers and low offers, as the house would be unmortgageable.

Goldenfan · 20/07/2021 17:05

Hes not a builder. He's an abuser in every way. Trust me I'm a domestic abuse specialist. If you need help to leave please do reach out.

Not to make you feel any worse but to give you perspective and give your oh some. My husband is not a builder, he works full time 7.30-5 every day comes home cooks every evening, cleans up after dinner then puts our youngest in bath and bed and gets her up and ready and takes her to nursery everyday so I can focus on eldest who has sen. we moved in to our reno mid January this year and he has done 98% of the work himself, he's finished upstairs, new roof on back of house, done 2 gardens including digging out literally tons of stone and resurfacing etc, stripped all upstairs rooms back completely and finished them including decorating and furniture building (built youngest bed from scratch for example) and completed the hall (which is large) including stripping the stairs right back etc. This week he will put a new roof on our garage and then start ripping out our kitchen for fitting asap. I just cannot see what your husband has been doing.

Anotherlovelybitofsquirrel · 20/07/2021 17:20

How has he got away with it for SO long?! Is he not embarrassed?

caringcarer · 20/07/2021 17:25

My dh gutted a large old kitchen and refitted it himself at evenings and at weekends and it took him less than 3 months and he is an accountant so not skilled in kitchen fitting. It was fitted into an empty house and looks fab. He to took about 3 days to rip out old units, smash off old tiles and to replaster the walls. Then he took up floor tiles. All taken out and put in skip. All units broken down and put in skip. Got rid of cooker, washing machine and fridge freezer, all taken to tip in several trips. Walls painted in white paint. New units all made up. Floor tiled, making sure it was level. Floor tiles grouted. New appliances fitted back in and units fitted and levelled. Worktops fitted with a jig. Walls tiled and grouted. Taps fitted to sink. New lights up. And he cleaned up every night and continued doing his share of jobs around our home. I can't imagine how angry I would be if he did what your DH did. I would definitely leave him. He is taking the piss. How can you even bear to be in your own home with the kitchen like a bomb site? your husband is showing no consideration for you at all. Why should the children have to live like this because their Dad is so lazy and useless? Don't put up with it. Tell him you have had enough he gets a job or you LTB.

Dwrcegin · 20/07/2021 17:25

@Teaandbiscuits82

It really has worn me down to the point if I no longer recognise myself 😬 I cannot live like this forever.

I am not sure if we are joint tenants I know it went down as we were both equal owners (yes stupid of me I know my sister gave me a rollicking when I told her) remembering back he refused to entertain the idea of moving (from my first house he moved into) unless it was 50/50. He also refused to look at most houses i suggested it was only this one really that he would view and he convinced me to move here on the basis that he would do x y z. I know I am very stupid. I was worried if we didn’t move soon we wouldn’t be able to as I would Have been on Maternity leave and being the main applicant as the higher earner I thought this might have stopped us from being able to move. For various reasons ( that could probably fill another thread) I really just wanted a stable family home for the children as it’s something I never really had. I think maybe he has cottoned on top a bit of vulnerability in me due to things I have told him about my early years and taken me for a bit of a ride (that I have been stupid enough to go along with).

He was actually working on a job today he left home and 10 and was back home at 3:30 when I dropped kids to my parents. Need to put my big girl pants on and sort it out.

Can anyone advise what documents I should be gathering, I’m not sure what he would do with passports. Luckily he never got round to booking the appointment for sorting out a joint account. Everything goes out of my account apart form council tax. I have took same cash that was in the kitchen that he said I could use to go food shopping. A life changing £80.

I’d quite happily walk out the house and leave all my stuff behind if I had somewhere to go.

Need to sort my work situation out before I can rent anywhere or get mortgage.

Bleedin' hell, he wants a fishing holiday, when he's been on a three year long holiday at your expense! Change the locks when he goes.

Good luck to you and your kids Flowers

TedImgoingmad · 20/07/2021 17:25

You've said he can be spiteful, so think about what the worst human beings do when they get their hands on other people's paperwork.

We all take precautions against strangers getting their hands on account details etc, so apply that to him, keep your bank/credit card statements etc safe.

At the very least, he can make your life difficult and cause you expense if, say, your passports went missing and you had to replace them, or he changes utilities without you knowing and there's unpaid balances on the old accounts in your name that are pursued via legal routes. Taking out loans in joint names using utility bills etc as ID is a risk.

Retain pension docs, wills, vehicle ownership docs, etc.

He could just destroy stuff to spite you, precious things that you don't want to lose, exam certificates, birth certificates, photos. Eg, my ex took a load of my photo albums and precious books I'd inherited from my parents, they can't be replaced.

If you have retained any evidence that the £80K deposit on the house came from your money, and that you never intended to gift him half of that £80K, then there's a chance you can claw back more than 50% from the property, even if it is held as a joint tenancy (it's a very outside chance without a deed of trust, you need to get specific legal advice about this).

MyriadeOfThings · 20/07/2021 17:32

@2021namechanger

This is awful! Let’s say he usually earns £30k a year - the labour for your extension has now costs you £70,000 - plus costs, and of course your mental well-being.
That’s a very good and I’m wondering how he would react to that….
MyriadeOfThings · 20/07/2021 17:39

@Teaandbiscuits82

Thank you so much for commenting it really does help to read that it is a ridiculous situation. I genuinely believe he is literally the only person in the world who cannot see it. As for what he does all day...... a typical day would be getting up 730/8. He insists on doing the morning school run (note no contribution to getting children ready for school or any input into anything school related) I think he does it so can say I take my kids to school. Comes back breakfast coffee disappears upstairs for a bit maybe stays doing something about 10/1030 then 11 decides he needs something material wise so disappears for a bit. Comes back tells me he’s seen x y z so obviously stops for a chat. Phone rings chats for a bit. Does a favour for someone eg fix their car. Chats to neighbours does some work when kids come home from school. Stresses at kids for disturbing him trying to work. Eats dinner goes back outside gets annoyed i ask him to come in to help with bedtimes (7pm) goes in shower and doesn’t help with bedtimes (which is a challenge with 3 sometimes). Takes eldest up to bed. Sits down as tired 🤣🤣🤣🤣

I know it’s ridiculous. He will spend all day washing a car. I don’t get it. But If I question it I get shot down and it’s everyone else’s fault but his that things aren’t done. Oh and it’s been a pandemic is his other favourite line.

I also booked a weeks holiday with kids and my
Parents so we were out of the way and I suggested during that week he So some of the messy stuff like knocking through upstairs. He told me he was going to go to wales fishing with his brother as I wouldn’t cope if he went when I was here. Which is not true in the slightest!!! There are so many things I could say. But I am so glad I am going to take control now after giving a final final final final chance. I can’t go on like this forever feeling so isolated.

Thank you again for your comments I really do appreciate it.

I have ME and often feels like I’m doing nothing with my day etc… I’m doing more than he is!!

How he can then say he has been trying his best, I have no idea!

RandomMess · 20/07/2021 17:46

It's been 3 years so that's £90k of labour costs. This thread was started in January

AngryAngryAngryAngry

irishoak · 20/07/2021 18:06

Reading this has been so stressful because it reminds me of my ex. He gave every impression of being a hard worker and knowing what he was talking about, then we moved to this house and I realised it was all just showing off, he only worked hard to impress other people, once he had me trapped he could kick back. He also hated to be questioned about the things he did, to the point that I developed a stutter when I wanted to ask him a question about anything. He smoked weed all day long, taking half an hour to roll a cigarette while he watched YouTube, half an hour to smoke it while he played games on his phone. I was working online and by the time I'd stop for lunch, if I was lucky he might have just finished walking the dog, fuck all else done. I was paying for everything too, but wasn't allowed to question what my own money was being spent on. Our final row was because he thought he should also (in addition to having every single one of his living expenses paid for by me for years, including his weed) be given the extra money that was saved by him doing things rather than getting anyone in. He would have me order materials and promise to start doing things after arguments, and then never finish them. Always my fault of course, because I was so negative it made him too depressed to work.

I'm not sure what the point of this is other than to get it off my chest, let you know you're not alone, and to say thank you (sort of!) for making me feel less alone. I feel like a real mug when I think about all, and I wish I'd never met him, but he's gone now and I'm so much happier even tho the house is still unfinished, because he's not here.

thepeopleversuswork · 20/07/2021 18:22

Life’s too short for this. Ultimatum time. He had to crack on with the house or take a job pronto or it’s game over.

Could you afford childcare?

YorkshireLass2012 · 20/07/2021 18:58

Please get some legal advice. If you are in England or Wales, most family law solicitors offer a free one hour consultation.
Reading through the whole thread from the start, it sounds as if DH has been given chance after chance after chance. He has shown no respect for you OP or children. He sounds like a sponging CF tbh. I don’t sa this often but LTB.

Sewaccidentprone · 20/07/2021 19:11

Just wow.

We had a new kitchen fitted last year.

I took 3 weeks off work. The 1st 2 were spent removing the old kitchen,, tiles, flooring and all the plaster off the walls. Admittedly I paid the electrician, plumber and builders who came in after me, but it was re wired, replastered, new kitchen fitted etc and repainted within 3 weeks of that. I did the tiling, which took another couple of weeks (it’s bloody hard work and I was back at work)

It’s not quite finished yet as I’m in the middle of repainted the old original built in cupboard (obs not in this weather though), but everything else is done. The flooring will go down after I’ve finished the cupboard, so we currently sport a scrubbed floors look.

Your dp is a lazy arse. You need to wrap up this whole situation ASAP, ensuring you lose out financially as little as possible.

Sometimes it’s hard to see clearly when you’re close to a situation, but you need to put yourself first in this situation as everything revolves around you financially, childcare wise etc. it’ll feel so much easier as you will only be responsible for you and your children, and not the millstone you have saddled yourself with. At least you don’t have to get a divorce, so you’ll save some money that way.

LittleRed53 · 20/07/2021 19:40

I know someone who was in a similar situation. The husband agreed to do a lot of renovation work on the house, but he was already retired so had plenty of free time, and they went into it as a project.

What was supposed to be done in a year/18 months ended up taking more than 8 years. And would have taken much longer if their daughter and SIL hadn't moved in next door and put in a load of work themselves.

The husband would waste hours 'pottering', he'd always have some little thing to get done on the computer that would end up taking the whole morning, he'd act hard done by if he did more than a couple of hours actual real work in a day. He started complaining that this wasn't what he'd imagined retirement would be, always working.

The irony was that the second the house was finally finished, they up and sold it (turfing their daughter and SIL out in the process!)

I'll never understand them. But yes, that's the difference between someone who just doesn't have self-discipline, self-motivation, and someone who does (like my FIL who is a retired builder and is a total dynamo at every task he puts himself to!)

HamsterHelp · 21/07/2021 07:50

I can barely read this thread it makes me so stressed and annoyed.