Skip to main content

Blame the jet stream...

Shed prep, with oversight from the dogs

Apparently we have the jet stream to blame for the truly awful weather we are having right now. I blame our builder - if he had got his act together and sorted out Glenn's workshop roof as he promised, sods law the sun would be shining from dawn to dusk. Instead it's still pouring every half hour and Glenn is constantly worried about how much water is coming though the roof / walls / floor etc. Apparently he 'literally' just needs to put the ridge on the top and the gully down the side and it will all be fixed. We are literally at the point of wanting to do him some actual bodily harm. The moment he disappears the better. This week he was also literally going to clad the office ("done") and has failed everyday to turn up and do it (which in my book is literally not "done"). He was also going to have Gary come and finish the electrics (not done), whack down the paving slabs (not done), render the last of the brick work (not done) amongst other things. He has to be fair watched while the patio door man worked his magic and brought the caps over for the septic tank. That's it, all week. Oh, he's also been for a haircut (which he stopped by to show me!) and took his kids to the cinema (this was the reason for not coming to do cladding, even though I'm pretty sure cinemas aren't able to open until tomorrow). Tomorrow he assures us Audris is coming to do the cladding (which is a good thing as at least that means we have a fair chance of it being done properly), although he phoned this evening to ask if he can borrow our nail gun because his is broken. If I wasn't hearing it first hand I'd never believe it! We are so close to just telling him to sling is hook but we don't want him to have the easy route out so instead I keep on at him on a daily basis, reminding him of all the things he still needs to do.

Amazing what you can do in 3 days!

So while Stephen has been practising his excuses, real men have been at work and this week Glenn became the proud owner of a new shed. The RM network came up trumps with the arrival of Russ, his old RSM and now a very proficient carpenter. Russ bent all the normal protocols by turning up 3 days in a row at 7:45am, working through until he was satisfied he'd done a proper days work (despite the terrible weather) and hey presto, so we have a fab new shed for garden machinery and tools - just in case we ever manage to get a garden. Russ can definitely come again (and will - we have a list for him!)

Against the slow progress of Richmond Construction we suddenly had a burst of speed on the legal side. After weeks of pushing for the PCC (having given up of course on a warranty), it came through and so we were able to finalise paperwork. This means (drum roll), we can exchange tomorrow! Having had so much back and forth it has worked out so that we will end up completing on both properties on the same day - who'd have thought it?! 

So we are relishing the thought of reaching the end of what has been a very stressful 6 months. There will be a point very soon when we tell Stephen to call it a day - the cost of completing the snagging ourselves is worth every penny of not having to watch him do it (or not as the case more normally is). We know we need to up the quality (e.g. I've bought a new dishwasher already after spending Friday night packing towels around the base of our cheapo one as it leaked water out of the seals onto the floor), but actually he was never going to have the same quality aspiration as us - its our home and its just a building site to him. Amazingly despite all of the hassle and heartbreak of the things that have gone wrong, we know this is going to be a lovely place to live and we are almost there of beginning to be able to do just that. If it would only stop raining we might even be able to get outside and enjoy that bit as well - it's not too much to ask surely?!

Quantocks walk between downpours
to blow out the cobwebs


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Snow!

After a beautiful day of sunshine yesterday, today it snowed... but more of that in a minute. Yesterday actually felt like a day of much progress. Despite Covid we managed to arrange a visit to Taunton School to have a look around with the girls and to meet the Headmaster. This was a massive relief as I had got to the point of thinking we would have to accept a place without ever stepping foot inside the school. In the end we had a very comprehensive, if a little deserted, tour of the school and the kids loved it, as did we. There may even be a small chance they might squeeze us in if we are there by the summer term - that is of course if the kids are back into school by then. The other news was that I managed to speak to Mr &Mrs Tucker - the people buying our house - and we tentatively agreed that we will try and complete during the Easter holidays which could have us moving in the third week of April. This does require everyone to have got all of what they need done, and that of ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Busy, busy, busy

Full English brunch for these two! Life is VERY busy and I don't feel like we have stopped for weeks (or is that months?) It seems like the 'to-do' list is endless and while I know we don't have to do it all at once, I have taken on the unenviable task of trying to get the Muppet to finish all the work he promised / we have paid for and that has been like pushing a mountain of water up a very steep hill. We've got to the point where I think we have got all of what we are likely to get and the rest we'd rather finish ourselves anyway. The electric gates are clearly a work of his imagination based on the gates / the electric cables he spec'd and the cheapo motor mechanism - there is no way they'll work so we have decided to not bother and source proper gates that do the job and look better as well. Knowing that we are almost at a point where we sever the ties feels very liberating. Looking back this last 6 months has been incredibly stressful and just didn...
Post a Comment
Read more

Decluttering

Girls buying baby clothes - this could get addictive! It's Easter weekend already and we still haven't completed!! However we have made some progress, most importantly with the paperwork which has not been Steve the Builder's forte throughout this process. Stags finally got their act together and got in touch with the planning office and got an update from the Planning Officer. Apparently she is broadly happy with the application, and is prepared to pass it with only a few minor modifications which we are completely comfortable with. The Building Control Officer also came and did all of what he needed to, which means the final certificate should be issued which allows the warranty to also be issued. On our side we finally tracked down the paperwork (or more correctly got the BC Officer to come out again and do a second assessment) for the outstanding BCC on our windows (which went in 6 years ago but due to an admin error were never registered) - nothing is straightforward i...
Post a Comment
Read more