Project: Two storey/part single storey side and rear extensions

[dlockers]

He said he know's what needs to happen in the house.

Is it worth getting PM to create their own "to-do list" and shadow checkbox? For each item you can then write your expectation then... and when stuff starts getting ticked off you can at least "report" progress...

This issue is so similar to my day job lol. PMs come in and **** off the experts. Experts say they know what they're doing. Sometimes I agree, sometimes not --- fall back is "trust but check".

 

[kai]

Is it worth getting PM to create their own "to-do list" and shadow checkbox? For each item you can then write your expectation then... and when stuff starts getting ticked off you can at least "report" progress...

This issue is so similar to my day job lol. PMs come in and **** off the experts. Experts say they know what they're doing. Sometimes I agree, sometimes not --- fall back is "trust but check".

We have already tried this; we have sat him down and gone through every item on our list and forced rough timeline dates out of him and expecations (as i quote he said "I dont do dates" - yet continues to miss them or change plans. We brought in the PM also in the hope it would be more accountable.

 

[kai]

Awaiting round 2.

They have cut all the old radiator pipes off as it was suppose to be underfloor heating. Speaking with the electrician today, he was getting ready for fuse boxes. The developer was planning on putting down 5 zones of electrical underfloor each 3KW for the entire downstairs.

This alone would be: £4.05 per 1 hour just for downstairs. £600-700 electric bill a month for a few hours a day

I am so glad we caught this; the quote states: Underfloor heating installed entire downstairs: Provisional Sum for Plumbing / Boiler to be factored into quote.

Tommorrow, i am going propose they install a water system as there is no way we can afford the monthly bill. No doubt, he will want more £

In other news the kitchen is starting to take shape. The Quartz was templated today and the utility room on order. Howdens have messed around so much, i think today was our 7th delivery and we still have items missing or damaged they are providing the utility room at 90% discount. Granted, its only 2 larders, 800 cabinet and intergrated tumble dryer for £300.

 

[Mr.Stu]

Don't you normally install underfloor heating before the floor screed?

Wired in smoke / heat detectors present?

Extractor fans wired in?

Are you sure there is enough spots over the kitchen area?

Don't let them make a hodge podge of the splashback, ensure no gap above it

If you are going breakfast bar, ensure enough over hang, I've sat at far too many "knee bangers"

Painting after kitchen fit, although common thesedays, is ball ache, almost guaranteed spray on units, make sure they wrap it properly

 

[kai]

Don't you normally install underfloor heating before the floor screed?
Wired in smoke / heat detectors present?
Extractor fans wired in?
Are you sure there is enough spots over the kitchen area?
Don't let them make a hodge podge of the splashback, ensure no gap above it
If you are going breakfast bar, ensure enough over hang, I've sat at far too many "knee bangers"
Painting after kitchen fit, although common thesedays, is ball ache, almost guaranteed spray on units, make sure they wrap it properly

1. I am not sure, the plan on devloper side was electric but i have found a potential solution today of a low profile (16mm) dual Purpose Overlay Panel that would use water.

2. Yes, wire by spotlight. We have 2 or 3 downstairs in total.

3. No extractor fan; we have a inbuilt extractor in the island on the induction hob (AEG Hob)

4 . Yes, there are 16 in the kitchen/dinning area area alone. We are having 3 large pendants hanging over the island. Lightbulb hanging down, so far.

4. No splashback only quartz upstands. The kitchen is not finished, we have cornice's etc to go on that should hide that top gap.

5. We are having 300mm overhang; there is also big corner posts to go on the island to push out further.

6. We have brough this up I would have expected at least a first white wash on the new plaster.

 

[Buffman]

Why would anyone think you would want electric underfloor heating over that floor area, seems totally nonsense that! Unless you have bypassed your electric meter

 

[Azza]

This alone would be: £4.05 per 1 hour just for downstairs. £600-700 electric bill a month for a few hours a day

wow!

Going to assume the quartz worktop on the island is going to overhang more than that piece in the photos? Might be a tad uncomfortable to sit at if there's not much of it.

 

[kai]

wow!

Going to assume the quartz worktop on the island is going to overhang more than that piece in the photos? Might be a tad uncomfortable to sit at if there's not much of it.

Heating: We have come up with a solution with the developer. He is happy, we are happy. We are going for a low profile retrofit water-solution. This is more expensive, but to compromise we are having nice designer radiators put on in the playroom, hallway and movie room. This reduces his overall fitting bill, but we get a cost effective (long term) solution in the largest part of the house.


Worktop - that was just the sample the company brought up, i simply placed it on the island. We are having around 300mm overhang.

However, the quartz selection has turned into a nightmare. We initially chose the worktop design we liked in May but couldn't get any pricing at that point since we hadn't finalized the kitchen details or island size. Fast forward to Wednesday when the Quartz company did the template. The next morning, the developer called to inform us that we had selected one of the most expensive designs they offer, costing £5K for two slabs, including fitting. This exceeded our budget, prompting us to explore alternative options.

Within 10 minutes - we informed the developer of our decision to explore other designs and obtain cost estimates with his recommended quartz company for alternatives as they now had all the measurments it would be a simple comparision. His response was unexpected - it was too late;they have already started templating based on our May selection and would be delivered early next week. If we decided to change now, they would charge for the slab.

 

[kai]

Things are progressing albeit a little slow

Worktops got fitted yesterday for island, counter tops and utility.

As you can see we went with plenty of overhang

We also had to get some new radiators to cover hallway; playroom and upstairs due to changing from electric heating to water so went and purchased 10 old school rads (4 vertical)

Movie room is almost finished - floors, skirting and doors and that room will be finished.

Doors are also starting to go on, plus flooring down in master.

 

[{SAS}TB]

Looking good

Hope you're pleased with it

 

[kai]

Looking good

Hope you're pleased with it

It's been such as uphill struggle the novetly and excitement has worn off. These are the "nice" pictures. What you can't see is how far behind we are and the actual mess.


No bathrooms
No heating on or water underfloor system installed
No stairs
no sky-lights windows (just bordered), some windows are broken (smashed) or leaking
Brick-work not completed, so wet inside still.
No front doors
kitchen far from finished

All this has to be done by 18th Dec, he has no chance. These are just the items we need to move in.

 

[Mysterae_]

The level of stress of all that would probably finish me off.

It makes a mockery of any project management you've paid for.

 

[DampCat]

How big is that island? Trying to guage one for myself and it looks like what I was thinking

 

[kai]

How big is that island? Trying to guage one for myself and it looks like what I was thinking

2.4 x 1.6 (plus 300mm hang over)

 

[tom_nieto]

Hang in there @kai. It’s looking great! Love the colour contrast of the worktop and units. We’ve got a massive peninsula in the kitchen and it’s brilliant and quite social for cooking / baking / whatever! Looks like a great layout.

 

[dlockers]

Looks mega man.

 

[1mm3]

I've just completed a double story side and single story rear extension. (Would never do it again- it's our forever home)

I was told 4 months- took them 12.

The biggest piece of advice I can give- withold monies until stages of work are complete. They want paying.. do the next stage of works..

 

[1mm3]

Is your quartz Calcatta gold?

We paid 6.6k for 15sqm (templated and fitted including a waterfall island and full height splashbacks). I shopped around from at least 5 suppliers to get the best quote.

 

[1mm3]

Makes me angry reading through your posts and similar stages that we went through.

I guess I got lucky in that I refused to pay unless X work was done. I made sure I was never left out of pocket right til the final payment (and only when I was completely happy).

When he is trying to charge for extra works eg. decorating- by all means get quotes from other tradesmen (if you can).

I used my own kitchen fitter/ decorator/ tiler.
I allowed him to quote for the underfloor heating/ screed but only used him as the prices were reasonable compared to others.

 

[gingergundog]

Wow at the underfloor heating **** up. There is no way he was planning on electric, sounds like BS. Maybe it got forgotten about or he couldn't get the plumbers in but ploughed ahead anyway, it sounds ridiculous and unlikely but its hard to explain how the situation is where it is.

Was there no discussion regarding where the boiler and underfloor heating manifold was going to be sited?

Hopefully he or someone on his team has worked out what output you need in each area, or is he just proposing throwing this down on the floor to try and keep you happy? Same with the radiators.

That low profile underfloor will obviously raise the floor, you could be up to 30-40mm depending on finished floor covering, I wonder how that looks with the transitions to the other rooms ie a step. It will also affect all the kickboards under the units and the worktops will be a bit lower(whether that's noticeable or not).