Home extensions 2017- the one where all builders are dickheads.

[monkeyfacegrace]

Link to the old thread.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/property/2847599-Home-Extensions-2017-come-along-on-the-journey

As you were ladies.

These kitchens look great. The end is in sight!

We're on week 4 from Monday. Ground floor is up. Steels and ceiling joists are in. And half the first floor brick work is done. We'll get a roof ( the structure not the tiles I assume ) this week. And I almost daren't say it... but the builder thinks we're ahead of schedule ! Fingers crossed for more dry weather.

Soooo much kitchen heaven on this thread! I'm very jealous!

Reaching a point of fatigue with the build now. We've had no heating downstairs for ages, and it's freezing. I am having problems with an electrician who WILL NOT LISTEN. I say things to him, he talks over me, doesn't listen, doesn't write them down, and then he gets them wrong. I produce diagrams, he doesn't look at them, or reads them upside-down (how can you be a 60 year old tradesman and not be able to read a plan, it's mindboggling??!).

It's now happened so many times that I'm becoming very fearful that there's going to be a major error. He's also incredibly noisy in the house - always calling me and the other builders and plasterers to solve problems he really should be able to deal with by himself. I'm generally a fairly patient person, but the last straw came when he sent me an amended quote that was just flat wrong in about 15 places this weekend. If anyone has any advice about how to get someone like this to hear what you are saying, I'd be really grateful because I am at my wit's end with him!

rick - I LOVE those floor tiles in your kitchen!

Can you just sack him whisky?

We have reached a stage where we have just run out of room to move stuff too. They are converting the airing cupboard into a laundry cupboard this week so I had to dump everything out. They want to finish the plastering in the kids room and I have nowhere to move that stuff too. If they do the laundry we can bring our tumble dryer out of storage and then shift other stuff to storage. But my house is chaos and I have had enough!

I have been contemplating it dust. The trouble is, he's done a lot of the work already. It may be easier to grit teeth and push through.

I know what you mean about running out of space!! I have to empty my hall tomorrow and there is literally nowhere for stuff to go. It's not so much the fact that I'm living in 2 rooms that is the issue - it's the fact that I'm living in 2 rooms that resemble the residence of someone with a very serious hoarding problem. I like emptiness - I like s p a c e - and I hate clutter! I keep reminding myself that some people have to live like this all the time - such as those in B&B accommodation, in refuges etc. and that their plight is so very much worse because it's neither self-inflicted nor has an end date. But I'm still finding it hard work, though, in spite of my "pull yourself together" internal pep talks!

Aww it’s hard to live with tradesmen in the house for so long, it’s perfectly normal to reach the end of your tether. Especially near Christmas when all you want is your house back to decorate etc etc

Whisky, I’d be tempted to fire your electrician too but just be warned that you may need a certificate at the end of the work. Another electrician won’t certify his work without rechecking all the wiring = more time and money.

whatthefox - I think I'm going to have to keep him on just for that reason. We are pretty close to the end of the work now, so hopefully I won't have to see him for more than 3-4 days longer. He is good at the actual physical part of the job - just not the human part!

Plastering happening here today, along with the final knock through for the new back doorway. This is great news! It means that I may well be able to start decorating in just a few days! I'm going to try to paint some of it myself, though I might leave the hall to professionals - I'm not good with heights!

Bizarrely, it turns out that what we thought was the solid corner of the house was once a doorway, so we are restoring something that appears to have been originally there! But this makes no sense because, as far as I can remember (we've had the house externally rendered so I am casting my mind back a bit) there wasn't anything to indicate the presence of a doorway on the outside of the house - the brickwork looked totally original and was in straight lines. I am thoroughly confused! I wonder if the builders changed their mind half way through or something>It doesn't affect the project at all, but it's interesting all the same to find these remnants of a previous house incarnation!

Consternation here as lead builder appears to have been having a bad day when he told me my airing cupboard would fit a washing machine and dryer. It won’t. We are now looking for other places to put them and I am googling “do washer dryers ever work?”

No progress today. Can't complain as our lovely builders came and fixed our toilet yesterday (in our current bathroom which has nothing to do with the build!
However I have finally booked our worktops. We're going with a company called Topsco.

The plan tomorrow is plasterers and plumbers. Our plumber was involved in a crash on Friday so he's a bit delicate. The negatives about being self employed- no sick pay!
I'm thoroughly enjoying getting used to the size of the kitchen!

I spent about 2 hours wiping down our lounge/mopping/hoovering. It hasn't even had any works done but it's so dusty. It feels better but it's by no mean clean!

It's really hard whisky. We were in a similar boat just over 2 years ago when we did a ground floor extension and it nearly drove me mad! But as everyone annoyingly always says it was worth it in the end!

I left for work at 9 this morning and when I got back at 2 the scaffolding was down! So exciting! The front still has bits to do but the back is all done. I found a photo taken from the back garden 2.5 years ago just before we started the kitchen and lounge extension. The comparison between then and today is pretty big!

I've given up dusting bax ! Everytime I clean surface, it's dusty again seconds later

dust that's annoying, will they not stack?

Titsy - what an amazing transformation!

The dust is unbearable now! I don't know when it gets better. All our knock throughs are done!

Oh I forgot our flooring arrived today (what a horrible delivery man 😡) and our sofa for the snug (lovely delivery men 😂)

Sadly not magpies, the boiler is in the way so they can’t stack. There isn’t enough height in the cupboard under the stairs to stack them. We are considering a spot in the kitchen diner but it might be in the way of the dining area.

I am thinking we could just split them, washing machine under stairs and dryer in the airing cupboard with some nice shelving for storing clothes. At least my dry clothes would be upstairs closer to being put away if we did that.

We have a washer dryer. It's a pain because you have to do your various loads before you can think about drying. When you do dry, it takes forever!

believe gorgeous kitchen I love the island colour-where is it from? Slight possibility we might get started building this week...

Oo are we talking extension nightmares? To be fair it's not been awful. I was feeling quite smug till last week, Builder been pretty good. Everything really good standard, reliable, not to much mess etc. At the beginning we found out foundations needed piling. Extra £3600 to another company for that. A couple of weeks ago he proposed we don't have the old patio doors taken out and bricked up which was part of original quote. This would help to cancel out the £1000 he wanted to charge us for replacing rotted floor joists in the original building. Fair enough I thought Last week however the kitchen floor was laid and her wants to charge us extra for that because the product I chose turned out to be harder to fit than they thought. Despite me showing them sample ages ago. Also Builder talked me out of bifold doors as our budget for windows and doors was 6k. There was 4m opening to be covered with bifolds plus 3 large velux to go in, a back door and two windows. He said that wasn't enough so we settled for sliding upvc which look same from outside. Inside I'm not keen though and now I've noticed the gap where the doors meet is wider top and bottom than it is in the middle and the frame doesn't quite meet in the corner. The door came from his mate's company and he reckons its fine! There's going to be a confrontation I can see it coming... I really thought we'd found a good guy. Maybe I'm over reacting.

Here's my kitchen!

Here's the bit where doors meet wider at top!

Here's the gap in the corner of the door. Am I being too picky?

Kitchen looks fab Fiancée! I would be very annoyed about your windows and doors! Bifolds really aren't that expensive so your builder is just being greedy.

Worktops are in! They look lovely but not happy with what they’ve done to the island end panel. A ragged edge where it joins the worktop 🙈

@Fianceechickie it doesn’t have to be confrontational. You just calmly tell him you don’t like the gap and want it fixed.

Thanks. Yes I hope to avoid confrontation cos I'm rubbish at it! I've already questioned the gap between the doors at the top and bottom is wider than in the middle and Builder reckons it's fine. It's not fine. One of the doors measures an extra half a centimetre in the middle than it does top and bottom.

Fiancée do we have the same kitchen? Petrol blue altino?

Believe, I love your island! Funny you saying about jagged edge, our fitter said the stuff was really hard to cut in a straight line & he was going to put some clear sealant round the joins to try & blur it abit!

My island is done! I have a bar!!! Who's coming round for the party? [santa]!

I actually need some bar stools now!

As you lot are brilliant at finding a bargain, has anyone seen some funky stools that don't cost £250 each!

Oh and Believe I can't actually see the jagged edge btw! It looks great!