Home extensions 2017 - Christmas is coming

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Hi winter I might have someone I would recommend - will PM you.

The quartz guy is here templating! And he is absolutely wonderful. He's precise, organised and has hauled the builder over the coals for a number of things that aren't right and made him promise to change them!! He's scotched a couple of bodgey ideas that the builder was harbouring as well, which is fantastic.

I think I might be switching my quartz choice. I was going for a dark one, but there is a light concrete-coloured one that actually looks better with the colours of the kitchen. I'm gonna post a picture later on and ask y'all to help me decide if that's OK!

That’s great to be having the templating done and him setting the builder straight on some things.

Our templating is booked for Thursday. The kitchen is coming together well so it will all be ready. I have the slight fear that we have gone for pale granite and it will stain. But it is only a small area of the kitchen actually, the main kitchen prep space will be wood. Will just have to be careful of red wine!

The builder has also suggested he build us a dining table and bench as he has a big piece of the same walnut worktop in his stores. He’s built tables before and sent me a picture of his which looks good.

Whisky... With your dh... I would suggest neutrally pointing to the botched bits, and ask him what he thinks...
Presuming he says 'Yeh that's not great'.
Then you could reply ' mmmm... I agree, so I will leave it with you to sort out with builder'

That way it isn't you nagging or telling him you need him to do something. Because frankly you should not have to ask him to do some of the tough bits "for you"... It's a joint project, joint responsibility!!!!

Oh dust how lovely to have a table made for you. And how great of your builder to suggest this!

Did you see the recent thread on dark versus pale stones? People seemed to be complaining more about the darker stuff marking than the lighter stuff, which was totally the opposite to what I expected. So maybe light is actually easier to look after? Apparently if you are in a hard water area, limescale can be an issue with dark colours.

Builder is working on my doors. Feel sick with anxiety, so I'm actually going to head out for a bit.

redbelly - You are so right! I am fed up of being the one nagging the builder, so I'm now leaving this to DH. To his credit, he has sorted things out this morning, which has given me the headspace to be able to do some writing for the first time in weeks. He only has, oh, let me see... another 100 days or so to do to even up the workload .

I have got a final bill from the builder! I can't tell you how happy I am about this. The total is fine, slap bang what I expected - huge relief. And he's not charging me very much for the joinery he's made a mess off, so that's good too. We are emerging from the whole thing with a bit of our contingency fund intact, which means I can have the patio laid sooner rather than later, and can get someone else in to sort out the joinery. I've already lined this up, last night. The joiner in question has worked in my house before and does the most amazing job. He's actually a friend of the builder too, so it's all very hush-hush and he won't be able to come for a couple of months to avoid getting found out!! But I feel simply loads better knowing that it WILL be right in the end.

I've also got a promise from the builder that they will tidy up today in readiness for decorators tomorrow, and that they'll work more cleanly from now on. HOORAY!

Now planning a cheap and cheeky weekend away with DH. We both need a break desperately. If anyone has seen any good offers, let me know!!

Hello everyone, room for one more? Our extension is starting this week and I am terrified - never had any building work done before! My first job is to go to the neighbours tonight with some flowers to apologise for the noise

caspiana - welcome!

It is a terrifying process, I think we can all identify with your nerves! What are you having done?

Not to sound too depressive, but building work will kick the stuffing out of you and there will be times you wish you had never started it (in my case, lots of times). BUT in a "no pain, no gain" kind of way, it's really, really worth it. Even though I've said a million times that I wish I hadn't done this, if I were back in September and making the decision again, I'd still go for it. (There are things I'd do differently, though).

I am in a “I wish I hadn’t done this” at the moment. I have had enough and I want it to be over. Builder is querying something in the drawings and now needs to speak to the architect. I am wondering why he is only querying it now. I have no issues with the quality of the work, just the project management and anticipating problems. I am the kind of person who checks ahead and makes sure everything is ready. He is more of a check the night before and realise there is an issue. Which does nothing for timescales!

@whiskyowl thank you! We are having an orangery built across the length of the back of our house, which will create a kitchen/living area. This is intended to be more family friendly because, gulp, I’m 5 months pregnant. We wanted to start about 9 months ago but took ages to get drawings, planning permission, permission to build bear protected trees, and then the builder couldn’t start till this week. I’m pretty gutted at the prospect of a gutted house and builders being present in our first few days with our little one but I think (hope!) it will be worth it when it is done. Obviously we have been assured the work will be done in good time for the baby, but reading some stories on here I shall take that with a pinch of salt!

That’s rubbish @dustandrubble, really smacks of a slapdash attitude.

He’s not slapdash in the sense that everything done has been done well. There is good attention to detail. Just bad planning.

Caspiana I always think an orangery sounds so exotic and lovely. I do not envy you doing this 5 months pregnant though! Fingers crossed it all goes smoothly. Whisky is right, it will be worth it in the end!

Well done on your solid project management whisky, fab to come out the other end with any of your contingency still intact!

Good luck with it all Caspiana, really hope you can manage it so you at least have plumbing sorted by the time the baby arrives. Not being able to do laundry might not be that much fun.

dust - Oh gosh, that would drive me mad too! It can be a bit of a curse, when dealing with someone like that, to be as far-sighted and as good at planning ahead as you are! I hope the issue gets resolved quickly.

caspiana - oh my goodness, that is a deadline and a half for the work! I think there might be some things you can do here - others can probably advise better than me because we never really had a firm end date - but I do know some people build in clauses where there is a penalty if the build runs beyond a certain date. You might want to budget for a post-build clean as well - I understand some companies do this in a two-wave process, with a 'dust clean' and a 'sparkle clean' after. Trust me, when you've seen the dust from the knock-through, you'll be glad you did! An orangery sounds absolutely lovely, by the way.

I am intrigued by "bear protected trees"!!! Where are you if that's not too nosy a question!

I'm so glad I'm near the end! Trying to get ready for work whilst builders everywhere and dust is such a pain!
Roll on two weeks and we say goodbye, as fabulous as they've been!

bax - wonderful update! It sounds like everything is going swimmingly for you! The end result looks beautiful, you must be chuffed.

The builders have taken up all the cardboard on the floor and they are hoovering! I can see my dining room walls for the first time in months. It looks so much bigger now it's clear!

The quartz people say that if I can make a choice today, they can potentially fit Monday. MONDAY!

In fairness they are just pottering now. The next job is delayed due to weather so they're currently doing odd jobs, putting up blinds and lights (not convinced it's their job!) we have some odd bits of plastering left but they need to get the plasterers back when they do the render.
Our kitchen flooring goes down this weekend and finally our last day of carpets on the 1st!

It's just so tiresome now and I'm never doing it again!

Ooh that's fab about worktops it made a huge difference when ours went in!! We need photos!
How is your flooring? Are you loving it yet?

Ah @baxdream so jealous you’re at the end!

@whiskyowl I fear I have made myself sound more exciting than I am! I didn’t mean to write bear, I meant by protected trees! We are in the Midlands and do not often see bears here sadly! Enjoy your reunion with your dining room wall

I hadn’t even considered the issue of plumbing... ah well no going back now!!

I have been reading for a long time in a non creepy lurker way. I don't suppose any of you are in the NW? We are looking for recommendations/avoids in Cheshire.

After my moaning earlier my builder is being extra nice now. Even remaining cheerful when the kitchen company said casually “oh yeah you know you need to cut the cabinets down so they fit in the island”. Nobody told us that before! As a result the builders are still here fixing everything in place for the templating tomorrow.

Also reading for a long time....renovating in Amsterdam. Finally choosing an attic bathroom and opted NOT to have a bath but a bigger shower. No knock through required - attic already there but creating a bathroom with a beam in the middle. No bath? Is this a mistake. In order to escape making any decisions about anything, we went to Porto for 6 days. coffee 80cents, fabulous meals including wine, a tenner. couldn't recommend too highly.

Have you got a bath somewhere else? I think if you have just a shower is fine.

Look at my kitchen! It’s starting to look more kitcheny. The island looks a jumble but the basis is all there.

Dust 😍😍😍 absolutely gorgeous!!

We have a walk in shower in our ensuite but I wouldn't do it if we didn't have a bath elsewhere. Love our ensuite!

They still have wall cabinets to hang over the sink. But I am really excited about it. All the guys working on it were saying how impressive it is going to look when it is done.