Home extensions 2017 - Christmas is coming

[Believeitornot]

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[helzapoppin2]

Positive, Namedy? Thank you! I've stopped myself from posting several times because I sounded so miserable, and others seemed all excited. I didn't want to seem like a massive spoilsport.

[TeamRick]

Helzapoppin welcome, no spoilsports here!

I was like the voice of doom on here for months! 😛

[whiskyowl]

dust - Bah to delays. It's amazing what you can achieve with a well-matched woodstain. And if you have a divide between the rooms, there will be a bit of a visual break anyway. Totally with you on the washing machine. Mine gets plumbed in last thing on a Friday, and I then frantically wash everything and attempt to get it dry (on airers!) by Monday. It looks like I am running a laundry and it's stressful but not nearly as stressful as having to take stuff to the laundrette.

devon - Oh no, that absolutely sucks about the ovens. Surely, surely it can be fixed soon?! Also, if your worktops are delayed, demand a post-Christmas discount. I got 10% off because they had no appointments before Christmas left. On the upside, your kitchen looks absolutely AMAZING so far!

bax - your utility is so cute! And neat! It's going to be lovely.

helza - totally hear you on the privacy. A couple of the young lads with the builders are turning up at 7.30am now, so it's a total rush through the shower for me so they don't walk in while I'm starkers!!

The plastering in my hall should be finished today. My new back door is fitted, but it's wonky. I am taking a deep breath writing this post before I head down to point this out. I'm the one organising pretty much everything here while DH is at work, and I do feel a bit stressed by the need to have difficult conversations on a daily basis. It's never been something I've been that good at, really. But I know I need to do it, because if I don't point things out now, they will annoy me forever and I will be angry with mysellf that I didn't speak up.

[Fourmagpies]

I'm with you whisky. I've been the one managing all of the build process. DH occasionally gets involved when I ask his opinion but as I work for myself and can work from home, I've borne the brunt of it. Fortunately our builder is very particular so no wonky doors here and we haven't had many awkward conversations.

[whiskyowl]

So the door is apparently not wonky - it's an optical illusion! Builder did show me on a level but I want to go and check for myself when he is gone.

Garden room, kitchen, dining room, hall and the study are all plastered and I'm really pleased with the finish. Just the back hallway, utility, and understairs boot cupboard to sort. The builder is bracing my stairs - they've been creaking for ages, and we've just found out that this is because many of the risers are split right across! I've been trying to find nice stairparts to finish the whole thing off, but because of the sharp rake of the stairs I can't get any of the ones that I really want. I think I might just go for a plainish oak instead. I did find a lovely owl on ebay that I'm thinking of putting on top of the newel post!!

[DustandRubble]

My poor builders have been digging in the cold & wet to expose the sewer pipe. We then send pictures to the water company and find out what they want us to do about the fact it is in the way of the foundation wall.

Option 1: the pipe gets relocated. This is not complicated but is hard work. And we are not sure if we can do it or if we would have to get them to.

Option 2: we extend our extension so we can bridge the pipe. 1.5 metres extra length. I suggested this in jest but it may end up being an actual option. If we could get planning permission.

[DustandRubble]

Oh and we finally have floors coming. Everything is being delivered on Monday. So hopefully by the end of the week we should have some flooring down.

[Baxdream]

Dust we had to do the same. Our pipe was a faff but it has been moved out of the way

[DustandRubble]

Was it the communal sewer Bax? Or a pipe just serving you? I am so annoyed because on the plans from the water company it looked safely far enough from our build to not be an issue. Then the builders started digging and it is right where the foundation wall for the new end of our house is. Why couldn’t it just be where it was meant to be?

[whiskyowl]

dust - more extension! What a brilliant solution! How far out have you gone already? Would it be within PD?

[NamedyChangedy]

fourmagpies I'm in a similar boat - my work is relatively flexible so I've become the project manager by default, while DP continues at work blissfully unaware of the dozens of decisions I've had to make each day. Yesterday it was hinges, locks and latches for the doors (who knew there were so many different types you could get!?), under-cabinet lights and a literal sprint to the bank so we could pay suppliers.

When I do ask him to get involved, I get the "I'm sure whatever you decide will be perfect" with a beatific smile, as if he's doing me a favour!!

[4yearsnosleep]

Baffled by builders quotes so far. Single storey extension, 10m x 3m One didn't visit the site and when I looked on Companies House he has dissolved his company twice. His quote was £57k.

Very professional company came, been in business 30yrs, quoted £107k (no kitchen, flooring or decorating)

3 other builders not yet responded (details sent, visits over 2 weeks ago, 1 promised a quote by last Friday 🙄)

My favourite was honest and couldn't visit until this Monday (I contacted him 24th Nov). I still have high hopes from him, he's sending a plumber and an electrician and said he won't have a quote ready until the new year. It's driving me nuts waiting that long but I value his honesty, I just bloody hope it's in budget 🙈 All in we can stretch to £80k initial est was £55k not decorated.

[Believeitornot]

@DustandRubble I would extend further if you could! May as well 😆 we found from our sewer problem that the water plans were inaccurate to say the least.
@4yearsnosleep have you had any local recommendations? We turned down a builder who quoted too low - his quote was not detailed enough. We’ve gone with one who was one of the higher but he gave a good breakdown and he’s invoiced us in stages based on actual work done which we are happy with.

[Baxdream]

I think it's just our waste? We have two drains in our garden and one is right under our extension.

We have cupboard doors and an oven/microwave no longer in a box!

[whiskyowl]

4years - Really drill down into what is/isn't included in the quote, and read up on the difference between first and second fixes. First fix is basically a watertight shell with electrics and plumbing in place but not finished - you will need to put in switches, sockets, plumb in all sinks, loos and water-using appliances, put down flooring, hang doors, and decorate. It's a lot, and the costs can easily run to as much as the first fix if you are including things like high quality flooring or a kitchen or bespoke cabinetry.

Also, keep interviewing builders until you find two who are reasonable and that you like, and then go see their work in the light. It's weird staring at someone else's house, but have a really long, hard look at the level of finish - how good is the brickwork, the cladding? There are a lot of builders who are "decent enough" out there, but very few who are really superlative. If you're after a contemporary finish, make sure that they can do that - because there are a lot of skills involved in that that some of them may not really use very often if they specialise in more conventional styles of building with render/uPVC. You don't want to spend ££ on modern materials and then have them poorly fitted!

I wouldn't touch a repeat dissolver of companies with a bargepole.

namedy - Hahahaha! I'm nodding along to your post about "Whatever you like, dear". My DH tries to be involved but he's Head of Dept at a uni, and just got a major research grant, so he's basically at work from 7am to 7pm at the moment. He does the cat litter tray in the morning before he leaves, though, bless him!

dust - hoping for good weather and progress for you today!

[Tatlerer]

Half a kitchen!

[Whatthefoxgoingon]

That’s looking amazing tatler! Who did your kitchen and is the fitting going to plan?

[Whattodowithaminute]

Looking great tatlerer

[Baxdream]

That is gorgeous!!! X

[Believeitornot]

@Tatlerer what a lovely looking kitchen! Huge!

[helzapoppin2]

DH put a rocket under the builders, because the whole project's been going on far too long. So today I'm skulking in the bedroom while two builders, an electrician, a plumber and two decorators do their thing.
I think they don't know I'm here because some very fruity rows keep erupting!

[Tatlerer]

Aw thanks you lot! Yeah I'm really happy so far.

Whatthefox it's a 1909 kitchen supplied and fitted by our local high street kitchen shop. He supplied and fitted a 1909 kitchen for our NDN so I had faith in him. It's not gone exactly to plan - there are a couple of dents and chips in the worktop but it's Minerva so it can be filed down/bevelled on site. It didn't end up being much cheaper than Quartz but convenient that no templating was required. They also didn't deliver a load of stuff - feature end panels for the island, the island skirting, a door for above the oven - list goes on! That will all come in the new year now. But our kitchen guy has been a real superstar.

[Tatlerer]

Oh yeah and there's some coving to finish off the run of wall units too. We really wanted them to go all the way to the ceiling but were just shy of the height needed for the units plus a top box. At least the coving will help the aesthetic and I'll just have to get up the stepladder with my feather duster every so often!

[whiskyowl]

tatlerer - that's swoon-worthy. Love those grey/green cupboards in particular. Stunning!

[Baxdream]

Tatlerer what ovens do you have?