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 nan has been waiting for her kitchen to be installed for 3 months, she saved up for years for it. They came to rip out the old one and keep messing up when they eventually come back to sort out the new one so she's been living off microwave food for the past 3 months.

she had a huge stroke 2 days ago (from what I believe to be the stress of all of this!), now she's severely brain damaged and has days to live..

massively pissed off that she never got to see her finished kitchen as well as completely gutted that she has days to live :-(

Gosh I'm so sorry so many of you are having a hard time. Very sorry about your nan moving :(

The longer this goes on the more I am put off doing the second phase of a loft conversion in a couple of years.

I have crossed over that fine line and am now losing my cool completely. DH, after spending most of the year ill or recovering from various ops, now has a painful tooth. I'm sure he will work through it and I know it is not his fault but why does this keep happening at the crucial points! Only 12 days to go until plastering begins and there is still so much to do.

Just want to cry or scream or runaway right now.

HAD ENOUGH

God it's just sh*t isn't it and if one more person tells me it will all be worth it in the end I'm going to hit them with the nearest mallet.

We had my dh's cousin from the US and MIL to stay this weekend, 5 star accommodation it was not. I think she felt sorry for us as she law has offered us some money to do phase 2 (bi-folds) now instead of later so we don't have to go through all the mess again next year. I don't know whether to be grateful as it's just extended everything by 5 weeks! At least it seems to have cheered my builder up a bit as he knows he's getting an extra couple of grand out of us by working around the start of his next job.

We have a weekend off this weekend then for the next two weeks after that we have more visitors, still end of microwave meals is in sight as my kitchen should be going in at the end of next week, as long as the concrete sets!

Oh I wish we were having work done. Currently DH's study is full of a bathroom because we can't find a plumber to fit the blasted thing. We've had 5 plumbers come round and none of them have bothered to deliver the quote that they came to do. Do these people not want the work?

God it's just sht isn't it and if one more person tells me it will all be worth it in the end I'm going to hit them with the nearest mallet.*

Yep

No WitchofScots I don't think they do. We spent months trying to find people as they would turn up to have a look then we would never hear from them again. I think tradesman are generally overrun with work nowadays so they can pick and choose.

nikki clearly we need to tell the DCs not to go to university but to train as plumbers or builders etc

We are 2 months into what was meant to be 3 months of loft conversion and rear extension. Our roof was completely removed, we haven't heard from builder in 2 weeks. All phones are switched off, he's left the place he apparently rented. So he's obviously not coming back.

Structural engineer says he's done a lot of the work wrong and we have to start again though building control approved the majority of it. 3 independent builders have said same thing, he's done things wrong such as laying thermal bricks below dpc in foundation etc. Made new floor level on top of existing level, the loft floor is higher than next door's which means the roof will be too high etc

It's been a stressful and sleepless few weeks especially as we don't have a roof still. But there's light at the end of the tunnel.

We are getting new builders to start next week and will take us into winter and possibly Christmas but hopefully stress free.

Moral of story is never ever ever pay in advance of work done and perhaps use council's own Building Control Officers instead of the independent ones.

We were supposed to be finishing early sept after tnearly four months, but the huge glass doors were supposed to be put in on Monday and they have cocked up the design badly. Would mean we had to step down to the garden when the whole effing point of these particular doors was to create a seamless flush floor inside and out.

They are going to have to reorder them, could take more months.

The doors mean they can't plaster, which in turn means they can't fit the kitchen, which in turn means we can't template the work tops.

The door people are now not returning my builders phone calls.

I am so fed up, I can't sleep. I think this has tipped me over the edge.

Sounds like we are all at the end of our tether! I hope by xmas time everything will be done for everyone and we can all look back and laugh

Crikey - when I read some of the tales on here, I realise that I shouldn't really be moaning at all......

We've actually seen real progress this week after everything got a bit fraught last week. Bifolds went in on Tuesday and that just immediately made it feel like a real room at last. Meant that they could take down the partition between the hallway and the back of the house which is no longer open to the world. I actually felt properly excited for the first time in a while as I could start to picture what it will be like. Came home yesterday and entire room and ceiling has now been plastered.

Don't want to tempt fate but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel (although my bloomin' Bosch ovens are not turning up till 2018 by the sounds of it )

How's it going everyone? Sounds like some of you are having a terrible time. I don't know why renovations aren't up there in the top 5 most stressful things. This is far worse than moving house imo!

We are about to start a 9 day run of solid graft (both taken time off work) to get ready for plastering. I also need to clear the shed out as the new one comes in 3 weeks (why do I overload myself like this!) and the new fence for the back garden arrived so I need to stain all 24 metres of that (will have to do both sides). Fun fun!

I keep thinking we're coming to the end of ours, but it goes on and on and on..... Yesterday the back wall came out hurrah, it's snowing dust/grit/muck and cobwebs again! and new doors are in, almost.
We're at week 49 of a dining room and conservatory demolition, and then a 2 storey extension and remodelled ground floor. We had the builders in to do the shell and then we took over to do the rest.
My Dh has been great and has worked so hard, but for me the biggest achievement/emotional moment was laying the reclaimed parquet floor in the new room I luuuves it and it brought a tear to my eye.
I know it's a grumble thread and I've lots to grumble about, wrong roof, builders not turning up delayed deliveries grrrrr but it'll be worth it in the end.....ducks...... :) off to wake Dh up, there's work to do!

Oh moving, I'm so sorry about your nan. Big hugs.

Well I managed to clear the shed out. Dh has so much crap! Relocated it all to the garage on some nice shelving units so got a chance to sort through and chuck some of it away.

Dh took up the old kitchen floor which we bagged up ready to take to the dump. We could do with a skip to be honest (20 bags of broken up tile) but we are out of money now so 20 dump runs it is!

Tomorrow I will do the fences and finish clearing up. Hope everyone is getting on OK still?

Well our bathroom still isn't quite finished - there's a bodged bit of skirting supposedly being replaced tomorrow. It was promised for last week.

The flooring guy chipped the shower tray - I was furious at the time, but have repaired it.

We now have a mirror and glass shelves in the tiled wall niche - just loo roll holder and eBay bargain Grohe towel rail to put up when they arrive. I still need to prime and paint the skirtings, but it's nearly finished and looks better than I imagined - here's a photo.

That looks fantastic! Love the tiles.

Dh started the first fix today and got most of the lighting wiring in. Had to make some actual decisions at that stage as had been umming and ahhing for months about what might work.

The builder popped in for a couple of hours to sort some final bits and took away most of the stuff we were going to take to the dump (hardcore etc) which has saved us half a day.

Tomorrow I'm going to a granite worktop showroom then we will try to finish the wiring and we need to order plasterboard and stuff to build a stud wall. Busy busy! My poor kids have been having too much screen time recently . Still I'm taking them camping on Friday with my friend and her kids so hopefully that will make up for it!

Thanks nikki - it's not as dark as the photo by a long way. Really love the tiles - even doubting DP said how nice they are. Good luck with all your jobs this week. I don't envy you all of that.

Thanks. Its going ok though. First fix is nearly done (thank god for dh being a qualified spark. Old floor is up and has been levelled. Rendering is done. DH is building the wall/built in cupboard. Plasterboarding on Saturday and plastering starts on Sunday!

I am now very confused about what I actually want in the kitchen. I like cream shaker style for the cabinets. I am having a range and an American Fridge/Freezer. The floor is engineered oak. Trying to choose my worktop and really like a glossy granite but that's not what I was going to originally go for as its not practical plus I think it is too modern for such a classic kitchen. Aaarrrggghh! Too many decisions and I need to get on with it. I need to have a picture in my mind and choose based on that but my imagination has gone to shit. Help!

How is everyone getting on?

Haven't updated for nearly a month. I still have no kitchen but I have now chosen and ordered everything - woohoo! Plastering is done and we are in the middle of painting. Choosing the wall colour was harder than expected but got there eventually. Hopefully we will have a new kitchen in a month and the room will be complete by the end of October then we have until xmas to do the lounge which should be considerably easier. Garden is finished bar plants which can wait until next year now.

We are in week 8 of our 3 week kitchen rebuild and knock through from garage.

Kardean down today and then DONE. I never want to see a builder again and ours is a mate who has done a great job.

Great stuff Ihavenoname! I am in week 11 of a 5 week garage conversion/kitchen knock through with about another 5 to go. My kitchen currently looks like a cave as the back wall is boarded up whilst they do the bi-folds. On a positive note that means at least I can't see the chunks that have been taken out of my kitchen units by the worktop installers. I am in dispute with them and speaking to them every day at the moment which is just a massive faff I don't have time for.

Anyway at least I can cook now and I even have a working sink (the little wins keep me going). Picture of progress attached.

So jealous of you both! Can't wait until I have a picture of some proper progress. Well to be fair there has been a lot since February as we have a whol extension built but I just want to show off something new and shiny

Your kitchens both look great - looking forward to seeing the finished products!

It has been enormously cathartic to read this thread. We are now in week 8 of getting a new kitchen. All our tradespeople are wonderful. But the project was so heavily delayed due to a combination of things that the kitchen fitter and tiler / decorator are now working on other jobs and fitting in finishing off our kitchen in the evenings or as and when. What's in looks so beautiful that I can almost forgive them. But last night and this morning both H and I were at the end of our collective tethers with the mess, the chaos and the general upheaval.
I am hoping that once we are in our beautiful new kitchen all this will be forgotten ... and maybe we can get on with converting the attic

I came here for a moan, but reading the thread some of you have it much worse than me!

We lost 13 days of a 4 week kitchen project when the Buildings Inspector came to look at a window and then decided we now had an overspan on the roof where a (non load-bearing) wall had come out. The engineering on our roof will now see it outlast armageddon.
So we lost days and the cost of the job has shot up. Thankfully my builder is a diamond, and while we were on holiday he worked longer days and through the weekend to try and catch up. Then came to another stop because he couldn't proceed until the BI came back and he took three days.

Part of the problem is the colder weather. My heating is run off the Rayburn....which I can't light while the building work is ongoing.

Yes I'm having problems with the heating situation too queenrollo. Our friend is a plumber so has been doing ours for nothing so we are very lucky but everything is dependant on when he is free and he has been very busy. Luckily he finished a big job this weekend so fingers crossed can come and finish next weekend in time for us to put the flooring down the week after. The kitchen arrives on 5th Oct so it is all a bit tight but I am hoping it will work out! We have no boiler attached as we are moving it to the garage so hoping the talk of an indian summer is true :)

I have bought the paint today ready to do tomorrow. The appliances all arrived today and are all sitting in the lounge (luckily we extended this too as part of the work so we aren't surrounded by fridges and ovens!).

All being well the kitchen will be complete by end of October (worktop takes 2 weeks after the units go in) then we have just under 2 months to do the lounge which should be easy in comparison as it is just knocking out the old brick fireplace (one of those horrible ones that covers half a wall), removing the fake beams, replastering and redecorating. Our kitchen is big enough that we can use it as the whole living space until the lounge is done.