Learning to walk before I run

killerpeaty

That's fantastic! Love that it's feeling real and I hope you enjoy the extra space. Getting cleaners in is a great idea, not dealing with the mess will be amazing.

edinburgher

DD1 started Brownies, had a jolly time of it

Have been round to the house, that painter had get a move on if they're looking to finish this weekend! Got MIL to order us a microfibre mop dealy for cleaning the nice new bamboo floors, did her a transfer for the costs.

Not quite as prolific a day for surveys, managed to make £4.xx. Tried to withdraw money but was refused (apparently it's less than 24 hours since my last payment). A good moneyspinner.

savingholmes

Sounds like you're nearly there on the extension then which is good.

South_coast

edinburgher said:

Not quite as prolific a day for surveys

Like what you did there, Ed 🤣

Suffolk_lass

What a relief that they are almost finished. Fingers crossed the painter gets a wiggle on.

killerpeaty

How long did it take to be accepted into prolific? It's taking aggeeeessssssss.

Do brownies still make you set up emergency kits? I remember it had plasters and 10p to use a public payphone. 

edinburgher

@killerpeaty - about a month in my experience?

I am not sure about the emergency kits, but they do seem massively focused on neatness, no nail polish etc.

BookWorm

killerpeaty said:

Do brownies still make you set up emergency kits? I remember it had plasters and 10p to use a public payphone. 

I remember those!  Was there was supposed to be some string too?

edinburgher

In a fit of being a total ****, the builder is now refusing to floor either of our staircases, leaving us with approximately 10 boxes of flooring and no idea what we're going to do next. He is framing it as "I can't do a good enough job with the product" (nosings are not very sturdy), but he has come up with sweet FA in the way of alternative suggestions, ideas or attempted fixes. In short, he's obviously underestimated the time the stairs would take and is now cutting us loose because he has another job starting. Absolute bell, I am fuming

I have contacted the supplier to complain about the quality of the nosings and to seek their advice re. fitting them securely, but the builder had attempted an installation on the first two stairs that exactly matched that shown on the supplier website. It won't change the fact that the builder is going to leave the job unfinished and that we will have 2 unfinished stairs. What a kick in the tender parts. Imaginative and helpful FIL is considering whether he could use a router to create a basic tonque and groove setup with the boards/nosings and has offered his assistance in trying to make this work, or to glue the boards to the nosings for extra stability prior to fitting. Absolutely scunnered.

Other idiotic mistakes made by the builder/architect this week include: the fact that there is no longer a light anywhere on the original staircase or first floor landing because "it wasn't on the plan". Architect missed it from plan, builder removed an existing pendant light for reasons unknown to me and now insists that it will need to be added as a new item at cost to us. Neither builder or electrician thought to mention the fact that we would have no light between our ground and second floors. Builder also missed a two way switch for the lights on the new attic staircase. As a consequence, they could only be turned on from the top of the staircase! Those are getting fixed today, but newly plastered and painted walls will need to be chased out, plastered again and painted a second time. I genuinely despair with this guy.

£17.84 of Prolific earnings paid into SIPP (£22.30 after tax relief).

I am feeling very low

Cheery_Daff

Oh Ed, I am so sorry to hear of your builder woes 😕 What an absolute fiasco. So frustrating to trust someone with your house, and then feel like you're having to hover over them, and STILL have them do it wrong 😕 especially when they then want to charge you for things! 

Our builder, who was otherwise pretty good, did get a bit more sloppy and uncooperative towards the end, and quite clearly had another job to go to (and was fed up of us!) Most vexing all round. 

I don't have any suggestions (not that you were asking for them) - I'm afraid my personal solution has been to declare that I will NEVER get anyone in to do anything ever again, and will instead do EVERYTHING myself (slightly unrealistic long term, but I'm pretty stubborn - and also don't have a house full of small children)

Anyway, big hugs. Keep focusing on the end - your beautiful house will be done soon, the stupid builders will be gone, you can write them an honest review if it will make you feel better, and then you can concentrate on luxuriating in your lovely home with your lovely family 🥰

You are SO nearly there now xx