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

The decorating aspect is a weird one, he is either being awkward or trying to claw back some money.

The lighting though sounds like poor communication with all parties, if the electrician is given free reign to put in what he thinks is best and nobody else is aware its only going to cause issues.

Sounds like you created a spec and he agreed to it? That's a weird one and never heard of anyone do that before, in hindsight it might have been better if he gave you a quote and then you could have amended it from there. Only going off what you have written so maybe way off.
 
more likely his house move and work cost a bit more and hes trying to get some back from the op to cover it. hope it gets sorted , .
 
Over the past few months, we've received numerous complaints from neighbors regarding site welfare issues, such as attracting vermin. Despite continuous efforts on our part, the site has yet to be adequately cleaned, and our driveway has unfortunately become a makeshift refuge. The drive was like this for close to 4 months. It is hard to see but the accumulation of rubbish, reaching almost head height, spanning the entire length of our double driveway (it goes right the way back, way beyond the skip)
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After constantly pestering; he cleared up over the weekend. It's not entirely clear, but it's a lot better than before. OSB board was placed on most of the driveway, but other parts are still ruined. I'm uncertain about my legal standing, but ideally, I'd like my driveway restored to its pre-construction state; the tarmac has significant gouges and is covered in cement (I tried pressure washing yesterday, and it's not budging). I am not sure if he can use acid' etc. Secondly, as you can probably see in the attached photo, I need to determine if there are any laws or regulations regarding the access height to an entry door. The step-up is enormous, almost equivalent to 4 bricks. There's no way my parents or anyone elderly can use this area for access. It feels like I need a parachute to descend from it.


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Finally, they completed the brickwork on Friday outside, but only noticed over the weekend that they used a different mix or something over the correct mortar colour (yes, that is the dry colour :) ). It looks dreadful. This snagger is going to have a field-day.

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Entry door height is determined by internal floor height not external so if it is a big drop outside you would need to add a step or ramp depending on your needs.
Mortar will take weeks to dry fully at this time of year and unless you have photos of the drive prior to the building work how can you prove it was not like that already.
 
kai said:
Secondly, as you can probably see in the attached photo, I need to determine if there are any laws or regulations regarding the access height to an entry door. The step-up is enormous, almost equivalent to 4 bricks. There's no way my parents or anyone elderly can use this area for access. It feels like I need a parachute to descend from it.
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We're finding this with our extension, it's going to leave a big drop but that's just to ensure the extension is the same level as the rest of the house. We're budgeting to redo the patio and raise the garden up so it's flat leading out of the extension and then a nice step drop a few metres after the doors. In my opinion the door and drop is fine in your photo and it's up to you to landscape the outside to make it work at your cost unless your quote included anything about landscaping the exterior.
 
Agree with the above comments, nothing the builder can do about that if hes not doing outside. Up to you to re-design to suit. We had to put a patio / terace in, as the hill our house is on meant the bifold doors had about a 750mm drop to ground level one end but 2 bricks the other end, so the patio was installed level and then 2 steps down to the drive.
 
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kai said:
“Flooring throughout entire downstairs – LVT to match existing living room: Laid and fitted entire downstairs. 36 m2 to be utilized from existing living room.”

I also provided in the quote the exact floor; websites and prices (at the time) per sqm2 that stocked it.

One of the “extras” is laying floor in the small downstairs toilet. My argument is the quote states throughout “entire” downstairs.
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from original owner house construction I have engineered oak in the ground floor, bar the kitchen,
personally I was really surprised it does continue into the (not used much) downstairs toilet, it is highly impractical for splashes & consequent maintenance.
 
After weeks of daily follow-ups regarding our two front doors, which were supposedly ordered, we received a call yesterday from the developer. He asked me to resend pictures of our preferences and specifications because, allegedly, his internet was not working, and he claimed to have numerous doors on order for other clients. Despite not admitting it, it's evident that he hasn't placed the order.

We are currently in pursuit of major items such as the glass balustrade, Juliet balcony, two front doors, and the installation of a master bathroom. In today's meeting with the developer, he confirmed that we are roughly £2,500 over budget on extras. However, he refuses to provide a breakdown of costs and is passing on additional expenses due to supply issues from Howden's. Shockingly, he wants to charge over £5K for kitchen fitting due to the kitchen supplier. He is adding 1.5K on to the fit for wrong items being delivered or damaged.

Despite our request for a cost breakdown, he point blank refuses only willing to provide only an invoice without revealing any calculations other than "his total". He proposed that if we want the master bathroom fitted, we should deduct the required amount from the allocated cost, effectively resulting in us not having the bathroom done by him or tiled etc.

Moreover, he is demanding payment within 7 days following building sign-off, rather than upon the completion of snagging. Is this standard practice?

In another audacious suggestion, he went lets do a deal paying the full amount (he was angling for cash) before completion, snagging, etc basically this week., and assured us that he would finish the work, including the bathroom without the extra's fees . I firmly rejected this and told him the final payment is not happening until work is complete.
 
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kai said:
After weeks of daily follow-ups regarding our two front doors, which were supposedly ordered, we received a call yesterday from the developer. He asked me to resend pictures of our preferences and specifications because, allegedly, his internet was not working, and he claimed to have numerous doors on order for other clients. Despite not admitting it, it's evident that he hasn't placed the order.

We are currently in pursuit of major items such as the glass balustrade, Juliet balcony, two front doors, and the installation of a master bathroom. In today's meeting with the developer, he confirmed that we are roughly £2,500 over budget on extras. However, he refuses to provide a breakdown of costs and is passing on additional expenses due to supply issues from Howden's. Shockingly, he wants to charge over £5K for kitchen fitting due to the kitchen supplier. He is adding 1.5K on to the fit for wrong items being delivered or damaged.

Despite our request for a cost breakdown, he point blank refuses only willing to provide only an invoice without revealing any calculations other than "his total". He proposed that if we want the master bathroom fitted, we should deduct the required amount from the allocated cost, effectively resulting in us not having the bathroom done by him or tiled etc.

Moreover, he is demanding payment within 7 days following building sign-off, rather than upon the completion of snagging. Is this standard practice?

In another audacious suggestion, he went lets do a deal paying the full amount (he was angling for cash) before completion, snagging, etc basically this week., and assured us that he would finish the work, including the bathroom without the extra's fees . I firmly rejected this and told him the final payment is not happening until work is complete.
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Is he saying that you're £2.5k over the original budget / quote (whatever was agreed at the start) and for all the bits you want to be done that'll need to be paid? If so, it looks like a very large project (£150k+?) and if you have to pay him an extra £2.5k to keep him working, relatively happy and to get 99% of what you want done then I'd probably be taking that. It sounds like the best of a bad situation and costs can change over time and as things are discovered. He's probably screwing you on the kitchen install but been screwed himself by a trade, materials or an unexpected expense earlier on so is down overall (hence not able to or willing to break everything down).

If the above is true I'd agree to pay the £2.5k extra once all snagging is finished.
 
Peerzy said:
Is he saying that you're £2.5k over the original budget / quote (whatever was agreed at the start) and for all the bits you want to be done that'll need to be paid? If so, it looks like a very large project (£150k+?) and if you have to pay him an extra £2.5k to keep him working, relatively happy and to get 99% of what you want done then I'd probably be taking that. It sounds like the best of a bad situation and costs can change over time and as things are discovered. He's probably screwing you on the kitchen install but been screwed himself by a trade, materials or an unexpected expense earlier on so is down overall (hence not able to or willing to break everything down).

If the above is true I'd agree to pay the £2.5k extra once all snagging is finished.
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100%. Ignoring the personality of the builder, it was nuts to expect a refurb of this size to run perfectly to schedule and without glitches. It sounds like the chap is a hands on guy so he won't have the stakeholder management skills we may expect someone hands off to have. If it is even shooting distance of the original scope/timeline, it is a great outcome for all parties. I think OP may have expected more of a whiteglove service than is even possibly in these scenarios (last posts about driveway "damage", rubbish etc).
 
Peerzy said:
Is he saying that you're £2.5k over the original budget / quote (whatever was agreed at the start) and for all the bits you want to be done that'll need to be paid? If so, it looks like a very large project (£150k+?) and if you have to pay him an extra £2.5k to keep him working, relatively happy and to get 99% of what you want done then I'd probably be taking that. It sounds like the best of a bad situation and costs can change over time and as things are discovered. He's probably screwing you on the kitchen install but been screwed himself by a trade, materials or an unexpected expense earlier on so is down overall (hence not able to or willing to break everything down).

If the above is true I'd agree to pay the £2.5k extra once all snagging is finished.
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Totally agree.

I have followed this thread and surprised that nobody else has suggested that the best thing may be to give this chap more money if the pot is empty?


The build period has been quite lengthy and there are so many variables on the job that can consume funds that weren't foreseen on quotation?

I don't see how it's reasonable to expect the builder to pay for OPs materials and items out of his own pocket ? It's your house.

Yes the builders behaviour has been appalling.

Completion is so close, if the pot is dry, the pot is dry, its not that much of an unrealistic scenario - it's a 150k build - 2.5k is 1.5%? So he wasn't too far off his quote, why would he pay for it out of his own pocket ?

I don't understand why you would want to drag this out and prolong the unpleasantness, and risk the quality of the remaining works needing carried out.

?
 
Purples said:
Totally agree.

I have followed this thread and surprised that nobody else has suggested that the best thing may be to give this chap more money if the pot is empty?


The build period has been quite lengthy and there are so many variables on the job that can consume funds that weren't foreseen on quotation?

I don't see how it's reasonable to expect the builder to pay for OPs materials and items out of his own pocket ? It's your house.

Yes the builders behaviour has been appalling.

Completion is so close, if the pot is dry, the pot is dry, its not that much of an unrealistic scenario - it's a 150k build - 2.5k is 1.5%? So he wasn't too far off his quote, why would he pay for it out of his own pocket ?

I don't understand why you would want to drag this out and prolong the unpleasantness, and risk the quality of the remaining works needing carried out.

?
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The builder has entered the chat.
 
Purples said:
Totally agree.

I have followed this thread and surprised that nobody else has suggested that the best thing may be to give this chap more money if the pot is empty?


The build period has been quite lengthy and there are so many variables on the job that can consume funds that weren't foreseen on quotation?

I don't see how it's reasonable to expect the builder to pay for OPs materials and items out of his own pocket ? It's your house.

Yes the builders behaviour has been appalling.

Completion is so close, if the pot is dry, the pot is dry, its not that much of an unrealistic scenario - it's a 150k build - 2.5k is 1.5%? So he wasn't too far off his quote, why would he pay for it out of his own pocket ?

I don't understand why you would want to drag this out and prolong the unpleasantness, and risk the quality of the remaining works needing carried out.

?
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If the builder is unable to quote correctly for the job then why should the client suffer the consequences.

Either get better at quoting for work, stop entering into fixed price contracts or find another profession.
 
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Firestar_3x said:
If the builder is unable to quote correctly for the job then why should the client suffer the consequences.

Either get better at quoting for work, stop entering into fixed price contracts or find another profession.
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If only it were that easy, but we all know the builder won't learn from this and other huge mistakes.

Kai has to be a little careful and stay the course. It's better to give a little once things start progressing, say another part payment when big ticket items have gone in, then then final payment once fully complete.

You always need to stay on the side where more work has been done than what you owe. If things go really wrong then you don't want to be out of pocket having to out things right when the builder has been fired or just left the job.
 
Purples said:
Totally agree.

I have followed this thread and surprised that nobody else has suggested that the best thing may be to give this chap more money if the pot is empty?


The build period has been quite lengthy and there are so many variables on the job that can consume funds that weren't foreseen on quotation?

I don't see how it's reasonable to expect the builder to pay for OPs materials and items out of his own pocket ? It's your house.

Yes the builders behaviour has been appalling.

Completion is so close, if the pot is dry, the pot is dry, its not that much of an unrealistic scenario - it's a 150k build - 2.5k is 1.5%? So he wasn't too far off his quote, why would he pay for it out of his own pocket ?

I don't understand why you would want to drag this out and prolong the unpleasantness, and risk the quality of the remaining works needing carried out.

?
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consume funds that weren't foreseen on quotation? Nothing from our side as a client has been unforseen in terms of end specification. We have had not asked or raised that has not been in the quote. Several items have hugely favoured the builder i.e. he refused to move pipe work thus resulting in much smaller windows in one location (saving our £900 just on the window size).


I appreciate if something has arise than had a major impact or we asked for something out of scope (never been discussed) but we have simply asked for the architectural drawing to be followed with copious amounts of spec sheets provided even at quote level.

£2.5K is just the start; Friday we had numbers like invoicing thrown at us exceeding £15K. Again, i am not going to go into detail on here but i will say the 2.5K was the water tester on our reaction as things got very ugly late last week.
 
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-Ad- said:
If only it were that easy, but we all know the builder won't learn from this and other huge mistakes.

Kai has to be a little careful and stay the course. It's better to give a little once things start progressing, say another part payment when big ticket items have gone in, then then final payment once fully complete.

You always need to stay on the side where more work has been done than what you owe. If things go really wrong then you don't want to be out of pocket having to out things right when the builder has been fired or just left the job.
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Unfortunately, this hasn't been the case since day one; the developer has always held the upper hand, aware of our situation (this is our own fault). To be fair, I'll acknowledge him for not abandoning the project despite numerous faults. He could have walked away, leaving us in a dire financial situation.

Recalling the payments is challenging due to the extended timeline, but i think we initially paid around 50K to reach just roof level for exterior work. Admittedly, we may have made an error in agreeing to and paying this amount. For the first time across the entire project, the dynamic is shifting, in our favor (albeit slightly). We currently hold the last portion of the payment. Things are now getting dicey because for the very first time the tables are starting to be our favour whereby we are holding the last of the payment, and items like 'extra' work was done; or pay me the money now upfront to close out so no extra charges are coming.
 
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If the builder had been honest and upfront then perhaps Kai would be more likely to accept budget overrun. However, trust has clearly been lost.

The flip side is that the industry is full of cowboys and dodgy people, so you sort of have to accept it to some degree. It's par for the course, if he was a better professional perhaps the original quote might have been double the price.
 
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