Positive stories from big projects

11 months ago

We have been going through some tough times over the last 9 months.

steels put in the wrong place meaning one opening is 180 and one 201cm on eother side of the woodburner. This means the lights dont line up

all windows in the wrong positions, upstairs and downstairs

playroom window is mean to have identical shelving units wirh window bench in the middle. we have 79cm wall on the left and 101cm on the right.

some positive stories would be much appreciated.

flush plaster with tiles is far from beibg flush. toiley not in tge middle of the wall. This has been retiled and toilet fixed.

pillars for the woodburner are not in the same line and build more diagonally.

a very expensive kitchen has been scratched and dented by builders, electricians and quartz people.

Cabinet under the sink was custom-made to fit 220mm butler sink. this came 222mm so it was too high for the quartz.

the quartz around sink is floating and not supported and so of anyone sits on it it will snap, we have two joints behind sink.

Today arrived the second sink both have really bad imperfections at the edge at the bottom.

sink should be 595mm but is only 570 at the bottom and so there is a huge gab now.

my husband just told me thst the buikdets broke the garage door. They also damaged the freezer door (they did pay for a new door), dented the dishwasher.

Are we just really unlucky or is it the same for everyone?

Positive stories are much appreciated.

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Comments (8)

Daisy England
11 months ago
Wow, don’t know what to say other than you have been very unlucky.

We are in the construction trade so hubby or son do all mine and of course it’s perfect as it is for our customers too.

Did you pay them in full?
Sonia
11 months ago
Sometimes mistakes happen, but that is a catalogue of errors. It can be a lot better. Hope it’s all sorted soon.
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Wow...there is a lot of chat about this sink...I see it as simple as ...change it and put the right one in....end of saga....I would not be bringing in another option of a basin in here ....the original on is causing enough commotion. As for the clear gluey stuff ...that is silicone and that comes off of the tiles without a problem but you want to make sure that the pedestal of the original basin is smaller than the new one or you could end up with it not covering the tile line that this one had.....stick with the original....then there is no cost to you ....change it and it will cost you I would think...I would also put a smaller mirror about the size of the inner mirror without the framed edge... as I said previously as I believe that it is overshadowing this basin and will look even bigger with a small basin. What I would do is to put a piece of paper up on the wall and make it the size of your mirror currently and see if you like the size and then drop the size of the paper and see which is better. Hope you get this sorted soon...it is your bathroom and you need to decide before you get even more suggestions... hope this helps
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Well, the chippies van was up the drive when I got home from work - a little unexpected. At first I thought that he was sleeping with the Mrs, but then I remembered that he needed to finish the skirting boards. He's done a cracking job - quite a few tricky internal/external corners, plus the corners not being exactly 90 degrees he was back and forth to his saw all the time. He really did a stirling job. It was 13 meters of skirting in total - which took him 4.5 hours in total (over 2 evenings) and it cost me £90. Considering I was origionally going to do it, it could well be the best £90 I've spent on this whole kitchen. I need to get a lick of paint inside the alcove that's pictured. Our little fishtank will be returning in there, but as it's out I may as well do it. When we get the bar stools, and dining room table & chairs I will update again. So: What would I change/add/remove ADD - Somewhere to hang the tea-towels. We have some on the inside of a cuboard, but they keep falling off. Maybe I need some slightly more expensive 'hangers'. The space where they could have gone we put a spice rack/draw thingie - that's probably better though. ADD - We forgot about the bin! Now we have our pedal-bin basically kicking around the kitchen. The Mrs has already filled the cupboards to maximum capacity so I'm having trouble getting an internal cupboard one past her. I think I may just fit one then deal with her later. The bin has gravitated to a semi-perminant place, but with the kids trying to be *cough* helpfull the wall is already beginning to get the odd splatter of 'stuff' where they just throw their food in the general direction of it. Last night I said 'Well, why don't we just put it in the utility room' - She shot that idea down instantly as she obviously isn't happy about the extra 4 steps that it would take to walk all-that-way into another room. Poor thing! Typical woman lol. ADD - At the start of the project I would have got the electricians to chase in another mains wire from the fusebox so that it comes out of the kitchen wall centrally to the back garden, then I would put a PIR Security Light in. I know that it's not a big job by any means, and I could, and probably will, do it myself over the coming weeks but if I could have had it without a wire on the outside of the house then that'd would have been perfect. Also, thinking about it, I would have actually got him to do it at the front of the house as well as he re-wired the whole downstairs with new fusebox etc.
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Wow that looks beautiful, I am jealous of the brick. We wanted a very similar colour brick but the council wouldn’t allow and I didn’t want the red brick so we went with blocks and hopefully crisp render. We started our build towards end of Jan. Double extension, the foundations laid and then had the structural engineer out and final final details drawn up. The ground floor blocks have been laid and the scaffold has gone up so don’t know how long that will take. Our builders seem on track and have said August finish but I think it will be September/October Tani how many bedrooms did you have built and how many rooms downstairs? Also from start date to now what has the time scale been? Xx
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Thank you so much for taking the time to do these detailed plans. You have certainly come up with some ideas that we had not thought about. In particular we wouldn't have thought about having a small sofa against that wall (we had thought the tv would be good here) but actually I think it feels nice to be facing the other way. I also like the piano and the bookcase being at the entrance and feels this would help separate the kitchen from the family room area and also be that I can hear my daughter play whilst I cook and pop round the corner to see her. We have only just created that large opening for the window as wanted as much sun in as possible (and in fact have just had it amended to make it larger so it didn't look so obviously like a garage conversion to us) - so I wouldn't be keen on the second idea of reducing the window size for the piano - but yes you are absolutely correct and we should have thought about furniture placement more than we did as the 15cm of wall to the left of the window has prevented me from running a nice long floor to ceiling bookcase along that wall which is disappointing - but still other areas to put it in. Luckily I can carry out your furniture arrangement as I placed 3 tv points so will see how it feels when we finally get finished. Thank you so much for these plans and the effort to achieve them!
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Alenka Kirkham
Original Author
11 months ago
It is my brother’s construction company doing the job.

The windows are partly in wrong place because the architects didnt include changes that came into force on 15 June last year about the size of the cavity wall even though we asked them. We are trying to grt the money back to redo the playroom window.

There was lot more like the electrician got seriously ill and ended up in the hospital for weeks. He came back with crutches and looking 25 years older. They closed the ceiling without finishing first fix and now the new electrician poor thing had to look for cables. Our ceiling looked like a sieve.

We still have outstanding ballance left and snagging bit too.

My husband is trying to be positive. The builders turn up every day, and we have an excelent tiler who tiles for the UK celebrities and has done brilliant job. the kitchen and utility was installed well but God knows what it will look like. At least the kitchen company are sending two extra bottles of pain for touching up abd kitchen door on third attempt.

We have two small children and we have been living in two rooms and washing dishes in the bathroom sink while cooking downstairs on one ring since January.

i cant wait for it all to be finished.
Daisy England
11 months ago
What does your brother think of the havoc his company have created?
Alenka Kirkham
Original Author
11 months ago
I don’t know anymore. I just don’ t trust any tradesman anymore. He tells my mum all is going well. I don’t really want to discuss this with family to stir but i think, he genuinely wants to help.

I really appreciate having builders from where I grew up. They play music I listened to when I was a teenager, and my kids love having a chit-chat in my home language too.

Things are slowly resolving. I will post again once this nightmare is over hopefully with some good photos.
Daisy England
11 months ago
Could your mother act as a go between? lt sounds as though she is under the impression that all is well when it‘s not.

There are good tradesmen around and it’s a shame when customers experience similar problems to yours.

Don’t loose faith and when you find that good tradesperson keep going back to him
Ruth House
11 months ago
Sounds like you have been very unlucky. I just want to sympathise with the two kids, no kitchen, washing up in bathroom situation. It is sooooo hard at times, we have just come to the end of 6 month renovation, no kitchen for 4 months. But we now have working kitchen and are gradually emptying the temporary kitchen out of the living room so although that has dirty floorboards and bare plaster it is also returning to some normality.

You will turn a corner soon and it will start to fall in to place. The snagging list is a bit depressing and I've had to accept that it will be months until we're finished but slow progress is still progress. Good luck with it all.
Sonia
11 months ago
I think the fact the the building company is owned by your brother just adds to your trauma, don’t you think? Is he hands on, does he do any of the work himself? My brother is a builder and he calls on tradesmen when required. If a tradesman is not very good, he finds it hard to let them go, but let them go he must, and so should your brother. My brother sometimes makes mistakes, we all do, but he always sets out to resolve it and wants to keep the customer happy. Sometimes it’s the customer who is a nightmare, but we won’t go into that!

Positive stories from big projects

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Positive stories from big projects

Comments (8)

Daisy England

Sonia

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Alenka KirkhamOriginal Author

Daisy England

Alenka KirkhamOriginal Author

Daisy England

Ruth House

Sonia

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Alenka Kirkham
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Alenka Kirkham
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