The builders are in.....share the ups and downs here.....

[nappyzonecantrunfortoffee]

Been as though a few of us have the builders in i thought we could share our fun and try and get through the mire together (even though pavlos stories scared me half to shit).

SO were getting an extension built and they started Wednesday - they seem canny and we have a digger in our garden, guinea pigs at the back of the garedn i have to risk life and limb for to get too to feed and mud - loads of mud - my wellies are caked in the stuff from my guinea pig feeding missions!

Our foundations are all dug out now and most excitingly a mixy truck load of cement was barrowed round the back in to them. Wheres everyone else at?

At least you can go to the bank - DS1 wet himself in Natwest a couple of weeks ago while the cash was being counted out, so now I'm too embarrassed to go back in there. Instead I'm going to the cashpoint daily to draw out the maximum amount

sorry i shouldnt snigger should i - i am also amused at your daily cashpoint visits - i have considered this too as i feel strangely embarrased going inthe gettign interogated as if a criminal laundering cash!

How is it going Nappyzone? Have you had loads of rain?
Nothing much has happened here. Rained off on Monday, then Tuesday and today the brickie has been off sick with toothache. I felt sympathetic until the labourer let it slip that actually he got into a fight in the pub at the weekend and had two teeth knocked out !!!!!
Fortunately we had Colin the digger man in today, he dug the foundations and we've arranged on for him to come back to dig out what will be a decking area outside the bifold doors. His work ethic is amazing, made the brickie look pretty poor. Hoping that the toothless brickie can make it back tomorrow, otherwise we'll be having a quiet word with the boss to ask how they can catch up.

Hello - yes to rain - it rained non stop all weekend and i thought we would flood out - amazingly it stopped on Monday and they cracked on again and the floor of upstairs went down and it has suddenly gotten very dark inside our house, on Tuesday one brickie made some comment about a kettle and an hr later i relented and made 3 cups of tea and offered some bourbons- i thought it would spur them on but for some reason they all left site at 2.40 . Anyhows today i came home and not much mroe brickwork (i dont think they can reach) though upstairs dummy window frames are in and the scafolders were here moving it all higher. I am told the roof trusses should arrive friday and will be at full brick height ready to larry them on. Yikes! My large pot of money is dwindling as he steams through these next stages.

Hope the weather brightens for you cake

I have updated piccy of my profile which is as of tonight.

Hows everyone else getting on?

Wow, yours has come on amazingly fast. We are still at ground floor level . Makes me think that our brickie is a lazy bastard not working as fast as he should be. Getting lots of excuses from him, seems to be a reason every day why he needs to leave early etc.

oh it riled me when they left early yesterday but then it was pointed out to me it was only a toot of freezing and they been there since 8 - daylight and dry though makes me think they should be still on job! tbh i could do with em slowing down so i can save up some more cash! I reckon roof will be tiled and done by end of next week which makes em wonder what they will do fromthe 14th to whenever they break up.

You should tel him tomorow your 'friend' has a brickie who works fast lol - do you just have one brickie - we have had 2 brickies on go and then 2 lads running after them... so potentially 4 on site. I suppose it depends how they being paid - daily or by the job....

Brickie turned up this morning, then it started to rain so he went home again . He mentioned the possibility of working at the weekend to try to catch up, which is fine with us. We only have one brickie plus one labourer tho. I was thinking of dropping your project in the conversation...

I just came on to post on my other thread and saw this, so thought I would come on read some of your stories and to say I hope you all have a lovely smooth time with your builders.

Mine was an absolute turkey, and the more time goes on, the more is dug up. Hence the reason I am posted. But I am utterly convinced that this guy was not a bad builder, but it actually a con man and that is very rare. Most builder's from what I understand, although might have a 'rawness' about them, are generally good at what they do and care.

Three pieces of advice, if I can give anything at all from my experiences to help - Firstly, NEVER be afraid to challenge something formally that you are unhappy with, including getting out your SE/building surveryor for a second opinion, do not presume the builder will tell you the truth, Secondly, always maintain good communication - so meet weekly to check progress and find out what is going wrong, make them communicate with you and thirdly - make sure you never give more installments than you have formally agreed in writing, never be blackmailed into handing over cash, and never ever give any installments until you are completely happy with the work at the stage agreed.

And one final advice - do not be afraid to sack your builder if he is a badun.

Good luck x

Hey Pavlov, lovely to hear from you. I'd been silently lurking on your other threads. Thanks for all your fab advice, and your experiences have definitely made us more cautious in our dealings with the builders. Hope you get some sort of resolution with your builder.

Lots of bricks gone up today . And the brickie is coming back tomorrow, weather permitting, to try to catch up on some of the missed time earlier in the week. They let DS1 lay a brick today, with his name scratched into it. He was so proud

Hey Pav! I also lurked on your thread and then was probably ott when picking our builder but then it seems to have paid off so far! Will defo heed your advise. Is yours all odne now then?

We are now bricked right to the top.

Our roof trusses arrived friday and have been laid on our roof since flat as was expecting strong wind but they just got soaked instead. Hoping they can handle a soaking! Anyhows he reckons roof should be complete by fri then they will first fix as much as they can before coming into the house for knock through.

In peoples experiences after the build has the next stage then been more long and drawn out and pianful as i really am dreading all this bit!

Nappyzone, yours is moving so fast!! Nothing really happened today because of the rain. The steel has arrived and is going in tommorow, then hopefully they can get on with the bricks for the first floor. DH is going to have a bit of a chat with the builder tomorrow about some of our concerns about the delays and the brickie, so hopefully that will make us feel a bt happier. We think we are about two weeks behind schedule now .

The plumber is coming tomorrow so I'm hoping we might have central heating for the first time in three weeks.

We were told that building the shell and the inside stuff would take roughly the same amount of time, so maybe it won't be as bad as you fear??

ooooooooo i hope it isnt that bad once they get in - the trusses are almost secured today and im expectign there to be a delivery of roof tiles anytime. There was alot of knocking today and mroe brickwork to make the pointy bit where thevalley of the roof is - i think we have been extremely lucky with the weather which has helped immensley - it has rained alot but its always been through the night or on a weekend . The sparky comes tomorow so i can confirm what were gettign and what extras we want if any.

Rejoice with GrendelsMum! Heat is about to return to the Grendel Lair!

The lime plastering is done and dry, and the plumber is back putting the radiators back on as I type. Central heating, here we come!

Are you going to be complete for xmas Grenddel? How long has your project been going now?

No chance of actually being complete for Christmas - I think we'll be going on for years rather than months! - but there is a slight chance that the dining room might be somewhat complete before Christmas. But since I can't decide what colour to paint it, it may take a little longer than that. Still, we'll be able to eat Christmas dinner in there, even without paint and curtains.

I think you're quite right about only starting rooms if they can be finished before Christmas - this is my failing. We have a few partially started rooms...

ahhhh who needs curtains and paint? Our roof trusses are up and some polytheney insulation over them awaiting roof tiles which will now be next week. I think were slowing down now. Once roof on scaffy going then its all inside as much as poss before knocky through afty crimbo.

HOws it all going? New pic on my profile of progress - tiler comes Monday and he said may knock through smaller upstairs room if certain can complete for crimbo. I got invited up his ladder yesterday and stood inthe upstairs space which was v exciting. - priced up new bedroom carpets today which wasnt though!

nappyzone - that looks fab

Still lurking on this thread, we will be looking for an architect in the New Year for sure.

Don't you wish you could just click your fingers and it would all be done? If only it were that simple!

Yes i do and we did wonder if it would be quicker or easier to move - thats said to compare my parents had an offer on their house and an offer accepted on their new house a week before our extension started and they are still weeks away from completion and stressed to boot so time comparison wise we are winnign so far and im not stressed yet though realise that will come in the coming weeks

Wow Nappyzone, your project is still moving amazingly fast. We now have the floor joists in place and the brickie is starting on the upstairs. I'm a little bit worried by the forecast of wintry showers - I imagine the brickie will use this as yet another reason to finish early

Plumber came today and xtarted his first fix but said he wouldnt do much now till after new yr as on a go slow. Sparky also came and i was on the spot to make decisions about aerials, sockets and lights and downlighters . Then i had to endure a whole discussion with builder around utility layout and downstairs loo and were i would sit and face when on loo and where sink would be and where my tall freezer will live - it was a tadge sureal !

roof tiles also arrived this am and were on by 3pm which was amazing to see.

Please please please send your building team down to us when they are finished - brickie was on his own today and has done a few more courses of blockwork but not much else. Why is it going so slowly?????

And even better, the forecast is for sleet/snowy showers for the rest of the week. Bleugh!!!

Have been looking at houses with the space we need, basically I think we need 4 decent sized bedroom (no single box rooms) upstairs, downstairs I want lounge separated from dining room and the wall between dining room and kitchen knocked down to create a bigger kitchen/diner, playroom at the back and a decent sized utility room (not a cupboard pretending to be a room).

Don't want much really already have 3 bathrooms so dont want another one but may have to move en-suite to gain access to new rooms IYSWIM?

So for all this in a new house would cost 65K at least plus moving costs.

I know it varies greatly depending on extra square metres but would 50K be a realistic figure for a 2 storey quite large extension? We are in Scotland btw