My F**king Builder.

[PavlovtheForgetfulCat]

He took all his tools last week, after receiving an agreed additional payment (from the final that we owe him) To clear the loft for the final lot of plastering he said. To be able to gain perspective he said. (he did not do this last time he plastered and there is only remedial plastering to do now up there, the rest is on the stairs, hallway etc). He talked to us about this and that, all nice.

After about 30 mins, I became a bit suspicious, again that he might have done a runner as he took everything apart from a yellow bucket. He took is ladder, why would you do this if you were plastering at height? Anyway, I am naturally suspicious. It is part of my job, it is part of my make-up. DH was a bit worried too, but we put it down to being nervous about this job. And I reminded myself of his reassuring conversation about him completing and DH and I agreed we were being unecessarily suspicious.

He was not coming in monday he said, bank holiday, out with the kids, he said.

This morning, he did not show. Did not answer his mobile. DH and I have been panicking. Eventually at 11am he phones.

And he said:

His younger brother has been rushed to hospital, is critical, collapsed lung (he only has one apparantly) and next 48 hours are critical. it had only just happened. He would try to get his plasterer mate to help him out.

Now. I am very cynical. DH said, initially, he appeared genuine. But DH is a very forgiving person and sees the best in everyone. I don't. DH started to doubt whether this was the truth or a blag. But, we are very nervous about whether this is true or not.

I actually want it to be true, so he that it means he has not done a runner with most of our money and left us in a hellhole. Does not make me a nice person I feel But then I also think he is very elaborate with his stories, has been so far and this smacks of some bullshit.

Either way, this week is dead for any work. and I am getting closer to my due date. And now, calm, chilled relaxed DH is starting to pull his hair out.

Sorry. Half of you probably won't even know what on earth I am banging on about but I needed to vent as I am so annoyed and upset and stressed and fed up it is unreal. I have no space. I am not sleeping as I am sharing with a toddler who talks in her sleep and a DH who is smoking too much and therefore snoring.

That is not so bad. I feel calmer writing it all down.

Oh and we need to change the locks. As the builder is likely to have 'lost' our keys. he has not used them for a while as he forgets them. So the locks will be changed tomorrow, just in case.

I feel calmer and a bit more in control now. It will change tomorrow I am sure, but for now, I am happy to eat a tub of chocolate cookie ice cream, once DD has settled

Yee ha! That's good news indeed! Actually it really doesn't look that much seeing it written down.

Oh ice cream...go on, it's medicinal

Palov - I haven't read the whole thread but iirc there was something you had to change that you didn't want too, can you have what you originally wanted now you are having some different work done? Was it something about the floor level?

FBG - The problem was the floor was wrong so the stairs were wrong. The stairs were going to take up a small amount of the spare room and with the mess up the stairs took up much more room. We wanted it changed. But it has still not been done correctly. The floor was lowered as we requested and the stairs were moved. But they were not moved as far as they could have been across and therefore the box room is still smaller than it should have been, although not as bad as it was before. There is no way we could get him to re-do this, again. We have had to accept it. We could definitely get someone else to do it, but it will cost us and involve lots more work. Again. We just cannot do it now. It will give us back a further 6 inches? Its significant enough on a box room but not worth the money or hassle now.

I have written the termination letter and included all the reasons for termination, not from an emotional perspective, from a purely logistical and hopefully legal perspective - bad workmanship evidenced by building control reports (which we saw) plus photographic evidence, failure to work to structural plans or correctly remedy mistakes, refusal to communicate with the building control team, aggressive attitude, working without means to supply materials, demanding cash advances or else walking from the job failure to remove rubble from our back yard despite being asked several times(its a fire access route to the neighbours below us and it is blocked and it is starting to smell too), oh the list goes on and on and on!

I have told him there is no monies owed and I will invoice him for any costs incurred by us to remedy his mistakes and finish the job.

Gosh Pavlov - good for you. I reckon he didn't move the rubble because the cost of having hardcore removed/skips etc is through the roof at the moment. So - onwards and upwards (literaly, into the loft!) Here's to people taking of your house from now on

Yes I guessed that too. He had been shifting it weekly, then he stopped. He had a bloke who did it for £25 a trip, then he got wise obviously. God know how much this will cost to shift

This is just so awful to have to deal with even without being pregnant.

I hope you are going to report him to absolutely everyone you can.

Pavlov, is it worth just checking with your free legal advice people that what you are doing is totally fine from a legal point of view. I know there's nothing in your contract but surely the worst thing would be if he suddenly does try to take you to court in a few weeks time when you've got a new baby and are trying to put all this behind you?

daisy I am really not worried about him taking me to court. He has been paid thousands in cash which he has not declared, more than we owe him. So, tit for tat. He takes me to court, he gets done for fraud by IRS. He also needs to prove we owe him anything at all does he not? Seeing as he cannot find the quote he gave us, and given that he never put additional work in writing, that will be a bit difficult yes?

I will call them. But I cannot do it today. I need to concentrate on finding another builder. DH has said are we sure we want to fire him, not give him another chance. But we gave him chances, and more money and he has basically walked off with it, the work he has done since we gave him more money is not equal to the work he has done since. What would have changed now? He has no money to pay his workers, so how will he afford to buy the rest of the materials? If he has no money, how can he survive without doing other jobs? I cannot put myself through this any more, or my family.

And if he wishes to go down the route of court, I am really not afraid. I have spent a lot of time in court over the years for my job. Its really not that big a deal.

daisy - i think his refusal to work to building regs and architectural/structural plans is enough to terminate the contract anyway without all the other aspects.

Hi Pav, just checked in to read the latest. DPs' father is back from holiday tonight so I will see if he has any useful contacts re: chippies, plasterers & builders.

I will text you about coffee sometime next week, I suspect that this week has been busy enough & then some. Glad you got out with your DH for a little lunch & such. Cannot see that anything other than good can follow from the decision to sack your existing builder & having read the list of remaining work it does not seem overwhelming. Good. Glad you feel control back within your grasp

I think you are right to move on and find another builder. I also think that if he threatened to take me to court I would say "Bring it on mate! You have far more to lose than me."

buda that is pretty much how I feel. I have never been one to shy away from a fight. I dealt with my mum being diagnosed with a terminal illness when I was pg last time, and then per passing away when I had a small baby. I can cope with an arsehole builder.

It does seem like a rollercoaster though. Just had a builder come around who knows both the inspector and our architect/structural engineer bloke, apparantly he is renowned for his overzealous use of steels. He did not know the old builder. He was concerned about a couple of things, including one area of the floor which appears to sag. We have agreed to take up the floor in that area for him to re-assure himself and us that its ok. He said that if it is the floor, and is left for 6 months, with furniture, archatraves and skirting put in, it will be more expensive to fix. He said it might be nothing, but its worth looking at, seeing as we are finding ourselves in a position of having remedial work done anyway. He was also a bit concerned that the stairs squeak as it indicates they are not secured correctly.

However, he also reassured us that is sounds awful to us, but to him its nothing that he cannot fix easily and not to worry. I had walked out of the room in tears at the point about the stairs as DH had already spoken to the old builder about the squeaks and he said he would fix them and it was just one more thing.

The builder asked how we heard of him - recommended by one of my best friends whose boss has just had some work completed in his home and his offices, she said he did a great job. It turns out that the boss is also the guy's accountant and he beamed at the fact he was recommended, in effect, by his accountant, and walked out promising it will all be ok. He is going to talk to structural engineer and building inspector today about the work needed, in particular the beam and then he will pop out later tonight to check the floor for us.

It just feels like this is never going to end. Just as I get on top of my emotions, it all changes.

Absolutely resolute that we have made the right decision to fire our builder. I think it might cost us a bit more than we thought to remedy everything, but at least it will be done well.

And we just priced up carpets for the hallway, thought that might cheer me up. Er, no. There is a lot of hallway now we have more stairs and its not going to be cheap either!!! I cannot beleive how much they charge for underlay Found a site online which looks good though.

fran It is my second wedding anniversary on Monday, then tuesday afternoon I am free, wed I am working (allegedly!) then... I am on leave [yipee!] so any time after that!

You sound so much more positive Pavlov!

The new builder sounds great - fingers crossed he will be good.

I so hope you get it all settled and can enjoy these last few weeks before baby arrives.

just had another builder around who said he does not like to do other people's mess. He said he works to s high standard and whatever he does he will not be able to get the loft looking how it should have looked/how we want it to/how he would want it too, he likes to leave his own mark and that would not be possible. He did say, if we get stuck he would help us out, and he will send us a quote as a backup, but that if we are able to get someone else to do it for us he would rather not take the job on. Thanked him for his honesty and was left feeling rather down hearted .

So. We had another builder out. This one, was another originally recommended by the structural engineer along with the one we picked. He made it clear that it has all been done badly wrong, and also indicated that he would probably not have charged us much more to do a significantly better job. He made us feel so awful that once he left DH broke down too. DH rarely ever cries. In fact never. But he said he is upset with himself.

Whatever we do now, this job is not going to be a happy finish. It will do. There is so much wrong, the floor is fucked, the windows are too high, he has not made the hatches big enough for architraves to be put onto.

And all the builders are questioning the structural engineer's insistence that the beam can be removed as its not doing anything. GIven that the building inspector is also saying this too, I am very dubious as to whether the structural engineer is being truthful or trying to save money.

Well, I do like the sound of the builder who came round first...gosh, it's like Blind Date - sorry Pavlov

OK - I know my DP would be a bit like builder number 2 - but that is because he once got in the firing line of someones bad work....trying to put it right when really it needed doing from scratch. However - this isn't the case with you and I think builder No1 is on the case by the sounds of it. Fingers crossed he comes through with some positive action...I'm sure he will.

And hurrah for your second wedding anniversary! If you were in the Bucks area - I'd bake some muffins for you

You know when you feel so stupid, for making a stupid mistake that cannot be undone, that feeling of absolute despair at being so wrong and not being able to put it right.

That is now where we are. I cannot stop crying. Why did we pick him? Why did we not tell him to walk when he messed up? Why did we not call the other guy for a price? .

It is going to take alll our money to fix this.

jean perfectly understand his reservations. And its pretty much what he said, he would prefer to rip it out and start again. Shame we can't afford to do that.

I hope the first guy comes through as we cannot really take much more than this.

Sorry - x-posts - didn't see you'd had another guy back round

With regards to the beam - well, is there anyone else you can call round to have a sort of 'final word'? I'd be inclined to listen to the building inspector. Could you speak to him again - tell him that the engineer says it's ok but the builders don't think it is. Just a thought that going back to the inspector may add some clarification.

You need to sue this guy who has fucked up so badly.

Structural engineer said he would be talking to the Building Inspector, who also said he would be talking to the structural engineer. The first builder also said he would speak to both of them to get their heads up on the situation.

DH called Building Inspector this afternoon after the first builder had come around, and at that stage he had recieved a voicemail from the builder but not spoken to him, and had not spoken to SE, but promised he would him immediately and discuss the beam.

Ultimately, the building inspector rules imo, as if he is not happy with it he will not pass it, so if he says its no good, then the SE will need to fix it, and he will tell him so.

Last builder we saw said the inspector was a good egg.

FBG - yes, I do. And you know I think I will. But not til the baby is here. And I won't get anything back from it. As he has no money he will declare himself broke and we will get nothing.