Terrible experience with house renovation peope so far

[GreenMerlin]

Hi all,

Hope everybody is enjoying some downtime this wonderful time of the year.

I was wondering if anyone has any tips to deal with house renovation people, the likes of interior designers, curtain makers, builders, landscape designers, carpet installers.

We were super fortunate to buy our first house in London last December. As our budget was limited, we got ourselves a bit of a project house, one that needs some structural changes and decoration. As I'm taking some time off from work due to health reasons, I thought it would be fun to do it in the meantime.

Boy, I was so wrong, it's the most stressful thing I've ever dealt with. Our carpets arrived after 6 months of ordering despite continous chasing, a landscaper tried to charge us 500gbp for sending us some plans we did not ask for, the curtain lady promised to deliver before Christmas then changed her mind because she got busy and then disappeared with our fabrics, total radio silence for a week now. These are all people we were referred to, so not like random people I find on the internet.

Is there something I'm doing wrong? I don't want to think the worst of people, but I was born in Turkey and then lived in US and UK for 15 years now, so I'm wondering if there is some sort of xenophabia involved? Or do they think because we are foreigners it's OK to treat us like garbage like we do not pose any threat to their reputation?

I'm feeling pretty low and even thinking of moving back to US or to a turnkey house :(

Appreciate your thoughts!!

Thank you

Sorry you’re having a rough time of it 💐
It’s really hard doing up a house and it’s especially bad currently as they are all really busy and there’s an issue with supplies.

I’ve spent many years having things done on and off and had some awful experiences , I don’t think it’s because you are foreigners. Worse one was my friend’s DH who condemned our heating shortly before Christmas (that British Gas hadn’t condemned) when I had a tiny baby.

He quoted for a Worcester Bosch or Vaillant then turned up with an Ideal that failed beyond repair after 7 years. I had a small baby plus family turning up for Christmas dinner on the 24th Dec with water coming through the ceiling when they were half an hour away.

I know have a great builder and a great landscaper who I pay the minute they invoice me as I appreciate them so much. It took a few attempts to find them though.

No it’s impossible to find anyone.

This is why recommendations matter. My mom had a hard time trying to find a painter two years ago who was willing to work in the evenings.

I like to do it myself however. With the aid of property magazines and suitable decent advice from people in the know, it is actually quite really easy.

House renovations are a huge nightmare. When we did ours we had to change building firms mid stream. The industry has a lot of problems. And this was a few years ago, before covid and before the supply of skilled labour was so tight.

We have had awful problems with trades people- they quote and don't turn up, or turn up once and don't come back or do a shoddy job or not what we asked for (and these are All recommendations). Our plasterer was brilliant when he did the first room, then sent two young lads who were terrible (and spent most of the day smoking) to do the rest of the house. We waited months to even get that done. We couldn't even get quotes from bathroom designers/fitters- even big household names. We are white British and born and bred close to where we love- so I don't think it's personal.

We moved in end of Jan this year and the whole house has been done-new kitchen bathroom, living /dining room, hallway, bedrooms, just had the stairs & landing carpets in this week which was the final thing. We ordered kitchen in March , fitted in July. Ordered bathroom in May, fitted last month. Been a nightmare juggling trades, ended up getting hallway stairs painted a week b4 he bathroom was put in as the timings just went tits up. Spent this weekend touching up the paint work again. All on top of full time jobs, we just had to trust the trades to be left alone.. we are Happy with the house now but what an exhausting year. Looking forward to relaxing next year. Maybe a few holidays maybe. Oh wait.... probably not... we are skint as everything was double the price we expected!!!

This is fairly common I think. I have had similar experiences. I would try not to take it personally and keep chasing. I have hired an architect/ project manager this time around to avoid having to deal with it again.

Its not personal to you.

There appear to be too few tradespeople drowning in work offers.

I have been let down this year by a Painter who I have used for years, who just blew me out. Not turning up on the day he promised, not answering his phone and leaving me sitting with cans of paint. I checked with another long term customer and he has done the same to her.

My curtain maker, again well known locally, has taken my deposit and similarly isn’t answering my calls 6 months after the curtains were ordered.

And don’t get me started on my plumber.

At first I thought it was me and racked my brain for what I had done wrong, I am always polite, supply copious amounts of tea and chocolate biscuits, grit my teeth if they are late or leave early and always pay the day the invoice lands.

I even asked my builder if he thought I was doing something wrong and he laughed and said, no I was a dream client, but they don’t need me!!

He said that at the moment many will respond to the people who shout loudest or who offer cash in hand.

I am now determined that my next house will be already renovated, I just can’t cope with the stress any more.