grumble thread for those having work done

[clairewitchproject]

We are currently ten days over on a 4 week kitchen project. The building works were completed without drama within the 2 weeks assigned. The kitchen fitting bit has been a series of problems. The kitchen company delivered one incorrect unit on 6th July and the correct one won't arrive until 10 th August. They also delivered exactly the correct length of plinths for the room - assuming there is no wastage from having to cut the lengths to fit. So again we are waiting on plinth, to be delieverd 10th August. The floor tiles I chose were out of stock in the shop the builder recommended so had to be ordered online - causing 2 days delay. The painters arrived on the correct day a week after scheuled works should have been finished and then we had to delay tiler and plumber as they couldn't all work together in the space. The splashback tiling was due to be completed today but the tiler's van has allegedly broken down. So I fully expect not to see him today. And the worktops from 'worktop express' (!) are being incredibly slow - so much that the builder cancelled the order for 3 of the simpler lengths and had them deliver uncut worktops which he cut and fitted himself. However we have to wait on for one length which is a non standard size and needs curved corners. The worktop company wouldn't even less us pay extra for their super fast service as they are so busy. I am sick of this eating in to the kids' holiday when the whole plan was that it should be finished on 17th July before they broke up.

It will be beautiful when it is finished but I am so pissed off with the whole thing at the moment, I could happily take an axe to it.

Feel free to add your own rantings.

And breathe....

My kitchen is due to be ripped out and a new one put in, in 3 weeks' time.

So far I have bought some tiles. And nothing else.

A panic trip to Ikea will be taking place this weekend.

We are doing it all ourselves, so have literally no timescales weeps

Walls are back to the brick, I've ordered a jackhammer to do the floor at the weekend. I cannot wait till it starts to get to the 'putting it back together' stage

So. Much. Dust.

I want to take a jackhammer to my bathroom. Most days. And nights.

The tiler showed up at just after 12, one and a half days late, said he'd had a nightmare morning and that was the sum of his explanation. He stood in my kitchen for 30 seconds and announced that as it was 12 he was going to go and have his lunch break!
Anyway it is done now. The express worktop company is finally delivering my missing worktop NEXT Thursday, 5 weeks or so after my builder first sent in measurements. And then my missing plinth and cupboard are due 10th August. I am so ready to wave goodbye to this project.

I came home last night to find that our builder has taken it upon himself to store all his tools in the space under our stairs with no protection between all the dusty cases etc and our lovely floorboards. I texted him and said 'if you're going to do that, please use dust sheets' - he replied saying 'yeah sorry - I'll put dust sheets over the tools'.

OK then - as long as your tools don't get trashed and covered in muck.

Im in week 25 of a 45 week project to demolish an old conservatory and massively extend our kitchen and lounge. This is phase 1 of a larger refurb which will later (if we can bloody afford it) involve a loft conversion, remodel of downstairs area to make a bedroom into a hallway, add an ensuite, a downstairs loo and utility (we are in a bunglow).

So far we have redone the whole garden which is nearly finished and looks great, knocked down the conservatory and had the 40 sq metre extension built, plumbing is half in and floor has been screeded.

The builders did the shell but we are doing almost everything else ourselves . Plasterers come in less than 3 weeks and we still have to do first fix, build a stud wall between kitchen and lounge, remove the kitchen floor that is left in the old bit of house and make sure it is level. Builder needs to rebuild the garage wall we knocked down to get diggers through so we can relocate our boiler. He also needs to seal and point the patio.

After all that we still need to decorate, floor, fit large kitchen, replaster and decorate lounge and recarpet plus buy new furniture and get it all in. All at weekends as DH has a very demanding job and work 20 hours and have the two DC to consider.

I have no central heating or gas. No oven. No running water in the kitchen. This has been since April and won't be rectified until October.

If one more person says it will look great when its done I will go ape. On my last nerve and wishing we had bought a smaller house with no work at the moment!

Nightmare.

I am in phase 2 of our massive house refurbish. Phase 1 was when we moved in 22 months ago, just to make it liveable and lasted 7 weeks. Phase 2 is a conservatory demolish, extension and complete reconfiguration of the rooms downstairs. We are around 3 months in and should be finished mid September. I haven't really had a kitchen since we moved 22 months ago, just a slightly broken cooker and a washing machine and a propped up sink in a corridor like space.

My builders are lovely, super reliable, here every day, give me a weekly briefing of what is happening next and daily updates if I am around. Always let me know if they are not going to be there for any reason (they are a team, so have recently started a new job as my fit out doesn't require all of them etc). I have no complaints with them other than that I had to wait 16 months to get them.

However, I have really had enough now - the constant decision making about everything, not having a downstairs in the house at all, the garden being a building site all summer and having to get out of the house with DS2 and DD5 early every morning.

I thought I would love all the shopping for the new stuff, but its constant. choosing the tiles, cupboards, floor, appliances, lighting etc is really getting me down and DH is no help at all.

Ah Lambzig I feel for you! People keep saying how lucky I am (well no we worked hard to pay for part of it and are getting ourselves into a large amount of debt for the rest!), how amazing it will be etc. I know they are trying to be positive but living like this is very hard and it seems to be so stop-start with builders getting involved in other jobs etc. If it isn't done by xmas I will go stark raving mad.

Oh nikki, just read yours in detail. If this was going on until Christmas I would go crazy. For me, once the plastering had been finished last week, it started to feel like a home again. OK, a concrete floored, window boarded up home with wires hanging everywhere, but I could really see the bare bones of what this would look like.

Currently slapping on the paint everywhere which is also cheering.

Sadly our builder cant do the patio until next year and I see us spending Autumn sorting out the garden. We bought the house because it had 100ft garden at the back and 50ft at the front, I love it, but we haven't really got to grips with it and the builders have ruined the front garden.

Oh god, Nikki, I feel your pain. We have no kids, so can do evenings, but life revolves around work and my manky work clothes and on the rare occasion we decide to go to the pub to get away from it all, trying to not cry at the dust that comes off in the shower and hope I don't meet any of my glossy friends.

Our new kitchen floor is finally broken up, thanks to a backbreaking weekend with the jackhammer. Nearly have it all in a skip, but that is a slow, tedious and physically draining job if ever there was one. Insulation of floors and studding out the walls with insulated plasterboard, as well as all the other first fix stuff. MUST order the new window and book plasterer, but, as somebody else said, all the decision making.

I'm mostly just sick of people looking shocked because I am doing at least as much of the donkey work as DH, and people just think I sit on some sort of throne and dictate. he has taken to tagging me in pics on facebook just to show everybody how wrong they are

I know I'm late to the party and my issues are minor in comparison to what you're all putting up with but I just really needed to have a grumble about the progress of my supposedly straightforward garage conversion/kitchen. We only started a 2 week build on Monday and the builder told me yesterday it's now going to be 3 weeks!! Despite having part of our existing kitchen remaining there is so much dust we've moved the kettle, toaster and microwave upstairs and are living off ready meals on paper plates.

Have got nothing done at work this week because he is constantly on the phone to me so I decided this morning to stop the pretence that I am actually doing anything of value to my employers and do a project plan for the builders to agree to this morning (with hindsight I should have done that at the beginning) and take time off next week to be there to make sure they are sticking to it.

I used to work in procurement so did the full 3 quotes, checking work and recommendations etc. and the quality of his work is good and so was his communication through the whole process but now he's on site he seems incapable of giving a straight answer to anything. He rocks up at 9, goes for lunch at 12 and finishes at 3, we have a fixed price quote so at least I'm not paying for it but it does annoy me that we're going to be delayed when he's doing those hours. I am fairly sure this is standard for builders I just can't imagine it would wash in any other line of business though.

Oh and he calls me the wrong name all the time!

Thanks for the opportunity to get this off my chest, I think I would be having a breakdown if I was you guys

suzyrut if it's any consolation, our builders are pretty much the same - they arrive any time between 8.30am and 10am and our neighbour who is home from work at 3.30pm each day says they are rarely then when he gets back. We have an agreed cost with them as well - they said the job would take 8 weeks, it is now week 8 and we are 3-4 weeks off finishing so in my mind they are the ones losing out financially although it concerns me that the quality of work will drop if they start rushing to finish.

I was home when they arrived this morning and the main guy turned up with his lower leg in a cast - he snapped his Achilles tendon at the weekend and can't put any weight on the foot. I was on the phone to him for 20 minutes last night and he didn't think to mention that to me

Thanks swillows it is a relief to hear I haven't just picked some duds and that they all have a similar idea of what constitutes a working day. I agree on the worry about them rushing to finish or my biggest worry that he'll just disappear off to another job and never come back.

Electricians are in tomorrow first fixing so builder has just phoned to tell me there is no point him coming

Thanks limesoda - sometimes you just need people to say "Poor you having to live like this, must be shit" instead of being all annoying and positive

My parents turned up this morning with one of those counter top mini ovens with 2 hobs on the top. So happy I can cook something properly again! Can't wait to go to the supermarket and pick something that isn't a microwave meal. What has my life become?!

What are you up to this weekend? We are going to finish painting the sides of the extension to keep the neighbours happy (we won't be able to see it so feels like wasted time although it does need to be done to protect the render). On Sunday we are moving the bits of unit we are using as a temporary kitchen to the new bit so we can remove all the old flooring. Its going to be a bugger of a job. Also have found out levelling the old bit of floor will cost about £400 that we haven't budgeted for. Story of my life!

Yes Suzy even the best builders have the shortest working days and never stick to schedule! Ours are lovely but I have to relax on timings sometimes unless they are holding other people up. They did do a fab job though

Here is a picture of my kitchen right now.

God nicki, poor you, but I do have to say, it's going to be an amazing space.

Yeah, the floor stuff is tough. Just because of the physical challenge of working with 30kg of jackhammer, then lobbing it all in a skip.

This weekend for us will involve batoning the external walls and adding insulated plasterboard, and possibly cutting the channels for wiring, which is a filthy job. Then its levelling the floor and sorting dampproof, but that might wait until Monday. Building control are coming out and we want to make sure we have dug deep enough for the required floor insulation.

I ordered tiles from the Fired Earth sale and have one propped up in another room so I can stare at it when I need to calm down, just to remind myself that the positivity is probably true.

Joining in. Or should that be

On week 19 of a 28 week major renovation and extension project. Bought 8 bed house in March and commenced first week in April with strip out.

Roof redone. First fix plumbing and electrics. Plasterer done on two top floors. New electrical supply and upgrade to three phase is almost done just UK Powernetworks attending for final connections.
New water connection (for better pressure). New central heating.

Extending kitchen to create large kitchen diner dayroom and utility and cloakroom on ground floor. This involves 13 pieces of steel which are half way through installation so a large part of the rear of the house has been propped this week and it's been a bit scary looking.
New floor coverings throughout. 3 x new bathrooms. Bespoke kitchen. Bespoke utility.
And 35 large sash windows being fully refurbished and slim lite double glazing retro fitted.

It's quite a large project because the house is so large.

It's going well and I doubt we will be much more than a week late if we are late at all.

Rather than hire contractor or builder I am hiring trades directly which means I have full control and it saves a ton of money. Does also mean I have to ensure everyone turns up at the right time and it's all carried out in the correct sequence so no one is left waiting around.
I can't wait for all the steel to be in. I'm a bit fidgety about it.
I should say that we are obviously not living there! That would be impossible given the magnitude plus the only services on site since May are Portaloo, water stand pipe in front garden and 4 power points from contractors electrical supply. No gas.
Not possible with a 6yo and a 4yo.
I've not found it too bad.

However at the very beginning I had to sack an original contractor. It was sad because it's someone I've known for years and he has done lots of work for me in previous houses. He recently got a new business partner and has gone off the rails. Awful. Still spotted it immediately and asked them to leave. It was unpleasant and I was more sad than angry because it was someone I knew so well.

We sold our previous home today and moved into rented. The house selling has been far more faff and stress than the building project. Does make you wonder.

How is everyone getting on? We accomplished some stuff this weekend but not enough as I was hungover on sunday . I forced myself to do stuff but didn't get quite a far as we wanted. Will have to start doing stuff in the evenings now we have 2 weeks until the plasterer arrives. Eek!

Oh how I wish I had seen this thread sooner, I could have moaned for England as the last few minutes baths have been HELL :(

Nothing went to plan on a bathroom job, we knew it was a big job as knocked an old airing cupboard into the old tiny bathroom to make it bigger - but we didn't bank on the old ceiling been full of coal dust - the mess in the whole house is unreal, dust just keeps on falling :(

WTAF even the builders had no clue why

we didn't bank on our whole plumbing system been on the verge of falling apart & pretty much held together with tape - meaning a relatively newly tiled kitchen wall had to be removed to get to it to fix it all & then the tiles don't exist anymore, meaning it's taken 6 weeks to find something close - though it could have been worse I suppose, raw sewerage in a kitchen best avoided- but annoyed with the company who did our kitchen a few years ago - they must have seen it & just covered it up without saying a word

All of this meant a 2 week job tuned into 2 months, as builders my being builders are shite at time management so this gave them an excuse to go awol of course - & DD has injured herself & now in a wheelchair & I look back & I have no clue how the hell we coped without a bathroom - good job we like camping I suppose & the end result is worth it as they've done a beautiful job

We then moved onto rendering the back of the house as thanks to arsehole builders next door last year - we had cracks in our wall letting in damp - weird set up with our property has meant getting scaffolding out there was a logistical nightmare, which took more planning than the builders are capable of - again a 2 week job turned into 2 months & yet more thick dust everywhere- how the hell does it get through double glazed windows

They finished it on Saturday, & they have done a lovely job but, thanks to damp I now have to replace the wallpaper I love & its discontinued & the damp gets forced inwards for a few weeks & I'm allergic to mould so sat here sneezing for England [sobs]

& I don't know where to start with cleaning & putting the house back in order - or even if it's a good idea yet!! as we still have a large hole in our kitchen wall, a hall wall to plaster & a small bathroom to refit

We've spent the summer living in our bedrooms & I walk downstairs & look at the mess & just want to crawl back in, though now I can't without sneezing

Though with DD as she is, the least of our worries I suppose, but you all have my commiserations

Last few MONTHS have been hell - damn you autocorrect

Rockinhippy. Yikes. Sounds awful!!! You must indeed be a fantastic camper and have the patience of a saint (or two).

Not enjoying rented house and manoeuvring in and out between boxes. My brain rebelled the day after we moved and I had the mother of all migraines. Still suffering after effects now.

At least the building works are going well.

My builder had the nerve to complain to me on the phone on Friday evening that he is not making a profit on our job - 'this has just been a wage for me'. He wasn't here on Friday and his mate who was here was gone by 2.40pm (I snuck out of work to work from home for the afternoon to keep an eye on them).

Neither of them turned up today - excuse was 'I wasn't feeling very well' and his mate 'had stuff to do at home'.

Am trying to perfect the balance between letting them know that they are p*ssing me off and making sure they keep turning up to complete the work - it's very difficult.

Swillows. Oh dear. Your builder doesn't seem very interested does he.

Is it worth looking into getting someone else to finish the job? Sounds like he has drifted off and isn't interested. And if he is mumbling about not making any money on your job etc, there is a chance he won't finish it. Or he will only finish it as an infill between other jobs.

Either that or he is just plain rude. "Having stuff to do at home" yep we all have that but it needs to wait until the weekend. Or at least it does for the rest of us!