I have the money for repairs but cannot face dealing with trades. AIBU to just live in the house as it is

[Eastie77Returns]

Just that really. Bought the house a few years ago. I had threads going at the time about my horrendous experience with Trades. In one particular case (main builder) the police ended up getting involved. We thankfully found decent builders to fix his awful work but even they made errors and ruined some of our new flooring with paint.

We did find some good trades: a Carpenter who did our in wardrobes and shelves, the joiner who put in our doors, the flooring team. They were amazing. But the guys we employed for the bigger stuff…it was awful.

Eventually we ran out of cash and just accepted we would live with the shoddy work we couldn’t fix. Now I’ve inherited some money and I’m in a position to get stuff fixed and add a loft conversion. However I’ve decided for the benefit of my mental health that I cannot do it. I cannot face dealing with Trades again. The lies, the dishonesty, the unprofessionalism. It’s too much. I feel it’s inevitable I’ll be ripped off and a loft conversion will involve so much time, money and disruption.

On the other hand, the house looks shabby. It is a bit embarrassing having guests round when so much needs doing.. The walls already need repainting, skirting boards are awful. The house needs a glow up. I am not handy and neither is DP so we cannot do it ourselves. And we really do need the extra room the conversion will bring. I don’t trust any trades.

The funny thing is I do actually like the house. It has grown on me. It’s old but I like the character. I just feel a bit depressed when I look at the grubby walls and all the bits that need doing.

I’m not even sure what my AIBU is. Should I just live in the house as it is for now and protect my well being?

New door works due tomorrow. Dreading it Contractors asked if DH can go somewhere else at 8.30am 🙄 (he has COPD and the dust and mess will exacerbate it) dreading it.

Hope it goes as smoothly as it can. Are these internal door works? We had our front door replaced and I was pleasantly surprised that it was all went well and the fitters were very professional. We did use a company for that (London Door Company) but we then had a local tradesman fit a couple of internal doors and he was great. He did all of the cutting, fitting outside on our front lawn and brought the doors in so there was minimal dust.

Its the door to our flat Apparently the fire front door we already have is not good enough and has to be replaced AGAIN. Some ppl on our estate are on their third change.

When they did the door in to the flat underneath they managed to get dust and crap everywhere All over the stairs and banisters and didnt bother to clean up after.

Paint the walls and skirting, it will looks loads better. Those are really maintenance jobs. They don't stay perfect even if you have the best painter in the country painting them.

I'd probably forget the loft conversion though if you're fed up with Trades, I don't blame you btw!

I'd focus on sprucing up what you've got :)

My mother who has never held a paintbrush in her life used to tell me "all it needs is a pot of paint". Ok, do I paint over the cracks and uneven surfaces or paint around them?

DIY/painting and decorating does take up precisely free time but most people don’t do this all the time. My DH and I both work FT, he studies and we have 2 young children (2 and 7). We have just moved and we are currently fixing the worst things eg electrical and plumbing. About to start on painting. I push all the furniture into the middle of the room and throw old curtains over it all. Will start with DS1 room so he can sleep in with us for a few nights. Usually can do 2 x coats on the ceiling and 1x coat on the wall over a weekend. Then an hour an evening to do the other coats on the walls and then the skirting. Then about three house staring at my completed work! It’s a bit of a faff but so worth it. Then we’ll leave a few weeks or months before we attempt any more.

Can people recommend any you tubers they find good for teaching yourself or any courses you have done? I have come to the conclusion that it would be best to try and do as much ourselves as we can.

I've got mine today too!

They have gone next door instead and are now in their van arguing with someone about my exact address. I've been waiting since last march for them to even turn up and I expect they'll now leave again as computer says no.

They do have my neighbours address and phone number as someone to allow access if I'm not in. I have gone out to them and said it's my house, but they can't do it unless the address correlates with the paperwork apparently.
Righto!

This is me! I want my (high ceilinged) bedroom re wallpapered and get big ikea wardrobes built in. We can afford it but it's the agony of the process that stops us. I just live with old wallpaper and a pine wardrobe from 2001 because the necessary steps to get what I want are just too much.

I should add I had an electrician to modernise the light sockets on Friday.

SHE turned up 20 minutes early, completed everything in an hour, tested it all and swept up after herself. Gave me a free light switch change as well as one was cracked.

No dust sheet been put down Mess and debris all over my hall carpet.

I have purposely not hoovered 🤣

@TroysMammy if you have cracks/uneven surfaces it depends how bad they are but filler in any holes and then sandpapering over usually has made it look better before painting over

Sorry I wasn't asking for tips. I should have added the word mother in my last question. They are big settling cracks not hairline, house is ex council so not perfect. To be honest I'd rather iron clothes than do decorating and I hate hate hate ironing, you get my drift. I have no problem decorating my dolls house and other miniature buildings though but draw the line at doing it to my house. I have a short attention span for mundane things hence being on Mumsnet instead of hoovering 😀

We had a fantastic female locksmith come out to sort out our locks when we moved into the new house. DP felt it necessary to stand over her and mansplain how she should do her job🙄 I had to almost forcibly remove him. I honestly don’t know how she controlled herself and didn’t knock him out with a lock, particularly as he really didn’t know what he was talking about.

There was a specific issue with a window lock that a previous (male) locksmith looked at, sucked his teeth and told me couldn’t be fixed without replacing the entire window and DP was telling her this. He then had to watch wordlessly as she replaced the lock with no fuss.

@TroysMammy we also have cracks in the wall/ceiling. And yeah, I’m not redocrating either. Just cannot face it. I can’t face getting the decorators back in either. They ruined some of our lovely new flooring last time and used different paint from the one we agreed on. We are going to do the loft next year so maybe I’ll bite the bullet and get someone in to redecorate at the same time. Dreading it all.

Ahhh, my people! We had an amazing guy in to do some floorboards and DH and I both commented how it shouldn't feel so lucky and unusual to get a brilliant tradesperson who is honest, polite, hard working and skilled.

There's a reasonably big project that we've been wanting to do for years but I really can't face the sourcing quotes, having people in and so on.

DH is amazing at DIY and I think he could do all the works in our house (he's even good at electrics etc) but he works too many hours. I tell him if he ever wants to quit his job he's refurbishing the entire place before looking for anything else.

Floorboards! that reminds me. A few years ago now, I had remedial work done on the house after a MASSIVE radiator leak caused by a central heating company. The insurance workmen who came into rip the entire floor out, relay the floorboards, then re carpet were amazing....fast, courteous and both did an excellent job. The floor bloke lived locally so I asked if he had a card with his details on and he explained very politely that he only did work via insurance. He was absolutely open that the prices he could charge were insane (his words) and he had more work than he could handle.

I do feel your pain OP. We've had some awful trades in the past. We're lucky now that we live in a village where we've got a great network of local trades - word gets around very quickly if someone hasn't done a good job and/or is unreliable.

As an example our next door neighbours were having their bathroom done by a local company - let's call them XX Home Refurbishment. We were looking to have similar works done and DH mentioned XX to a couple of builders who he knows in our local, just to get their thoughts. Both of DH"s friends said that they definitely wouldn't use them as sub-contractors at all. The reasons they gave absolutely coincided with those given by our neighbour when we saw her subsequently (unreliable and rude were two of the politest words!).

@Eastie77Returns I know this is a few months ago but I thought I would update. The electricians turned up and did the jobs I needed doing.
The Council repaired the flat roof shared with my Council tenant neighbour - no charge.
Then the carpenter called to quote for the bespoke wardrobes and storage.
The plasterer called to quote for the bedroom, hall stairs and landing.

The plumber/gas fitted replaced a gas hob which only 3 burners worked for years.
then my heating back boiler of 30 years started playing up. The plumber/gas fitter Called to quote a combi boiler. Because of the cost of this some jobs had to be put on hold.
The combi boiler was installed.
The plasterer prepped the bedroom for plastering tomorrow.
The Carpenter will be doing the wardrobes in July.

I'm so pleased with myself for biting the bullet and making those calls. After 36 years living here it is starting to take shape.

I hope you are similarly getting there?

I've been similarly busy but have experienced some setbacks:

Hall floor laid
Wardrobes fitted
Roof retiled
Gutters cleared and fixed
Shutters fitted
Bedroom repainted

Cock ups:
Painter messed up kitchen, so that has to be redone
Carpet which is only a few years old started rotting so needs to be replaced

Work outstanding:
Kitchen walls
Bathroom needs to be repainted
Carpet fitted

Brilliant @TroysMammy .

Sorry you've had some setbacks @username299 , but it looks like you've been really productive.

Thanks, its been a slog! It's slowly getting there though.

I know this is a resurrected old thread but I would be interested to know about what jobs people have taught themself and which you tube channels you would recommend.

I'm currently getting quotes to paint two medium sized rooms and the highest quote so far is 2.5k! He reckoned it would take 5 days. Some people think you were born yesterday.