Upheaval & Disruption

 I am living in a state of chaos with my builders. My house is permanently in a mess & dusty. This is not what any sane person would choose to do. I have been at the end of my tether. For example when I couldn’t cook a meal because neither the hob or oven worked. Or because my landline wasn’t live & there has been a mobile transmitter problem since February which means I have no mobile in my house or outside. Add to that it took 20 days to get my wifi working. Project managing this work means I need good communications.

Then there is the completely random way trades people arrive to work or not. They are all working on other jobs simultaneously with mine. The scheduling & organisation of work seems disorganised & unplanned. New fittings aren’t properly protected so are damaged. Builders rubbish is everywhere in the house & garden instead of being disposed of or stored in a yard when not needed. Individual trades people clear up properly at the end of the day, but not everyone.

On top of that the number of faulty or damaged goods is unbelievable. It isn’t just a broken supply chain. The side door & the bifold doors are the wrong colour. The fittings on the sash windows are wrong & have been put on with rusty screws. 

Actually living here is an eye opener. I can see how messy it all is. There is no organisation. Individual trades people are very good at their job, but there is no overall planning & organisation. To a great extent that must have contributed to the massive cost & time overruns, stress & sleepless nights.

I just want it finished & to be able to live a normal life. I have been patient & understood the constraints. But I have had enough. I am competent, but I really don’t have the physical or mental capacity anymore to    be able to do this for much longer.

Moving Again

In theory I should be in my new house. In practice I have been staying with my daughter for the last week & it looks as if I'll be there for another week.

I moved out of my rental on the 4th, which was relatively fine. But when I got to my house I discovered that all the rooms were still filthy & full of builders stuff. There wasn't enough space to put the contents of the 3 bed rental. The bifold doors which had been promised on the 5th weren't there. Neither were the fittings for the wardrobes also promised for the Wednesday.

The builders were working with the team doing the cladding for the extension, because there had been a mix up over who was doing the battening & boarding under the metal cladding & the bifold doors finally arrived 6 months after they had been ordered & paid for. Unfortunately they are not all cream for some reason that I haven't yet discovered! 

The decorator developed a serious health problem at the weekend so was unable to work. The carpenter couldn't work for almost 2 weeks & then got Flu. Most of the remaining work inside is down to them.

So space had to be hurriedly cleared before the removers arrived & then I lost the will to live trying to decide where everything could go in the limited space available. The dust was so bad it affected my breathing. In the end once the removers had gone I was utterly exhausted & had to leave.

My lovely cleaners went to the house yesterday afternoon & did an amazing job. So today I've been able to unpack 6 boxes with kitchen stuff & bring my computer to my daughters so that I can access all my files etc. I've been able to do a bit on my phone & iPad, but didn't have all my passwords for everything. My life is on my computer. It's how I communicate for everything.

I don't know if the transfer of utilities & council tax has gone through. I do know I got a letter from Thames Water saying that my monthly direct debit would be £26,537.00 - No that isn't a typo! Thames Water have also overcharged me at the rental & at my house. 

I have tried to be understanding & patient over the last 10 months given the circumstances with Brexit & then Covid. In terms of the supply chain I don't blame the suppliers of things like windows & doors. It's the fabricators who just don't fulfil the contract. The suppliers are between a rock & a hard place, between the customer & the fabricators. In my case I actually think I am due compensation for the unacceptable delays & mistakes. 

The outcome is hugely increased costs & delays, much disappointment & frustration, & finally utter annoyance that so many people just don't communicate effectively & do their job. British workmen have had a bad reputation for a long time in comparison with the Germans & Scandinavians for example. But currently the system is not working at all.

This is not the time to be renovating a house & building an extension!

 

Mine has been so far outside my comfort zone I've forgotten where that is!