Realistic builder timescale?

[stressedpetal]

Hello! Our small Victorian terrace has been having a full renovation - a wall knocked down, damp proofing, skimming, new floors and wiring, new bathrooms and kitchen etc. We moved out while work is happening but I'm desperate to return. Initial finish date was 12 weeks (end of feb), then "definitely" mid march, now after Easter, but I'm worried we will miss that too. I need to get back for work and financial reasons and my mental health frankly. Delays in getting products and finishes has held everything up, but literally everything is there now. A neighbour went over last night as builders are being cagey with sending pics and I was so disappointed in progress of last few days since we spoke to builder as feels like nothing has been done beyond tiny bit of tiling. All the first fix stuff seems to be done and has been for ages but rads need fitting, kitchen floor needs to be fitted, kitchen needs to be fitted and tiled, floorboards need to be restored throughout, 2 x tiny bathrooms second fix and finish tiling, new doors fitted, odd bits of plastering finished off and painting throughout. How long should this take with a big team?? At the end of my tether - it really is a small house! They know we are keen and I'm sure they want it to be over too.

How many workers are there each day?

Do they work all day?

In other words have they moved onto another job?

How are you paying them for the job or time wise?

Have you out any clause into the contract about finishing dates? COVID might have slowed down building work but not stopped it especially if you have moved out

If it isn't too far away go there each day or week and take photos or video of progress or lack of it

A neighbour went over last night

This is your issue, I would say this could go on forever if your builders are now doing bare minimum and have moved onto other projects. You need to be visible, speaking to the builder regularly and not relying on your neighbors to check on the progress of work or lack thereof.

You need to arrange a meeting on site with the builder to inspect and review progress.
Ask for a list of outstanding work and timescales. What exactly is holding things up. If it's waiting for a particular product can it be substituted.
From this you need to set expectations for completion.
You need to be firm and communicate and confirm that communication in writing to be extra clear.

In other words have they moved onto another job?
She speaks sense.

I would be there in the morning tapping your foot, dropping by to check measurements for non existing furniture orders etc. Right now they're sharing the love between two of you and the one who screams loudest will get the most attention.

Thanks all. There are about 6 builders per day, the intial rip out, plastering etc was very fast. I suspect they have moved onto new jobs but have been told that they want to clear this one so they can fully move on. I can't go over as we are living several hours away to try and save money / get some help with DC, rather than spend thousands renting nearby in a pandemic. I feel stupid now as head builder also acts as PM and neighbour (who is a close friend and experienced renovator) agreed to being the eyes on the ground and has been great about popping in, so we felt ok leaving it in their hands especially as it was a straightforward reno. Unfortunately organisation doesn't seem very good. They have been reassuringly fast at some bits but it has really slowed to a crawl. House is totally crowded with tiles, grouting, vanity units, kitchen units, my beautiful bespoke counter stored carelessly. It's a kick in the teeth to hear that everything else seemed to be holding up everything else, so we acted fast to get everything in place, but now all the parts and pieces and materials have been there for weeks it's still not happening.

This is a basic failure of project management. Your builder can't be PM because he has a conflict of interest. Your neighbour has no incentive to do the work. You need a plan to get to completion. You need to be there every day, or employ someone to be PM.

I always double what a builder says time wise. They are notoriously optimistic. Some delays are beyond their control- supplies, other trades getting tied up, weather and finding issues not apparent before work began, but I still find it takes as much time to finish the last 10% as the other 90%.
However, you can never ever leave a crew to work without very regular if not daily visits. They need reminding who is boss - the person who pays their wages. You have got to get over there or appoint (pay) someone to do it.

Would your neighbour be willing to be paid to watch over it properly?

We had a big renovation job done that finished in December. We had a project manager who, very sadly, died of Covid during the job. After he went to hospital things were much slower and we went there every day 'to collect the post' and speed things along. There were days when nothing happened at all and 10 weeks turned into 19 weeks.

Important - do not pay them all the money until you are happy and back in.

We found quite a few snags once we had moved back and only when most of them were done did we pay the final part of the money £22k.