Catching up

With the amount of radio silence you've all been experiencing with this blog you'd be forgiven for thinking we'd taken a long holiday! Well we haven't, we've been trying to get the house, which is long overdue for completion, finished. Most nights after work we have been going to our house, working till late then catching the bus back to Bushey. Then of course working weekends to paint, then paint again after the builders have left yet more marks on the walls. Poor Mani has painted the hallway about 4 times already and it still needs fixing!

Anyway so what has been happening & why has taken so long I hear you ask? These are very good questions and questions we have been asking ourselves again and again over the past 3 months.

Let me explain.

You may remember that we sacked our old builder (see previous posts) and then extended the services of our plumber & electrician (Chris) to project manage the build of the extension. Chris was working with a builder that he trusted and liked his finishing and they came back with a quote and a time frame of 4 weeks to complete the build. Wow, we thought, 4 weeks and this could all be over and we could enjoy the rest of Summer in our new home! AND we'd be able to have Mum stay when she came in early September, as that was 6 weeks from the build start. We were told we'd definitely be able to have Mum stay. Too good to be true? Well.... yes.

Remember the problem we had with both pipes, well the water board took their sweet time coming over to sort that out. 4 weeks to be precise, so the build over agreement couldn't be sorted until then and that delayed the project. We also had issues with the architect who had put two descriptions of a flat roof, both of which were incorrect in their measurements and design so had to be re-done after the building inspector agreed they were wrong.

Now whilst we appreciate there are hold ups with building projects, we never anticipated that a 4 week job would turn into 4 times that. We did add some extras as we asked them to fit the kitchen and fit the flooring which we were told would take a week for the kitchen and 2 days for the flooring. We had gone to Spain to look at Wedding venues and they swore/promised it would be fitted by the time we got back. They even insisted we order the cooker as that would need to be fitted. So we spent quite a bit of time searching online for the right cooker to ensure it fit all that we were after and was able to be delivered next day.

Needless to say, when we got back from Spain, it wasn't finished. And the cooker sat in it's box for another 4 weeks as due to all the dust they were making with everything else they still needed to do, I didn't want the cooker ruined before it was able to be used!

We are now at 18 weeks from the point that Chris and his team took over. According to the specifications of the build, making allowances for the build over for the pipes and installation of the kitchen & flooring the whole project should have taken 6-7 weeks. We are pretty disappointed and now haven't seen the builders for weeks. They only contact us when they want money and they'll do some bits and pieces. We are pretty much at the end of our tether and the only thing we have over them is outstanding monies.

We have given them one last date to finish everything - whatever they don't finish we will deduct from the final bill and we'll have to get someone else to finish.

I know you want to see pictures, but I've lost the memory stick with them on! As soon as I find it I will post them....

xx