Extension delay until January

[Iamarealgrownup]

Our builder has just got in touch, asking to come and 'have a chat'. We are having a small single story kitchen extension - 12 weeks ish build time.

We had previously agreed they would start a few weeks ago, but have had various delaying emails and then this. I am presuming they want to delay for a longer period this time, and wondering what the issues might be. I would probably prefer them to start in the new year rather than have a building site over Christmas, but from a common sense perspective that seems like the worst possible time to start?

Any advice about how to approach this would be appreciated!

What reason do they keep delaying? Do you trust them to stick to time on your project? Agree definitely don't start over Xmas. If the weather is terrible in Jan/Feb it may delay things but if only a single storey extension not like you'll have a hole in your roof etc

We are just at the end of our extension and I definitely wouldn't want to be in the middle of it over Christmas.

Our builder is not starting any more brand new projects this year - so I can see where your builder is coming from. There is an issue with mortar in the very cold weather (it doesn't set properly) so the very cold winter months are not a good time - I'd want to know whether they can really start in the New Year.

Did your builder come recommended? Ours did and we were happy to wait for him. He had a prior build that overran due to the bad weather last spring, so I'd hear him out. I also think good builders are booked up anyway, so the possibility of finding someone good now to start earlier than this builder is small.

They haven't really given a reason for the delays so far, my impression is that they tend to be quite over optimistic in terms of start date.

They were recommended and are currently doing a colleague's much larger extension. I think they had been meeting milestones much faster at that project due to good weather which is one of the reasons they thought they could start ours, although this seems to have slipped in recent weeks. On the grapevine I hear that one of the owners of the company has bought his own house which needs a lot of work and is taking men off my colleague's project to do this.

The issue with the mortar setting is exactly the kind of thing I need to know, and I'm not happy to delay our until mid winter if it means that the build will have issues with quality. I'd rather wait until it is feasible to get the project done with few delays, although frustratingly we have ordered things like kitchen etc, and now these suppliers are hassling us to set a delivery date.