OS Singlies - We Do It Our Way!

moneyistooshorttomention

Glad you had a good weekend LB. Pleasant to have a break:)

BYATT - so it sounds like it's all kicking off again with DD. Rollercoaster ride as you wonder this time whether "That will be that and DD will see the light". Fingers crossed she will this time. Do hope there won't be many go-rounds on this before it's all done/dusted/consigned to memories. The list of physical symptoms if someone is feeling stressed is a pretty long one I seem to recall, so that's probably what it is making you feel ill at the moment (rather than a "physical" illness iyswim). I never know whether to feel better or worse if I find ill feelings are "stress", rather than "physical" iyswim:cool:. The only thing I'm quite sure of on that is there will be a short/sharp reaction to any medic that says something is "stress", when I know for sure it is a "physical" illness iyswim.

Must get myself sorted out for a day of workmen in again then:(. Daylight beginning to dawn....just a few weeks now, just a few weeks now before inside of house is basically done. Have been round another new friends house and thought :eek::eek::eek: and the word "moneypit" came to my mind. Well my own has been a distinct moneypit in my mind, but hers equals "moneypit" writ large in capital letters in red and then multiplied by a factor of I don't know just how much. I think I'd run out the door screaming if I had to face the thought of getting that house together. Reckon it will be more like years than months to do that house and add another '0' onto what I am having to pay to renovate mine.

So, I guess it's a question of being glad mine is just some months work of work and a more "standard level" moneypit.:cool:

calicocat

Sparky turned up with new bell.....to find out old bell worked, it was just the bit you push that had broken.........anyhow, I now have a new bell that I can carry around the house.


I have a question for you guys seeing as this whole sort everything yourself is a bit new to me due to being in rented place for last few years as a singlie...

Right...cooker hood doesn't work, so got sparky to see if we can get same one to fit the old space and tiling etc. To cyt a long story and various texts later I have found one that looks like it will fit as to replace old one is 500 smakeroonies.

So he text me saying am I ordering it??....i had just assume they do that?....and have persuaded him that he wants to order it instead of me.

So, my question is...is that odd?....or normal to order things yourself when he's doing the job?

The only thing I used to have to do was buy curtains and cushions etc...this whole big appliance stuff isn't my area of expertise.

greenbee

I usually order stuff myself Calicocat, and they fit it. Although usually see who can get the best price...

spirit

calicocat wrote: »

Sparky turned up with new bell.....to find out old bell worked, it was just the bit you push that had broken.........anyhow, I now have a new bell that I can carry around the house.


I have a question for you guys seeing as this whole sort everything yourself is a bit new to me due to being in rented place for last few years as a singlie...

Right...cooker hood doesn't work, so got sparky to see if we can get same one to fit the old space and tiling etc. To cyt a long story and various texts later I have found one that looks like it will fit as to replace old one is 500 smakeroonies.

So he text me saying am I ordering it??....i had just assume they do that?....and have persuaded him that he wants to order it instead of me.

So, my question is...is that odd?....or normal to order things yourself when he's doing the job?

The only thing I used to have to do was buy curtains and cushions etc...this whole big appliance stuff isn't my area of expertise.

Normally Tradespeople order from their own suppliers since they get it at a better price than you can - then they add their mark up on it, hence it is better for them if they get it.

However if you search t'interweb, you might find one at a good price. Funnily enough I had a plumber round yesterday about my power shower which I'm sure needs replacing anyway. He's meant to be getting back to me with a quote but the figure of £200 was bandied about by him. I had already done some searching and can find them cheaper. I may get another person in to quote and see if I can order one myself,

moneyistooshorttomention

My main workman gets me to buy everything, on the basis he takes me to "his" place and I buy it and get "his" discount on materials, or at any rate more of a one than I could get as a customer walking in off the street myself.

I think, in his case, its mainly down to a permanent cashflow problem I suspect he has, as in he couldn't find the money upfront anyway for the goods, though I gather he has had some bad experience of customers receiving the goods and then not paying for them. This way, the customer cant have the goods without the payment for them having been received.

There is a bit of a tendency round hereabouts for workmen to pile you into their transport and take you shopping for goods required anyway. I've never experienced this before moving here, but here I'm never surprised to be piled into their transport with them and taken off shopping somewhere. But normal rules do not apply round here anyway I've found. The "how to deal with workmen" rulebook has been rewritten hereabouts in quite a variety of ways I have found.

LavenderBees

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

My main workman gets me to buy everything, on the basis he takes me to "his" place and I buy it and get "his" discount on materials, or at any rate more of a one than I could get as a customer walking in off the street myself.

I think, in his case, its mainly down to a permanent cashflow problem I suspect he has, as in he couldn't find the money upfront anyway for the goods, though I gather he has had some bad experience of customers receiving the goods and then not paying for them. This way, the customer cant have the goods without the payment for them having been received.

There is a bit of a tendency round hereabouts for workmen to pile you into their transport and take you shopping for goods required anyway. I've never experienced this before moving here, but here I'm never surprised to be piled into their transport with them and taken off shopping somewhere. But normal rules do not apply round here anyway I've found. The "how to deal with workmen" rulebook has been rewritten hereabouts in quite a variety of ways I have found.

I don't think this is particularly unusual - I did exactly this for all the hen run materials, sourced from all over the place. It meant I paid up front and my handyman wasn't out of pocket for the materials. Made sense to me to do this, and I also ensured that way that I got the quality I needed/wanted.

I also sourced and bought my new shower recently too, and simply had the electrician fit it for me.

Personally, I'm happy to forgo any perceived discount by a tradesman buying materials on my behalf. In my experience, it isn't worth the hassle when the quality of those materials is not up to scratch.

LB xx

Charis

I've just had my kitchen refurbished and they use the same online company to get their appliances as I do. I had the choice of getting them myself or letting the refurbishers measure, order and store the goods ready for installation, for a small surcharge. I let them get on with it and once I'd chosen my new oven, hob and sink it was their problem if the goods didn't arrive on time/were damaged in transit/didn't fit the places they were supposed to go in. Win win. BTW the company I order from is ao.com. I have ordered from them in the past and I doubt their prices can be beaten.

In my limited experience nothing goes smoothly with workmen. They don't seem in a hurry to start a job, then there are countless teething problems. When the carpenter had a close look at my units, to which he was fitting new doors, a slight water leak had been seeping for a long time into my MDF units and they were beginning to crumble under the weight of the contents and the worktop. He's fixed it all now, then the door company sent one door the wrong size and only about half the handles needed. It will be finished eventually and I am overjoyed to have a working oven after three months of stews and fries.

Additionally, in the course of this job I have met a carpenter, a plumber/gasman who lives really locally, a painter who is the carpenter's brother and an electrician, all of whom seem very affable and know each other from other jobs they have been called in to do together. One oven dying has led me to a number of people who have now been (or in one case will be) asked to do other jobs that are on my 'I must get around to' list.

All this is possible because I had an inheritance a year or so ago. Not a huge sum, but enough to do those things I have been thinking about for ages. It's earning peanuts in the bank while its real value falls, so I decided to invest in in my home (which like MITSTM's is a bungalow, bought at a time when it was the only property on the market in this small town when I wanted to move here.) I'm set up for old age by serendipity, not choice.

Overshadowing this are family problems. Those affected don't really want to hear my advice or work a way out of their problems and I have had to make a choice not to keep bailing them out. I've done it several times but now have had to stand back and let them find their own solutions. It isn't easy to stand by and do nothing but sometimes it is the right thing to do, for everyone concerned.

moneyistooshorttomention

Charis,

Well that's a blessing at any rate to be able to do some of the work you have been waiting for on your place. It's amazing what a difference having a few major jobs done can have on the feel of the place. To me, the thing is to have a place that's easy to live in = easy to maintain, easy to do the housework, etc and that's part of what can be obtained when doing work on a house.

I am feeling reassured that I could have done worse/a whole load worse having seen a house a new friend of mine has bought and that house would give me nightmares for years (mouth firmly clamped shut as to my opinion of the house and have offered what help I can and will be sending round my main workman when he's finished my house soon and have given him an idea what to expect to find).

I guess knowing just when to "stand back" is something many on this thread are having to learn and it must be difficult to work out when to leap in and when to stand back sometimes. I'm watching a friend going through this now and urging her to "stand back a bit", because otherwise all of her life and her money will just get swallowed up by the family member concerned and they will still be coming back for more...:cool: (and I know what hard times of her own my friend has had to go through for the last few years, so she really needs her energy and money for herself to recover from that). I'm having to keep my mouth clamped shut about exactly what I think about this particular family member (but I wouldn't be choosing them for My New Best Friend role that's for sure....).

calicocat

Just a quickie post as busy at work....(back on own ward....noise and mayhem).

Anyhow I had sourced a couple as replacement he found was expensive..which he said too...so I text the ones I had found to see if any good and then the whole who is getting it came up. to be fair he may well think i'm being dead cheeky (but now says not), and obviously he'll charge for going to get it...but I ain't got time, the car is too small, and am asleep most days for deliveries.......

.....plus I though you just asked someone to get it, and they did....and as mentioned that they would use their own suppliers.

Anyhow...it's sorted...I think....assuming he turns up with it at some point over next week or so....we'll see.


It's a deffo 'suck it and see' with these guys isn't it.....ruddy confusing they are, one min all helpful and cleaning conservatory roof...next wanting me to do stuff......lol.

Maybe he has OCD cleanliness and couldn't bare the roof with clumps on it and so the 'helpful' bit was more about feeding his need......lol.


Right....WAY too much over analysing going on there....(job hazzard)...off back to the grind.

Have a good weekend folks.

MummyBobble

Just a quick "Good morning". It's sunny, it's the weekend and (having been awake most of the night with a flipping awful earache), I've been up long enough to have just put the third load of washing on (and there's still about another four to go).

Was planning on being very healthy and having raspberries with yoghurt for breakfast but DD has eaten all the yoghurt, so I had raspberries, ice cream and chocolate sauce for breakfast :eek:. That was about three hours ago so I'm off now for a poached egg and muffin (pretending that breakfast number one didn't happen, you can do that when you're a singlie and nobody knows ).

Back to read through what you've all been up to these last couple of days later.

Have a good day. .