Just need to vent about property works :(

[Applesapple]

We completed a few weeks ago and it’s been really mixed emotions for me. We did all the furniture planning when we first moved and have been looking at paint colours etc. all super exciting.

BUT between all of that it’s finding electricians, and plasterers, and floor fitters. We’ve pulled back wallpaper and found a lot of the plasterer has just crumbled. There are mould patches behind some bits. Everytime we do something I worry about what we might find. We’re chipping away at the work and our families have been great at helping. We’re super lucky in that we don’t have to live there while it’s going on and try to maintain 1 weekend, and 2 evenings a week where we don’t do house things.

But sometimes I get to a really low point, see the state that it’s in, and really regret and resent the house. i have to stay off Zoopla and Rightmove because i see ones that look nicer and start to cry.

this is my first house and I think I was quite naive. I know we planned for a lot of this and won’t run out of money. And that in a few months, when most of it is done, it will be great, but that time just feels so far away.

I experienced this when we moved into our current house. Previous homes had been new build and I had massive buyers regret once we moved in (1930s house) and saw how much needed done. Have been here 2.5 years and the regret faded after a while. We have done lots of DIY! Try and get at least 1 room really nice. I found this helped me start to see light at the end of the tunnel.

Just wait until you have fresh plaster on the walls - it really is transformative! And this means you'll have a great base to paint on which will last years (don't forget to mist coat). Remember everything can be fixed, and you planned for this so try not to panic and wait until those milestones are hit one by one - it really is a process!

It’s horrible isn’t it? We did a kitchen and knock-through diner renovation ourselves/with family in our last house and it took months. It was worth it, and it was a proper wrench leaving my amazing kitchen when we left, but during it I hated the mess, the work, the endlessness of it (and we were living there).
I’m afraid I’ve no amazing suggestions for how to feel better right away, but you’ll get there.

Thanks everyone. Really struggling to find a plasterer. It’s such a block in the works. I’ve accepted we’re probably not going to move this summer.

Feel your pain. I bought a 1930s semi in March. We still haven’t moved in. I was incredibly naive and didn’t realise the scope of work required. Last week the plastering was completed and flooring installed on the ground floor. It is finally starting to feel like a home. Dealing with trades has been a nightmare. I hope I’m not flamed for this comment but I think Brexit has had a terrible impact as the best tradespeople seem to be from Europe (est Eastern Europe) and now many have left and we are stuck with mediocrity. We had a couple of Romanian guys doing the bathroom and the floor fitters were Latvian. Absolutely brilliant, professional and did a great job. The less said about our English builder the better.

@Eastie77Returns that sounds awful. Do you know when you’ll be able to move in? I was really hoping to be able to move in 2months from purchase but it definitely feels impossible now.

I totally get where you are coning from. I completed 3 weeks ago but had to move in straight away. The cosy home I viewed in December now has a broken boiler, rotten soffits and a host of other problems. Yes, this did all come up on the survey but I never anticipated the difficulty in getting tradespeople to quote, let alone do the work. And seeing the problems in cold hard daylight is so demoralising. I think getting a room done is a really good idea. It will give you hope for the rest of the house. Good luck!

@redfairy same! The homey/ ‘just paint and add flooring’ house I viewed in Feb is completely different now. The work picked up in the survey, we looked through it carefully, got rough estimates online/ with some trades, but now it feels impossible because of not being able to get trades in. We had a mad rush to drive to the house today during the work day to meet a plasterer at short notice. He didn’t tell us beforehand that his availability is May NEXT YEAR! I was so angry! We can’t do any decorating until the Rewire and plastering is done. I think I’ll do the garden and paint the shed to give me
hope!

@Applesapple we are moving in next week. We’ve been in an AirBnB for almost a month and can’t really afford to stay here plus pay the mortgage. All rooms are plastered with flooring in downstairs so we will just live in one room.

We do not have hot water as the new boiler cannot be installed until all radiators are in. We’ve had the radiators for months and our disorganised builder kept promising to deal with them (“possibly this weekend”). We’ve paid him a lot up front - silly move - and he has consistently failed to turn up or showed for an hour and left. All the work in the house could have been completed about weeks ago but he has dragged it out. Now our new kitchen is arriving this weekend and he is installing it along with a fitter and I’m already dreading the delays. Stressed does not come close to explaining how I’ve felt!

I totally understand re getting trades in. So sorry the plasterer wasted your time. I would have got rid of the dreadful builder but it would have been impossible to find a decent replacement before Xmas and the one positive is that he does employ good trades - the electrician and plasterers have been the only bright spots.

Whereabouts are you?

Bear in mind that if someone's available at short notice, there's probably a reason... Good trades are super busy at the moment and booked well in advance. If you're lucky one will fit you in due to a cancellation. Otherwise the reason they're available is likely because they're not very good! I know the waiting is tiresome but come to terms with the fact it'll take longer than planned but the result will probably also turn out better than you imagined. Be patient and it will look lovely.

@SharpLily I’m in Manchester. I do worry that the only plasterers who are available are available for a reason but I’m not really sure what to do about waiting if we can’t live there. I’d like to wait but the one we’ve had good recommendations for is booked up for 12months. We need to Rewire, and that will require patch plastering before the second fix. All the rooms need doing before we can decorate. We’re trying to avoid putting in new flooring before the plastering. Would it be better to just move and wait for a plasterer? And then paint and get carpet later?

I can't really tell you what's best to do for you personally I'm afraid and Manchester is not my area so I can't even help you find a plasterer there! However it seems you have to wait, either way. Keep looking for a plasterer but accept the wait and make it work for you somehow.

We've often lived in houses while the work's being done. It's not fun but can be useful. Definitely plaster before doing the floor. By living there and seeing how the sun hits the rooms at different times of day and year, how the rooms feel in the rain, what sort of noises you hear from different parts of the house and times of the day etc., we've found the time we had to wait made us change some of our plans and pre-conceived ideas for the better. We discovered that what we'd planned out beforehand wouldn't work so well once we actually got to know the house and so we avoided making some expensive mistakes, things we would have ended up changing when we realised the situation later on.

If you decide you can't live there, still try and use your wait to plan the house better. There's nothing you can do about having to wait. You can either stress about it and let it get to you or try and enjoy the anticipation. It's unpleasant but my experience is that time invariably ends up giving you a better finished result when you eventually get there.

Think Manchester is really tricky for trades at the moment. My sister lives there and is really experienced at getting work done and managing trades and it took her months and months to get her kitchen done. Could you try further afield for trades. Might even be worth paying them to stay over if it's a big enough job? Or even DIY it????

@Grumpycatsmum I’m genuinely considering taking some plastering courses !

@SharpLily thats a good way of looking at it. I wanted to live there before doing any work but because of the rewire we decided not to. We might move a few things in and semi-live there to see what it’s like.

I feel your pain! We have pretty much finished a 2 year renovation on our house which has taken a lot out of us. Last week we had a new front door and this week finally put curtains up in our bedroom. Everything inside has now been completed but there is work to do in the garden.
We also struggled getting trades but I think the worst thing was during covid lockdowns literally not being able to get away from the mess and the stress, or each other, for months on end without a break. I think if you can afford to not move in before the plastering is done, don't move in. We lived away for a month whilst the rewire and damp treatment was done but it was still pretty much a building site for months and months and it is hard work.

Do not try DIYing the plastering! 😂

We're 3 years in to a full reno of an Edwardian house that hadn't been touched for 40-50 years aside from crappy tinkering around the edges, and botch jobs, some really dangerous ( live wires exposed at child height and a gas leak).

My tip is when you find a good tradesperson, make an effort to befriend them and treat them well.

We use an amazing plasterer who I recommended to a lot of peop and as a result he has been busy continuously. We also fed him, and bought in his favourite soft drinks for during work, and as a result he fits us in even though he is booked up for months and months.. be it over a weekend or evenings/ late nights.

He plastered our new bathroom this week over 2 nights working till 11pm.

He likes OH a lot, they get on really well so he will always slit us in one way or another. We pay him immediately and never mess about.

Ditto our plumber.

OH is very handy and is doing 90% of the work and I do all the decorating, and it feels relentless at times, but this way at least we know it is all being done properly.

We do most jobs between us, from painting, carpentry, bricklaying, pretty much anything bar bigger plumbing jobs, or gas and electric work, but I draw the line at plastering. Other jobs you can compensate for lack of skill by working carefully and slower and redoing bits if you get them wrong. Plastering has to be done fast, at one go. It's really a job for a professional. Which bit of Manchester are you in? If north, it might be worth looking for plasterers in NE lancs- Accrington, Blackburn, that area.
Beyond that, don't get too despondent looking at other houses- in fact, I'd stop looking at them if I was you. All houses have their nasty little surprises after you buy them however nice they look- even new ones can. The other houses you're looking at will have plenty of their own, it's just that you haven't taken the wallpaper off those and found out. Hold the faith, and I try to think of this- if you do/supervise the work yourselves, you can make sure nothing is scamped which will cause trouble later on. Therefore, if you stay in that house for a long time/forever, you'll have peace of mind. And if you come to sell, you'll be able to tell buyers the same. And you'll have had things done the way you want them, rather than paying for someone else's taste. Good luck to you both.