We are having a single story extension built and our builder started last October 2017. It's almost finished and we want it done, we want our house back and our lives back. Our builder who is highly recommended and is old school is very steady, he's a lovely man and absolutely trustworthy but very slow and no sense of urgency. We've decided this weekend, having bitten our tongue many times, that we want them to get a move on and get it finished ASAP within the next two weeks
Our extension consists of a dining come sitting room and a kitchen. It's quite a big job. The old conservatory had to be dismantled and walls knocked out. Within this 12 months period that the builder has been working for us (he also does other short jobs for other people) we've felt they're taking their time, they nip off and do another job and sometimes they seem to do 2-3 days in every 5 in a week on our house. They start to do a job and then leave it for a few days. One of his labourers will disappear for a few days and is uncontactable
We've had a catalogue of problems that our builder has fixed, but they've delayed progress, eg
awful broken sewerage pipes,
outdated electrics,
the brickie becoming ill and unable continue working so a new brickie had to be found.
An extra RSJ was needed
The kitchen company weren't able fit our kitchen as staff shortages so our builder has done it for us,
the painter disappeared and wasn't contactable for three weeks
All his team got that awful winter flu bug, as I did that delayed things a few weeks
The freezing weather in January February meant the couldn't lay bricks as it can cause cracking
A member of his team had to be persuaded to retire as he wasn't pulling his weight.
We're sick of having workmen in the house all the time, sick of the dust, of always being in limbo, of not having a proper kitchen, of not having half our stuff because its packed away in storage of not being able to have a proper cooked meal etc etc. The stress of it all is affecting our sleep and our mood.
What needs to be done now could probably easily be done in two weeks but we know how slow they can be, so we need to be assertive and have a serious talk with the builder and set a deadline with him and get him to keep to it. We know he has another job starting in January but we don't want him stretching our job out any longer than necessary
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Up until now we've tended to keep calm and just try to get the builder to gee things up a bit. We get regular updates but they always seem to be behind their own timescales. Along the way DH has been much more impatient than I have been as I think if we upset him we may cause him to pack the job in and we would find it hard to get another builder easily who is so good but I think we've finally lost all patience