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.

Oh
My
God

Will this never let up?

It is going from worse to...what is next? Just had a builder/carpenter out. Not good news .

?

Did you get my message pavlov Please mail my sister she will tell you what she did

noddy - no I will check in a moment.

ilove ok. Lets figure out how to start this. Its a flat, so this would have been the large front bedroom of a victorian terrace). When this was split into rooms, the frame of the old wall in the hallway remained. And we always thought this was integral to hold something or other up, or else why keep it. So on the ceiling, there was a beam left, running into and becoming the central wall of the front room/across the house (and including downstairs). With me so far?

This beam was cut into in order to cut out the stairs gap, so where it ran into the party wall, it no longer does. it is just suspended, doing nothing. We were told this was fine, by the builder. So we asked why he could not remove this beam completely as it was a bit of an eyesore. He said he can't move it completely as it is integral to the ceiling, but was not compromising the ceiling in any way. Still with me?

Did not make sense, but who am I to argue, what the fuck do I know?

So, general builder/carpenter comes to give us our first quotes for finishing this project. We don't go into details about the builder, just say we have been let down by someone who can no longer finish the job.

DH mentions this beam, as it still needs plastering (and he has been worried about this). The builder takes one look at it and goes . He says it is integral, another beam should be inserted to support it, something about not being supported enough to canilever the beams going the other way. He says it is not safe. He then shows us a huge fucking crack where it is already dropping due to the weight of the ceiling, and it is likely that at some point in the future, if not rectified, a huge chunk of our ceiling could collapse, as this is a spine wall, hence the reason is was left there. Now, it has been sawn at, and it is suspended holding up the floor with no support on one side. He pulled up some floor board to see if it has been supported in any way. And it has not. It has just been left.

He said we must point this out to the building inspector tomorrow, get our structural engineer back out and we will have to get the builder out to fix this, or else get someone to fix it, and charge him (yeah right). We have left a message with our architect/structural engineer to come out immediately.

I do not know if it makes sense whatsoever. And DH said, maybe he is not right (but he had worried about it) so don't panic. But we both know, laws of physics, and given the large new crack that has appeared along the plaster of the beam, it is fucked.

It is going to cost us thousands.

Yes I will wait until tomorrow. Yes I know it could not be the case. I said all this to myself as we have moved along with this, it will all be ok I said, it will sort itself out I said, be patient I said.

I cannot stop the tears. DH is also distraught, and blaming himself.

OMG . I don't know what to say. Have some hugs ((((()))), nothing I can say or do is going to make this better for you tonight. I wish there was. This builder needs to be hung drawn and quartered. And what about the arcitect allowing this to happen?

This is just too awful for words .

The architect, god knows what his plans were in relation to this beam - I can't see it even mentioned in the plans. The guy who came out this evening said in this type of situation, it is normal for there to be joists/trimmers/something attached and hung across to support it up, or at the very least an additional steel. But there is of course neither. Of course there isn't.

The architect said he has worked with this bloke for years, said this again today and said he has never had anything like this happen. He did apologise (like that helps). But he was, according to DH who spoke to him clearly wanting to not get any further involved, made some excuses about not being able to come out for a few days.

The building inspector is the guy we are going to need with us tomorrow. We should have bloody well paid more attention to him in the first place, rather than seeing him as a tickbox.

Oh God Pavlov. I am so sorry. What utter utter shit. And what an utter shit the builder is. Architect not turning out to be much better if he is not at least willing to come out and have a look.

Is there anyway you can get Building Inspector, architect, builder and electrician in house at same time? I think that is what I would be demanding wanting.

((((()))))) If those are virtual hugs, have a few more. Consider yourself bombarded with sympathy FWIW, this is hideous.

buda right now, that fucking builder better not come within 100 yards of my home. But, yes, I think it may be that I demand it. If this is a structural nightmare, we cannot just sack him, I am getting that he will at least need to fix it.

kyte yes, insurance. I have been wondering what his insurance might cover. He did have cover, which we saw, but I worry that he is no longer covered as he has not been paying anyone by the feel of it. Would they cover any of this mess at all? How would I claim?

fran I have your number I think, i will call/text you. Thanks for the hugs, and everyone else too. I appreciate it. x

I have been reading and following but not posting.

I am absolutely speechless.

sh!t

Is he a member of any trade association ?

No, he said he quit the FMB due to problems with a dodgy builder who they did not deal with properly . Problem is, we were so gullible. He was so amenable. Back then. We believed him. I think I said before. I could not possibly have believed that another person could be like this. Which is a laugh considering my job. But usually those I work with have drugs as a reason for being fucked up.

I can't believe this. I was thinking that at least if he was a total shit, he was at least competent - but I guess not. THe architect recommended him so his reputation is on the line too - he has to help you sort this out in order to command any respect as a professional.
I think that the useless crew have to at least make everything safe as per structural engineers and building regs then you can show them the door and get somebody in to finish it. Just try and think about why you wanted this - it seemd like a good plan once right - and it will again I'm sure.

Oh my god, Pavlov, what a farking nightmare. Am literally reading this with my jaw dropping. What a git. Am so angry for you, noone should have to deal with this when pregnant (or ever!).

Oh dear! It may not be that bad.

We had what was thought to be a supporting wall that I wanted to rip down. The builder and the structural engineer disagreed about the need for the lintl (sp?) So I stopped the job and called out the guy from the Council who did Building regs. He looked at the joists and said that since they were going one way, it wasn't a supporting wall. I said that I wanted that in writing. He jotted something down, and said I would get it in proper Council letterhead, but in the meantime, the work continued.

The absolute worst is that more support may need to be installed. But not necessarily. It depends on a range of factors.

When we had our loft converted, we didn't need to have any more support.

I expect my insurance company will not do anything to help, you know basic household insurance would just about fix my bathroom with some shite contractor, can't see them helping me now.

But, its all worth giving a go eh? I have reached this sort of resigned inevitability that it is all fucked. I am sorry for my bad language. I just feel so gutted. I feel, tired I guess. I think I should go to bed, it just feels so hopeless as I can't do anything about it tonight.

ilovemydog - i hope so. I think the crack is what has frightened us, as well as the look on the guys face this evening. I am sure the structural engineer would have taken it into account when doing his calculations/plans etc? Surely? That is what I am telling myself over and over again. Thanks for reminding me of that situation, i recall you telling me before, and its helped calm me down a little, give me a but of hope. If it does need more support, it will mean ripping out walls up there that are in, and the floor. again. I suppose its better than his head

So, oddly, the best outcome tomorrow is that I am in fact able to sack my builder. that is all I can hope for, as it means structure is ok. If so, he will never ever set foot in my home again. And as was mentioned below, he returns my keys or I shall call the police (we are changing the locks regardless).

Wait until the building inspector arrives and tells you what needs to be rectified. It may not be as bad as you think...

Hope you get some answers from the building inspector....he really will know what the heck has been going on

If it turns out that it is a structural problem then I think you'll need to ditch this structural engineer/architect bloke too. What has been the building inpectors previous comments on the supports?

I'd not worry about him/them not having opportunity to fix the problem.....that's usually only when stated in the contract and I think you said previously that the contract was quite woolly...so, in this respect it could work out to your advantage.

Sadly builders insurance (public liability) doesn't cover for stuff like this...to my knowlegde. Just make sure you take down every word the inspector says tomorrow and ask him the way he thinks is the way forward.

Good luck - so sorry to hear about this...keep us posted.

jeanjeanie - the floor was originally signed off, the inspector said to me he was not impressed with the work quality at the time, but he made some recommendations for change which were done. BUT, he said that he was waiting for a call from him to come out to re-assess the new floor after the messup. He already knew all about the mess up, and not from us, so it must have been the architect/engineer who used to work from them, as he knew what had gone wrong, and had been expected to be re-called. I did not even have to give him my full address. Just the first line, door number and road and he knew who we were .

Which is why he is coming out. He did not bark orders at us, he did not demand to come out. He asked if we would mind, see how things look. He was very gentle, compassionate and not at all the 'twat' the builder made him out to be and seemed genuinely upset that we are going through this.

So perhaps this is a good sign, if he signed it off originally, it will be ok this time. Oh I hope so.

I will say goodnight, and thank you all, again, for your support. It really helps to get it out, as DH and I are so stressed its hard to talk to each other when we feel so wound up.

I am astounded you are still having to go through this.

The builder is a complete incompetent arsehole but your spineless architect should definitely be sorting this out as well. He recommended the builder and he also designed the job. Any structural query he should have been with you asap sorting this out. Doubt builders insurance will cover for this but would the architects? If the structural design was flawed surely you could claim against him?

Your dd will no doubt be taking this all in her stride so do not worry about her too much.