1 week into home renovation / extension - should we pull the plug already?

Rosa_Damascena

Doozergirl said: She bought me a small box of Maltesers to say thank you.  Presumably she thought that paying my wages was better than helping with the petrol

or stretching to a bottle of wine.  

There is limited damage you can do with a box of Maltesers

Bendy_House

Section62 said:

Bendy_House said:

Fair do's. I was going by; "They have put a steel in on the ground floor which is supporting a section of the rear wall of the dormer".

As the topic of the day is communication.....  taking things literally can be bad when there is conflicting or ambiguous information.

The sentence after that you've quoted used the term "placed in" - which a layperson might take as synonymous with "installed", but could equally mean 'moved into place'.

In a technical conversation about structural elements "placed in" is often used in the latter sense - i.e. the element is physically there but not yet fixed/torqued up/cured/de-propped (or whatever) ready to take the full structural load.

I wasn't sure which the OP meant.

Obviously the difference in a structural sense is significant, even though visually it can be impossible to tell the difference.

Hence the importance of communication and understanding the situation (ask questions) rather than (in your response) making assumptions and extrapolating that to pass judgement on the builder's ability.  More info is needed to conclude anything here. The best way of finding out would be asking him.

Fair point, forensically analysed towards one conclusion as usual.

Before I cast further aspersions on this outfit, I'd better check that one dormer is actually 400mm out of position too, and that the new upstairs French door is actually significantly out of alignment with the 'matching' one downstairs. Perhaps it is as the builder claims - these can be pushed into their proper locations at a later date.

BlueC

bbat said:

OP,  how did today go? 

Hi and thanks for asking.

I don't know how to summarise it really. We kept things cordial. I offered an olive branch that I had reflected and realised the Friday email may have been a poor approach from me. He accepted that the various aspects of the build had been done wrong. He didn't offer any explanation as to why. He further demonstrated his lack of understanding of the job and plans by talking incorrectly about the placement of another one of the windows but we just ignored this as we didn't want any conflict or disagreements. He was quite dismissive of the problems saying they could all be easily rectified. He then just glibly re-iterated that they won't be carrying on the job. We talked over some practicalities. We asked if he would make the house watertight again and he refused. He said it is all our fault so he shouldn't be out of pocket. He said he would bill us for materials. He left.

Quite surreal really.

On a serious, personal level, this episode is taking a real toll on me. I feel completely overwhelmed and lost and extremely upset and vulnerable. We have embarked on this with the aim to provide a better house for our family of five and we have essentially been abandoned. It is very distressing. We now are left with probably north of £10k of damage to our property and without a watertight roof. It has been absolutely teeming into the house overnight. We have a 1 year old, a 3 year old and a 6 year old.

I don't know where to turn and I honestly feel like I am waking up in a nightmare every day. I don't know what to do and mentally it's not a nice place to be in.

Bendy_House

BlueC said:

bbat said:

OP,  how did today go? 

Hi and thanks for asking.

I don't know how to summarise it really. We kept things cordial. I offered an olive branch that I had reflected and realised the Friday email may have been a poor approach from me. He accepted that the various aspects of the build had been done wrong. He didn't offer any explanation as to why. He further demonstrated his lack of understanding of the job and plans by talking incorrectly about the placement of another one of the windows but we just ignored this as we didn't want any conflict or disagreements. He was quite dismissive of the problems saying they could all be easily rectified. He then just glibly re-iterated that they won't be carrying on the job. We talked over some practicalities. We asked if he would make the house watertight again and he refused. He said it is all our fault so he shouldn't be out of pocket. He said he would bill us for materials. He left.

Quite surreal really.

On a serious, personal level, this episode is taking a real toll on me. I feel completely overwhelmed and lost and extremely upset and vulnerable. We have embarked on this with the aim to provide a better house for our family of five and we have essentially been abandoned. It is very distressing. We now are left with probably north of £10k of damage to our property and without a watertight roof. It has been absolutely teeming into the house overnight. We have a 1 year old, a 3 year old and a 6 year old.

I don't know where to turn and I honestly feel like I am waking up in a nightmare every day. I don't know what to do and mentally it's not a nice place to be in.

What a complete &*%$@£ !!!!!!.

Please PLEASE tell me you have Legal Protection on your house insurance. If you do, call them up this instant for guidance. (Might you even have Home Emergency cover?!)

There are undoubtedly lots of things you can do, but you need proper guidance on how to tackle it. For instance, this guy cannot leave your house open to the elements and at risk under the circumstances you've described, without himself being liable for any subsequent damage caused.

You need proper advice - if someone on here cannot guide you correctly, then call CAB - in fact do that NOW (if you don't have LP).

Also call up your LA's Tradings Standards. Note down everything that's been said.

What a 'mare.

(Even if you don't have LP cover, there's a good chance you can still call them up for advice, but it would then be up to you to act on it - eg involve solicitors, etc. I suspect you should also inform your insurance company in any case, since there's a potential risk to the property which they are covering - I think they need to know what's going on, but perhaps others more knowledgable will advise.)

Deep breath - start calling. Have a note pad beside you - write down every important bit of info obtained from each source.

When you have a minute, write down a chronological account - clear, brief, unemotive, timed dated - of what went on from last week when you first pointed out your concerns. Add your best and most accurate recollection of the conversations, especially the 'important' bits.

BlueC

We don't have legal protection on our house insurance.

Section62

BlueC said:

...and without a watertight roof. It has been absolutely teeming into the house overnight.

Sympathies, it is a horrible position to be in, which is why I made that point when you were at the 'pull the plug' stage.

You now need to focus on the practicalities.  The first, and most important, is getting the roof watertight again.

Until that is done, don't waste an ounce of energy on thinking about suing the builder, which no doubt is the advice you'll be getting from some other posters.  That may be something you want to do, but don't let that distract you now.

The thing that should be at the top of the list is clarifying what is happening with the scaffolding.  Does it belong to the builder, or has he hired it in from a scaffolding company?  Has it been paid for?  Would the company be willing to transfer the hire to you?

If not, and the builder arranges for the scaffolding to be removed, then anyone you employ to fix the roof will need to arrange for new scaffolding to be put in, which will add more cost and delay.

Also, it sounds like the scaffolding is only there to provide access, not weather protection.  You might want to talk to the scaffolding company to see whether they can extend it to provide cover to the areas of the roof which aren't weatherproof.  There will be a cost involved, but that would at least give you more time to find another builder whilst minimising the damage to your property.

Mentally it is better to focus on the stuff you can do to put this right, rather than churn over what has gone wrong. Take immediate practical steps towards getting the house weatherproof, and leave the other stuff until you are in a better place to deal with it.

Doozergirl

Oh dear. Is your builder a member of the FMB?   A complaint and some mediation would be helpful but it sounds like this guy is out of his depth if even he can't follow the plans correctly.   

Do you have a contract?  Is he a Ltd company or sole trader?  

With the roof, I think you need to move quickly and speak to a solicitor.  Get a letter worded quickly, today of possible, that informs him that by walking off the job without your agreement he has breached contract (even if it is verbal) and that he needs to at least make the house watertight or you'll be holding him financially responsible for the damage.   There can be other wording that softens it before you hit that point - that you felt that whilst some things weren't correct that there was no real reason for the relationship to break down. 

He needs the law laying down for him.  

And you need some quotes.  I take it we're past the point of a roofer just being able to recover the roof?  

BlueC

Thanks @Section62 that is a really thoughtful and valuable post, I genuinely appreciate it.

I am a 43 year old man and I honestly feel completely broken. I just want to cry and make it all go away. I have been really unwell for the last 10 days or so and I am struggling to cope. It has really surprised me because usually I never really have any negative thoughts.

Section62

BlueC said:

We don't have legal protection on our house insurance.

Do the insurers know about the renovation project?

BlueC

Section62 said:

BlueC said:

We don't have legal protection on our house insurance.

Do the insurers know about the renovation project?

I called them in July because at the time we were considering moving out. They said if we stayed in the property then there were no limitations, if we moved out for less than 90 days there would be some limitations, and if we moved our for more than 90 days they could not provide cover.