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

[964rs]

Don't mention pushfit here after yesterday. The plumber yesterday put an outside tap on as a hobble. I knew i should have asked someone competent as he has been a nightmare.

This is a main wall' that you will see and wanted £60, HA. I now have to pay someone to do a proper job and bury the cable in the wall.

Wow that is ermmmm different lets say.
Why is the skirting jutting out. Is that where the pipes are coming out the floor.

 

[kai]

Wow that is ermmmm different lets say.
Why is the skirting jutting out. Is that where the pipes are coming out the floor.

Yes. The skirting jutting out was done by the carpenter to cater for the pipe' but he expected like me for the pipe to be buried. I have the plumber coming back this week to bury that pipe in the wall as i said it was unacceptable.

At this point I think the builder would be fare to fit a bit of downpipe or guttering

The same plumber moved our freestanding tap in the bathroom to make it actually you know! reach the bath; with a promise of no holes - I present NO HOLES!!!

I assume they will need to use a wax stick because it would be a huge job to pull the floor/tiles up.

As for the stairs; the pipework was the best of a bad situation. The carpenter spent yesterday boxing in the pipework trying to make it look at neat as possible.

I am hopeful that the overall look will greatly improve once the painting is completed and the staircase glass is fitted.

Yesterday, I invested £500 to have the house professionally snagged upon completion. While this may seem like a significant expense, the decision was made with the potential to save a considerable amount in the long run. Now, the challenge is securing a date from the developer for this snagging procedure. This crucial step is, in essence, a million-dollar question, as it will significantly impact the overall timeline and quality assurance of the project.

 

[Peerzy]

Yesterday, I invested £500 to have the house professionally snagged upon completion. While this may seem like a significant expense, the decision was made with the potential to save a considerable amount in the long run. Now, the challenge is securing a date from the developer for this snagging procedure. This crucial step is, in essence, a million-dollar question, as it will significantly impact the overall timeline and quality assurance of the project.

Is the developer aware of the professional snagger? He strikes me as the type of person who would refuse to work with one and simply say "I'm my own snagger, I work to my own standards, I can fix that but it'll cost ya" etc....

I'm watching the thread carefully, we started our 42sqm rear extension at the start of last week and we're still at the foundation stage.

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

Some of the professional snaggers I have seen are seriously pedantic as well.
I can see the developer having MAJOR issues if you have engaged one of them.

I mean the developer is seriously poor as we have seen, but as long as its within building regs and unless your contract specifically mentions outsourced snagging then I think fireworks could commence!

 

[dlockers]

Some of the professional snaggers I have seen are seriously pedantic as well.
I can see the developer having MAJOR issues if you have engaged one of them.

I mean the developer is seriously poor as we have seen, but as long as its within building regs and unless your contract specifically mentions outsourced snagging then I think fireworks could commence!

100%. It is good to observe how others react though. Given all the heart ache and numerous issues I'd be happy with roughly right and then do my snagging myself. I doubt the chap is making very much money at all at this stage?

 

[kai]

Is the developer aware of the professional snagger? He strikes me as the type of person who would refuse to work with one and simply say "I'm my own snagger, I work to my own standards, I can fix that but it'll cost ya" etc....

I'm watching the thread carefully, we started our 42sqm rear extension at the start of last week and we're still at the foundation stage.

100%. It is good to observe how others react though. Given all the heart ache and numerous issues I'd be happy with roughly right and then do my snagging myself. I doubt the chap is making very much money at all at this stage?

Some of the professional snaggers I have seen are seriously pedantic as well.
I can see the developer having MAJOR issues if you have engaged one of them.

I mean the developer is seriously poor as we have seen, but as long as its within building regs and unless your contract specifically mentions outsourced snagging then I think fireworks could commence!

Anticipate some confrontations (what's new). I plan to request a snagging date and inform him of our intention to have the property professionally snagged verbally as i have informed him via email.

Within 48 hours, we aim to receive a comprehensive report, complete with photographic evidence, in hard copy format. I do not need to share this with him and can use as my own reference guide.


While perfection is not the expectation, I want the ability to identify issues beyond my immediate observation. It's crucial to address matters in alignment with building codes, regulations, and industry standards, especially given the limited presence of our building inspector on-site. I may be willing to overlook minor issues, but any significant problems must be rectified.

Even though the contract doesn't explicitly address snagging, I firmly believe I am well within my rights to insist on this process. Considering the extensive construction work, resembling more of a full new build than a typical £10K job, nearly every part of the house has undergone significant renovations.

I also am itching to use the line: "I'll stick to IT, as you suggested and not get involved with it as i apparently have zero idea, thus i thought i would bring in a professional who is on your level"

 

[kai]

Some minor items to be corrected and snagged but the en-suite is 95% complete as work was finished today in this area. It's a small room but the wife ensisted on a freestanding bath as it overlooks the big bay bedroom window and allows our daughter to have her own bathroom in the house.

The electrican also wired in the thermostats, actuator and Wireless Wiring Centre today. Seems to be working (we finally have downstairs heating after months). The center is under the stairs so it's out of the way and will be boxed in ( i will need to check if the frequency will still work if boxed; i believe RF passes through walls easily!

 

[kai]

Quick update: The developer contacted me late on Friday, informing me that he hadn't received the final (final) price from Howdens for our kitchen and utility. He has however worked out to be around £26,000 - £27,000, covering everything, including fitting and worktop costs. Skeptical about the figure, I pressed for details, and he had answers for every question.

Taking matters into my own hands, I visited Howdens and insisted on obtaining the price, despite their initial reluctance. After having them remove all personal information from the account holder, except for the name and customer reference, I discovered the actual cost to us (not how much he will be making), We had a lot of problems with the Kitchen so Howdens' did give us several items for free; including a few high ticket items.

Kitchen & Utility: £11,769.90 in total. I made sure to have Howdens date and sign the printouts.
Worktops: £3,500 (already paid and verified with a receipt).
Fitting: We had been given a fitting cost of £3,000 - £3,500.

There was an additional £8,000 added somewhere. !!! So unless he plans on charging me £11,000 to fit a kitchen, i have no idea where he has these figures from

This week, I plan to be ignorant and await the scheduled meeting where the developer aims to discuss the budget overrun on the kitchen and bathrooms. At that point, I will present the actual prices, demonstrating that we are well-informed about our purchases and the accurate payment owed. This will no doubt result in drama.



I also have had a new painter here from Wednesday this week he has been excellent. However, we have had no other work done, why! because the developer is moving house and used all his trades to help him move and fit a new kitchen, bathroom etc.

The cheek; he was on the phone when i quried why i should suffer when i have already paid him. The response was comical; "do you know how stressful it is not having anywhere to live" naturally, my reaction was one of anger!

 

[Hedge]

This sounds so insanely stressful. I don't know how I'd handle it.

I had some issues when we did our extension but I think some of it stemmed from my own indecisiveness. Looking back it was nowhere near as bad as what you're going through.

I often defend tradesmen because some customers expect something for nothing but this isn't the case clearly with you.

When you refer to him as the developer, what do you mean by that? I always imagine a developer being someone who builds housing estates or something.

 

[tom_e]

The cheek; he was on the phone when i quried why i should suffer when i have already paid him. The response was comical; "do you know how stressful it is not having anywhere to live" naturally, my reaction was one of anger!

He's got to just be on the windup now, no one can be blind enough not to see the irony in that statement.

 

[{SAS}TB]

Defo taking the ****

 

[kai]

This sounds so insanely stressful. I don't know how I'd handle it.

I had some issues when we did our extension but I think some of it stemmed from my own indecisiveness. Looking back it was nowhere near as bad as what you're going through.

I often defend tradesmen because some customers expect something for nothing but this isn't the case clearly with you.

When you refer to him as the developer, what do you mean by that? I always imagine a developer being someone who builds housing estates or something.

He functions as a small housing developer, relying on a small core group of guys he employees plus 6-7 subcontractors (most hate his guts and are very open about this, even without us even going into conversation i.e. The painter rocked up Wednesday and his opening comment was " Another nice family, he has screwed over?). Although he claims to build only 1-2 houses annually, valued at £1 million or more each (For this area of the country; that is a LOT of house.), we find this hard to believe now. We personally inspected two of these high-value homes and spoke with a homeowner for references. It's noteworthy that he doesn't engage in estate development, focusing instead on these substantial individual projects.

This is a small project and thought this would be a walk in the park for him.

On Friday, my wife strongly advocated we throw him out expressing heightened stress to the point of experiencing panic attacks. We only have a few weeks left to live in our accommodation. We won't move in without it being safe for our child.
We told him this on Friday, as an example we said about needing the glass for the juliet balcony. It's an expensive item and if the door is open it's a complete drop from the second floor. His response was "lock the door and don't give your child the key".

However, both I and our Quantity Surveyor are in favor of him still working as albeit slow work is still progressing. The primary reason is the presence of pending high-ticket items that still need to be delivered. Requesting him to leave at this timewould not only disrupt the ongoing work but also incur significant financial losses, running into thousands of pounds solely in terms of materials.

He's got to just be on the windup now, no one can be blind enough not to see the irony in that statement.

Defo taking the ****

I honest to god wish i was joking; he is deadly serious and keeps telling me how much stress he is under from it.

I phoned this morning; as ive come in and found out our glass roof is leaking (again). I told him this before Christmas and nothing was done. We have now had really bad weather and the entire floor is soaking. He is on his way up while passing the comment "i dont need this ****, i am stressed enough"

Fireworks will happen today anyway as ive asked our building inspector to turn up as he not been here in two months. He does not like i go behind his back and ask the inspector to turn up without his knowledge. Last time i checked i employ the inspector not the other way round.

 

[Minato]

Mate this sounds horrific, I'm so sorry.

Really hoping for a positive result for you, I would love to say to cut your losses and move onto someone else, eat the cost for the peace of mind, but I appreciate timelines and living situation would make that very difficult.

 

[dlockers]

It does seem your defcon 1 problems are sometimes mixed in with your decon 5 problems. I totally agree RE: the juliet balcony... its just a bit of glass, keep the door locked........ the roof leaking however, for sure...

 

[Martynt74]

Man, only just caught up with this. It makes the small issues i've had with tradesmen seem absolutely insignificant!

 

[kai]

It does seem your defcon 1 problems are sometimes mixed in with your decon 5 problems. I totally agree RE: the juliet balcony... its just a bit of glass, keep the door locked........ the roof leaking however, for sure...

100% issue is he is so so sporadic and so many moving parts we have to jump on them when he is there or "wants" to talk about them.

We are chasing items that hold value (even if lower on the defcon list) ' the roof leaking is an easy fix; we could have some come out and reseal the roof and fix for less than a few hundred. The glass for the balcony is could be over £1K not including fitting, brackets etc.

If we can get the painting done, two front doors, glass staircase and juilet in we are happy to cut our losses and ask to leave. The only major ticket item (we have paid for ) would havbe the master bathroom and landscaping outside but happy to cut our losses.

 

[dlockers]

Fair - your strategy makes sense! You aren't there to make friends so do make sure to rinse him and not let other softer principles get in the way

Do you need him for any kind of warranty? Or is that a pie in the sky dream now?

 

[mickyflinn]

@kai

Document , record and video everything.

Keep your phone recording in your pocket when you meet with him.

 

[kai]

Fair - your strategy makes sense! You aren't there to make friends so do make sure to rinse him and not let other softer principles get in the way

Do you need him for any kind of warranty? Or is that a pie in the sky dream now?

We need him (kind of) no other builder would walk in this late and finish with any type of warranty (and he knows this).

The building inspector has conducted an inspection, expressing overall satisfaction. However, there is a need for photographic evidence regarding certain items, such as insulation. Additionally, our head-height on the staircase is out by 5mm as we dont have the 2m head height on the 3rd step in. Given the minimal deviation and its low impact, I conveyed my acceptance of this discrepancy.

He advised not for us to move in until complete . The moment we move in we have 8 for building sign off, otherwise it will go back to the local authorities .

@kai

Document , record and video everything.

Keep your phone recording in your pocket when you meet with him.

We have already started doing this; i can't release anything here as we will likely be taking this further so it does not happen to others but some of the conversations are so comical listening to them back. Listening back, it becomes apparent that there are numerous contradictions and instances where statements directly oppose each other. In the heat of the moment when he is screaming etc, these discrepancies might not be immediately apparent, but upon review, it's evident that conflicting statements have been made.

 

[DampCat]

What a bloody nightmare.