Home extension 2019 the Third thread- Drowning in Dust

[WhereDoesThisToiletGo]

And we're off again

soaked your kitchen's looking great! Hope Newdad comes in to finish it...
We now have a floor!!! It's very exciting - 9 days in and we're above ground It was so nice standing on it and getting an idea of what our view of the garden will be.
Looking forward to a quiet weekend with no builders. Brickies are coming Monday!

I’m really pissed off with my extension. All my married life we bought run down houses and did them up so I know what I’m doing. But now I’m retired now due to ill health and gone through horrendous divorce so I look like little old lady. Booked builders to build tiny 10x10;conservatory! They started first week of June and now 12 weeks later they still haven’t finished! I’ve never seen anything like it. They come one day do a bit of hammering then disappear for weeks! Im very chilled so ive gone along with things BUT then I heard that they had told my neighbours that the reason they haven’t finished mine is because I tell them not to come due to my illness and going out, how dare they make up lies like that. It’s really upset me as I was the only client of theirs not moaning or kicking up a fuss. Feel such a mug now and it’s taken shine off the conservatory for me 🙁 we could have built a whole house by now. And ontop of all that they’ve totally trashed the garden and it’s going to cost a fortune to put it back to usable again. Bastards.

@ladybird that's so frustrating - just get onto them and read them the riot act. I had this two weeks ago (see earlier post about lewis going AWOL) and had to have a word with the builder, I basically said nothing happens unless I'm here and I'm going away for a week so don't want everything at a standstill. They came the next day and took a wall out and we're now nearly sorted upstairs.

Unfortunately they put the new stud wall in the wrong place!! but only by 5cm so I can live with it - and the new walkway from the old part of the house to the new part is spacious and feels nice and open rather than like a corridor.

Been in the Dales for a week so I'm back now and one last push for a few weeks - I've even got a decorator booked to do the girl's bathroom and the new living room.

Oh and my neightbours called the council while I was away to complain about noise at 8pm - I wish! my builders bugger off at 3! And they texted me to tell me I am inconsiderate and selfish for going away and letting the builders work on a Sunday (they told me they wouldnt' make noise, but they were putting a floor in apparently

@soaked the building inspection is one part that's concerning me. But they've taken pictures all along and I've been assured it'll be fine. Eek

Oh @ladybird69 I'm so sorry to hear that that's absolutely appalling! Have you paid them already? How much left have they got to do? I hope it all gets sorted soon 🤞🏽

Absolutely amazing @Noroof !! Love the pic of your ds!

We are off to IKEA to buy a portable induction hob for our temp kitchen and by serendipity just found a plug in mini oven with 2 electric rings on it on fb for £40. Great as we have no microwave 😁. I get excited about the most dull things!

9 sep -Planning decision due
12 sep - site visit with builder, packing starts.
13 sep - kitchen taken out and stored (we are re-using a lot of it) , moving stuff out of lounge, temp kitchen set up in lounge.
16 - building work starts!

All that whilst we both work full time - one of us in the house, with 4 small children. It's going to be madness, isn't it?

@ladybird69 that's awful. They are bastards. How much is left to pay? Can you involve trading standards?

@ladybird69 that's awful. There should be much more regulation of builders

I'm a bit annoyed this morning as I've received an utterly unprofessional email from a company who we approached for a quote. Their initial quote was reasonable but full of mistakes. We gave them a second chance and the price jumped by 30k! Anyway I'm seething at the implication that our builders are not good enough etc that she makes.
Also my dh quotes for literally millions of pounds worth of work as part of his job and can spend weeks putting together tenders and he would never send anything so unprofessional either.

I'm so glad we didn't use them.
And for the record the other companies that tendered were informed that they went getting it but because this lot were so off the wall and we were getting things moving I didnt give it a moment's thought.

Oh no. Just wrote long post and lost it!!!!
I had a summer full of bbqs and afternoon teas planned! The only thing that could have gone on was some mud wrestling.
Had text saying that they will be here tomorrow tidying garden watch this space!
If you have a garden room/conservatory what type of flooring do you have?

Hi everyone,
As a few new people have joined recently I thought I might as well too! I have also followed the last 2 threads and I've learnt so much already. Thank you.
We are planning a single storey kitchen extension with some internal remodelling to include a utility room/ downstairs shower room with toilet.
Our plans have been submitted and we are due our decision by the 8th October. I would like to start as soon as we have a decision so we can have the main build done by Christmas but everyone thinks I'm being far too optimistic.
Our architect has been really good and has worked so quickly as she knows how keen I am to get started. Our daughter has Autism so I want the process to be as quick and as stress free as possible for her. Luckily we won't be touching the upstairs so she will still have her bedroom to retreat to if it all gets too much.
I'm trying to plan as much as I can in advance but I know how many things can go wrong and things can get held up so I'm trying to be realistic too.
I've hopefully attached a photo of our new floor plan.
Really looking forward to going through this process with you all.

@ladybird69 - that is rubbish! I do think they know who they can push and who they can't. I usually try and go along with the flow as feel a bit at their mercy! Fingers crossed for some garden tidying. Ours is also a mess. It's quite disheartening especially as it seems to be monsoon rain every other week!

No sign of New Dad today. So annoying as feel so close. To make myself feel better I have shoved their things about so I can store some non food stuff in the my new cupboards rather than them using it!

@noroof - that is a very un-professional email! They might be struggling for work if they are so miffed about losing your contract that they are willing to slur the name of the builders you did go for. Good thing you avoided them!

New dad is here! Garden work today. Better than no work. Woohoo!

Welcome @minimooblue. One thing you might want to do is get her some ear defenders if she is noise sensitive. Plan looks fab. Good luck!

@soakedat3 thank you.
We have ear defenders as we use them for other things in our day to day life.
She will be at school during the day and we can stay with family during the holidays if we need to.
I really want to use a builder that will project manage everything but my husband thinks it will be cheaper to use someone he 'knows'!
I'm going to get a range of quotes though.
Funnily enough I had a letter from a local building form saying they had seen my planning submission! Not sure if I think this is good business or a bit desperate if they are looking on our local planning site for work?

@Noroof to be fair I don't think the letter states your current builders are rubbish but that they knew they couldn't get a comparable cost eg VAT registered, non VAT registered etc

Maybe right enough but never ever have I told a company what other companies are pricing a job. It's quite simply none of their business.

We had several letters from random builders who had clearly got our details from Council Planning.

I really want to use a builder that will project manage everything but my husband thinks it will be cheaper to use someone he 'knows'!
We decided to offload everything on one builder and get him to organise everything. I've never done anything more complicated than a simple conservatory before and needed someone to do the thinking for me.
The kitchen installation will be done by kitchen supplier, luckily it is going in an already existing space, the extension will be living area

@soakedat3 yes they really trying it on with me. I have restored lots of properties over the years, but unfortunately I’m in a totally different area now so have no trades that I can rely on. But I’ve never had or witnessed this before. Builder said he’d be finished by Sunday! I knew that it wasn’t doable so I said finish by the end of the week! They have got to fix my drive way too where the skip damaged it! Argh.

Just like @minniemooblue I thought it seemed a good time to join! Hi!

We're at the stage of negotiating with our preferred builder after a tender went out. We had planning permission granted in Feb and it's taken this long to get to this stage with SEs and BC and then tender and negotiating. I'm amazed at how quickly some of you have turned it around! Already been actively working on this for a year since selecting our architect!! Laughing at the 'year-ago-me' who thought it would all be done by the end of this summer!!

@ladybird69 I am frustrated for you just hearing about it. Have you given them a piece of your mind?

@minniemooblue - regardless of who is doing the build, things can go wrong and from what I gather the "critical paths" are:-

1. Windows and Doors. Get them ordered as soon as you can.
2. Kitchen units. Plan your kitchen well and be aware of long lead times. Give yourself an extra week on top for the missing bits to turn up too. Again, make sure it is ordered in good time.

Can you guess which areas I found delays? ;) :D

Like @WhereDoesThisToiletGo, I went with one builder (aka New Dad) and despite the problems I would do so again. Tradespeople seem to have a network that they use. The same plumber/electrician etc for all jobs. Unless you have built a lot before you won't have the same number of contacts and in addition they won'y be loyal to you. You are one pay cheque. A builder is many future ones. A builder will also know what trades can be juggled about when. That's not my knowledge btw - I am sure I read it somewhere, possibly MN!

Also, it's just plain easier to have one Builder Boss to talk to.

@Italianna - what is it that you are planning? BC seems different region by region!

@soakedat3 it's almost what are we not doing! Probably why SE took so long. Essentially re-jigging downstairs by removing walls and turning stairs and then adding a bedroom and bathroom upstairs. Planning to stay here too and feeling slightly daunted by the whole thing!