Extension Thread 2021.....aka "where's the bloody builder?"

[Callmejudith]

New thread!

@PoshWatchShitShoes, oh no. Fingers crossed its just a cold. There are some stinking colds going around but at least you don't have to isolate with them

Oh wow @LivingInABuildingSite that is fabulous!!

Noooo @PoshWatchShitShoes hope it’s just a cold

@wonkylegs - if you have hundreds of trees, your place must be huge! Is it a farm? I hear you on scaffolding to paint. We will have an atrium type ceiling and the entire space must be white as painting it will be a once every 10 years job.
@PoshWatchShitShoes I hope you get well soon!

When pulling together a contract, did any of you negotiate penalties for being late? I’ve a friend who says we must but the architect says there’s no builder who will sign it. Thoughts?

@NewHouseNewMe we have 1.5acres with trees along all the boundaries, a small orchard and a few others inside. It's not a farm, it's a Victorian villa on the edge of a village so we have fields all around us. It's our little oasis.
Currently very happy we fitted the Tesla battery & solar panels on the extension as we still have power where the rest of our half of the village is out and apparently it'll be at least another 12hrs of no power.

I hope it is OK to tell you all about our very early stage situation. After taking advice from the lovely people on one of these threads we are having a two storey extension that includes two new reception rooms, two new bedrooms, a utility room, an ensuite and having the current bathroom, down stairs loo and kitchen replaced.

We have one quote from a builder who can do the lot for what seems like a very good price in the summer. We have about two and a half weeks until his quote runs out. The other recommended builders will not quote until after the structural engineer has inspected in the new year. I am worried that we stand no chance of getting on their lists until late 2022 or even 2023.

I know that we are spending huge amounts of money, so need to be very patient and sensible. However, the great big eager kid in me wants to say yes to the first builder to get on to his list for next summer. I have tried to get other quotes but nobody is getting back to me.

Please can the seasoned professionals on here tell me to be patient, sensible and grown up about this. I just want my baby (he is actually 8) to have a bedroom bigger than a cupboard before he reached puberty.

@swimdrum I think as long as you do your due diligence on the builder then it’s all good. Make sure you actually speak to someone they’ve worked for face to face and see the work.

Thank you very much for your reply Callmejudith. The builder is recommended by our architect. We live in an area where extensions are very common. They are highly recommended on the local Facebook page. We have asked to see photos of previous work. I think it just feels too easy, so I am worried that we could regret a rash decision.

Hope everyone's had nice weekends! We have spent alllll weekends building ikea flat pack and sorting through boxes. This box from my daughters bedroom nearly tipped me over the edge...

This might be our last week! Expecting kitchen fitter in a couple of days this week then he'll be done. And builders are back tomorrow to lay a patio, which should take a couple of days. That's IT!!!!

@swimdrum

I hope it is OK to tell you all about our very early stage situation. After taking advice from the lovely people on one of these threads we are having a two storey extension that includes two new reception rooms, two new bedrooms, a utility room, an ensuite and having the current bathroom, down stairs loo and kitchen replaced.

We have one quote from a builder who can do the lot for what seems like a very good price in the summer. We have about two and a half weeks until his quote runs out. The other recommended builders will not quote until after the structural engineer has inspected in the new year. I am worried that we stand no chance of getting on their lists until late 2022 or even 2023.

I know that we are spending huge amounts of money, so need to be very patient and sensible. However, the great big eager kid in me wants to say yes to the first builder to get on to his list for next summer. I have tried to get other quotes but nobody is getting back to me.

Please can the seasoned professionals on here tell me to be patient, sensible and grown up about this. I just want my baby (he is actually 8) to have a bedroom bigger than a cupboard before he reached puberty.

I am the exact same! Desperate to get booked in but I am waiting and getting 2 more quotes. Our preferred builder is 30k more than we have so I have to be sensible and get more quotes. We can ride this out together and I'm sure we will both be building in the Summer 😁

Do you mind if I ask how much you have been quoted? Ours is a part single part double story extension, garage conversion and internal remodel including moving stairs. Our first quote is £170k and we are in Herts.

Plasterers have been working hard plus UFH in. Definitely a 3 steps forward week.

Apologies....no idea why it's posted 3 times!

Hallway looking great too!

Looks fabulous @MissFritton65 🤩

I'm wide awake 😭 DC2 woke me up at midnight and I've been awake and stressing since about getting everyone out of my house and actually acknowledging it's nearly Christmas 😭 So much to organise with the dust and the carpet cleaning and getting all of the blinds/curtains cleaned and rehung.

Hate this turmoil of being a nomad!!

Also, I realised during my Friday night visit that the decorators have used bright white gloss on my woodwork in the 2 bedrooms they've finished!!! It looks beyond shit compared to the off white windows. So they're going to have to rectify it with the correct colour eggshell, which is a delay we could do without. Issue will be that I didn't actually stipulate the skirting/doors colour to the builder as I didn't realise they'd got to that point and we'd only discussed wall colours, so I'm not paying for the cock up, but lose yet more time 😠 Why would they assume I wanted bright white gloss???!

On a good note though my PCR just came back negative, so it's just a cold.

So for anyone who hasn't yet started, make sure you're on site morning, noon and night, because at the moment my once or twice a day site visits aren't enough to keep on top of everything!!

Is it too early to say fuck??!

Kitchen painter arrived on site and has had a well-justified wobbly that it isn't ready for him!!! So fucking angry that the joiners weren't here Friday and Saturday.

The kitchen units aren't fully fitted and the plinths and cornices aren't fitted. There's fucking dust everywhere.

I'm paying £330 a day for the kitchen painter and he's got 12 days and that's it!!!

It's never too early to say fuck, @PoshWatchShitShoes

Not a great start to final week here, patio people not coming due to the frozen ground, and kitchen fitter not coming as he took a fall while watching his son play rugby!

Sorry to hear bad news for both of you!!

I’m sat here staying upstairs while the one guy here today does some painting as I’m waiting for a pcr result for me and DD.
Sure we both just have colds but the Zoe app recommended a test and, as I have a governors meeting in a special needs school tomorrow I wanted to be sure.
No result yet though…
Also, not sure I’ve thought this through if it does come back positive! Hoping for a result this morning as kitchen delivery due tomorrow.
Will they deliver to a ‘waiting’ house or a positive one??

Sorry to hear of the disappointing starts to the week. Let's hope things can only get better! 🤞
We are about to move into temporary accommodation number 8......and hoping things crack on this week so we can move back in a Friday.

@LivingInABuildingSite hope your test comes back quickly. We did PCRs at 10am yesterday morning and the email results came through at 11pm last night.

@Indecisivelurcher oh no!! Bonkers that someone injured themselves watching rugby

Hope this is your last move @MissFritton65!!

And the bad news just keeps rolling... kitchen painted just said that the overdue kitchen French doors can't be fitted till 15th December at the earliest 😭 As the paint needs to cure before a) more dust and b) there's a hole in the wall and cold!!

Fucking window company were meant to fit them on 20th November!!!! So angry. One person delays something and it fucks everyone else's schedule 😡

So now they can be fitted 15th and I have to hope the room can be decorated on 20th!!!

Shiny white windowsills 😡😡😡😡
Next to expensive new windows that are a totally different freaking colour.

Sorry, I'll try to stop whinging. I'm leaving site now before I start balling and shouting

Plasterer didn't come yesterday as he was full of cold, his apprentice has done all the prep on Saturday though.
I thought he was going to be a no show again today but he's phoned to say he slept in and is just grabbing a shower and will be with us soon.
I feel bad that he's feeling shit and it's bloody freezing here but I'm also desperate for progress.

@PoshWatchShitShoes after many years I've learnt to be very explicit with instructions which is why all my jobs have very detailed specs before starting on site including decor. They still get it wrong but I can at least tell them with certainty it's all their fault. Some contractors love it but some hate it.

Do you mind if I ask how much you have been quoted? Ours is a part single part double story extension, garage conversion and internal remodel including moving stairs. Our first quote is £170k and we are in Herts.
What are the extension dimensions? To me, this seems quite cheap and I’m in the same rough area. Does it include plumbing, electrics and all steels? It is normal to wait for the structural engineer’s report to quote properly.

Quote didn’t work but that’s for @GardensandGrandDesigns