Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Property/DIY

Join our Property forum for renovation, DIY, and house selling advice.

Original poster

Builders starting in three weeks - please talk to me about builder ettiquette!!

64 replies

cakeforbrains · 19/09/2009 21:44

We have work starting on our two storey extension in three weeks time. The build is scheduled to take 10-12 weeks, and we will be living in the house the whole time.

What I'm wondering is how to manage the relationship with the builders. I'm on maternity leave at the moment, so I will be in the house during the day when work is taking place.

So, what are your tips on keeping the builders happy, while also making sure that they do not end up taking us for granted or making erronous assumptions? (I've been reading Pavlov's nightmare thread!!). I was thinking of providing a kettle, mugs, tea and coffee, milk and a tin of biscuits. Are bacon sandwiches essential to a good client-builder relationship? (I hope not because I'm veggie!). Should I stay out of the way as much as possible, or should I keep popping my head round the door to see what they are doing? Will I look an idiot if I ask them to be mindful of the cats' welfare? Can I ask them for quiet when I need to get DS2 off to sleep?

Any tips and suggestions would be appreciated!

TIA!

OP posts:
nappyzonecantrunfortoffee · 21/09/2009 19:08

With toddlers in mind we deliberatly planned ours so it is going to be done early winter as oposed to whack bang summer when kids want to be in the garden.. We have had assurances our life wont be disturbed (which i obv dont beleive) until the knock through which they will do a room at a time, complete then move onto the next. Not sure i beleive that mind and am dreading when all 4 of us share a bedroom for a few weeks along with the beds and furniture everywhere. From experience how long does knock through to complete to moving back into rooms take. I am tempted to foster out the kids to in laws for a few weeks then with DH to reduce the stress.

cece · 21/09/2009 20:16

Our knock through started in early June when DS2 was 2 weeks old. The builders finished mid to late Aug and DH is still painting... We have moved into our new kitchne but have not yet moved into the new bedroom, as it isn't quite finished. But then we did all the decorating and tiling. I expect the professionals do it much quicker!

nappyzonecantrunfortoffee · 21/09/2009 20:23

Oh gawd im hoping that hell will be 3 weeks max

Original poster
cakeforbrains · 21/09/2009 20:52

nappyzone - we've been told that everything will be fine until they knock through too. We are planning to hire a storage unit to store the majority of our stuff, we will be left with the living room, 1 double bedroom and 1 box room for the 4 of us. Keep telling myself that it will be fine and exciting.

cece - we are planning to do all the decorating ourselves and lay wood floor throughout the downstairs. DH is a teacher so hopefully he will be at home at the end of the build to start decorating. We'll be prioritising the kids rooms, I think out bedroom will probably just be plaster for a few months.

Our plan is that DS2 will get the new bedroom created out of our old room, but DS1 has started talking about wanting a 'new bedroom' grrr. I'm really hoping that he will not be too disrupted by the chaos.

OP posts:
cece · 21/09/2009 20:56

Yes we prioritised the kitchen. Once the bedroom is finished there is lots of movement. We have the new room, DS1 moves to our room, and DS 2 is having DS1's old room. He is currently in a moses basket in the corner of our room...

Think DD is feeling left out as she announced a new colour scheme for her bedroom walls at the weekend... Think she may toi wait a while!

nappyzonecantrunfortoffee · 21/09/2009 21:00

Dh is worried they will ask him to empty the loft to fix the new roof to the old - havent really thought about storage . Now its getting colder i really hope we have a nice warm winter so we dont all freeze to death especially wen the boiler is changed over n stuff.

cece · 21/09/2009 21:04

We had a new roof fixed into our old one. DH just moved everything to the other side of the loft, so it was out of their way. Builders didn't even ask us to do this as they did it all from the outside but it was useful to keep it away from the dust.

And yes it is fine before they knock through.

Original poster
cakeforbrains · 21/09/2009 21:05

are you me? we have all the same worries. Our loft is packed to the rafters, and the wall where the boiler is currently located has to be knocked down and the boiler moved. Are you getting a new boiler installed? If so have you gone for a combi boiler? We are dithering whether to get a new boiler - the current non-combi one is approx 11 yrs old, works fine at the moment but worried that it will become high maintenance soon, and we would also love to free up the space currently taken up by the hot water tank in the box room bedroom.

OP posts:
nappyzonecantrunfortoffee · 21/09/2009 21:16

Ours is too blocked to the rafters - dh actually put a mattress up in ours about 6 months ago - it got stuck in the hatch and it was height of summer - dh had a total panic attack on he was going to die up there and i almost started sawing it away then with brute force it got up there never ever to come down again in one piece anyway!

While they are up there removing bot pf rppf it it might be a good idea to ask them to remove the mattress for us that way so we dont have a repeat .

Anyway - boiler - ours is 15 yr old and dyign and doesnt have capacity to cope with the extra rads. We are going for normal condensing boiler so sadly wont lose the water tank which is a shame as i have knowhere to store the spare dyson i hope to one day have up there. Apparently for a family of 4 and size of abode were told more economic to have a condensing one (we live in a new buildy but old 4 bed). Also in the future dh has a dream about installing solar panels and if we do this we still need a water tank. This will never happen imho but what the hell.

Original poster
cakeforbrains · 21/09/2009 21:45

death by mattress tee hee!

OP posts:
Original poster
cakeforbrains · 21/09/2009 21:45

death by mattress tee hee!

OP posts:
Rindercella · 21/09/2009 21:59

Do not go on a fornight's holiday the day teh builders are due to finish. You will get back from 2 wonderful weeks in the sun (followed by no sleep on an overnight flight and 2.5 hour drive from airport), open your front door hoping to see your beautiful new extension....and walk into a bomb site!

That's what happened to us (holiday was booked before build end date was known). It took us all day to clean up the mess and move furniture around. Bloody nightmare it was.

However, it was really well worth it (and they did do a good job).

Get a portaloo. Get kettle, teabags, coffee & sugar. And CHEAP mugs - they will get broken or disappear. Buy them nice biscuits when you go shopping.

Agree with frosty - watching the build progress is SO exciting. Some days you see no progress, but other days you just cannot believe how different it all looks.

Ours finished on time (see above for the problems with that though), but be prepared for them to over run. There's always an unforeseen problem.

Good luck, and remember the end aim...your beautiful new house

RibenaAddict · 22/09/2009 14:03

We are still in the planning stage but will hopefully be a two storey extension on the side that gives us a larger kitchen - making it a kitchen diner, downstairs loo and utility room - then an additional bedroom upstairs for another child (fingers crossed)and an ensuite added to the master bedroom.

Wish I could click my fingers and it was all done! At least we hope they should be able to do most of the building work of the shell in isolation before they have to knock through to the existing kitchen - which will then be out of action for a fair while I reckon!

I know what you mean - my DD will either be desparate to help - or terrified of lots of big strange men.

jaz2 · 22/09/2009 23:03

All this info is very useful: our extension work should start on Monday - for 6 weeks I'll be on maternity leave, with 2.10yo DS and 7mo. Then back at work 2 days p/w. DS is anticipating diggers, cement mixers, pneumatic drills etc etc. I am hoping he will be disappointed! We live in a London terraced house: work will last for 10 weeks.

Slightly concerned about the toilet issue: we only have an upstairs one, and no room for a portaloo. Am going to be awake all night worrying now - DH thinks it's hilarious - I am famed for my love of sparkling clean toilets (and hence my love of hiking in Switzerland where there are pristine toilets even in the wilderness!). Will definitely invest in more bleach and biscuits.

I currently have a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach (and have had since I saw the "final" quote for all the work) - I think this must be worry about being invaded for 3 months.

nappyzonecantrunfortoffee · 08/10/2009 21:58

just bumping this cake to see how its going or hasnt it started yet?

chimchar · 08/10/2009 22:14

we started our two storey extension on june 6th this year...our new kitchen is coming tomorrow!!!

our builder (my fil) thought about 10 weeks...we're 16 weeks in now, and it has been hell! to be fair, it was fine until they knocked through...since then the dirt and dust has been unbelievable.

i am assured that it WILL be worth it all if when its finished!

Original poster
cakeforbrains · 09/10/2009 21:12

hello! Nothing further to report really. Builder hasn't started yet because he is finishing off his current job. However we're having fun choosing the kitchen units and we are about to move 90% of our possessions into storage.
It has rained all this week here tho - I'm having visions of the garden turning into a mudbath and mud everywhere
On the plus side, we're realising that the house will be a bomb site at xmas so we're planning to head to cornwall, neatly avoiding the usual tug of war with the inlaws .

jaz - how is it going
chimchar - eek, we've been told ten weeks too. Did your FIL encounter major issues along the way to cause the delay? how much longer will it take?

OP posts:
chimchar · 10/10/2009 09:10

hey cake.

no, nothing major has slowed things down...tbh, we had a strong feeling this might happen. he's a great builder, finished work is great, he's just not so hot on planning his timings i don't think.

to be fair, this last few weeks has been more waiting for people to be able to come...we've been going days with no one in the house, then 10 turn up in one day!

i'm planning on it all being back straight and whole house cleaned and newly painted by christmas time. if its not, i'm leaving!!!!

half my kitchen came yesterday..the other half is coming on monday hopefully!

nappyzonecantrunfortoffee · 11/10/2009 19:12

cake i like your thinking - we too anticipate upheaval over xmas so i have already started dropping big hints and warning we wont be cooking

Original poster
cakeforbrains · 12/10/2009 20:30

I saw my mum at the weekend but wussed out of telling her that we're not going to be around for xmas. I know she will cry

OP posts:
LordVetinarisApprentice · 25/10/2009 18:10

So how is it going for everyone?!

I'm on week 2 of my 5 month build

There was a bit of early work in the house and the dust has been unbelievable but now we're 'sealed off' from us for the moment. They are going to pour concrete into the footings on Monday apparently. How long after that can they start building the walls I wonder? Can't wait to see something actually coming up instead of down!
Builders are very nice, have set themselves up in the shed with a kettle etc, one of them let ds sit on his lap and use the digger!
Hope everyone else is having a good experience so far.

Original poster
cakeforbrains · 26/10/2009 21:58

Wow, I'm jealous of you. Absolutely nothing has happened so far here. Our builder is delayed the job before ours, so the start date keeps getting pushed back. Hopefully he's starting on Monday . I'm hoping that this is not a bad sign.

OP posts:
nappyzonecantrunfortoffee · 03/11/2009 10:01

cake did he start? you in chaos yet? our planning permission goes to committee tomorow so should have a decision - i feel a toot nervous.

Original poster
cakeforbrains · 03/11/2009 10:25

he starts tomorrow!!! I am so excited.

Good luck with your planning permission. Is there anything particularly about what you are applying for? We got planning despite two objections from the neighbours .

Fingers crossed for you - let me know how you get on!

OP posts:
nappyzonecantrunfortoffee · 03/11/2009 11:02

oh how exciting - are you doing anything in prep other than grinning alot? no shouldnt be any probs as had no objections from neighbours but the planning lady said they have had some obscure decisions lately hmmmm. All being well i think our guy will start next week or onw after - we will have to start a new thread for support once they get going!