House Moving & Renovation

Tomorrow, the 21st May, is the 2 year anniversary of completion on the selling of my previous house & buying of the 1930's dump that I have renovated & extended over the period. It all took a lot longer & cost a lot more than it should have done. A combination of Brexit, Covid & the Ukraine war caused huge supply chain issues. I also felt my builder could have been a lot better organised & had a much closer eye on the ball. (But he is a really nice man & that's worth a lot in the building trade). The UK building trade doesn't have a very good reputation in comparison with Germany & Scandinavia for example. Eastern European trades are far better trained & valued & have an amazing work ethic.

I was lucky & had a good rental. But the cost of storage & rent was huge, so I moved into my house while the builders were still working in March 2022. It was all a bit of a nightmare looking back. I have always wanted to build my own house. This was the closest I am likely to come to doing it. 

The first house my husband & I bought had had a sucession of army tenants & was also in a fairly dreadful state, but not as bad as this. I actually physically did quite a bit of the work on that. The third house we owned had to be completely reconfigured inside & we built a very big extension on that too, while still living there. I tiled a whole bathroom in that. That went well over time too, but fortunately the price was fixed. The next house we owned had a massive water escape from the loft while we were on holiday abroad & two thirds of the house with everything in it was destroyed. We managed to live in one third of the house though. It took months to even dry out before building could begin. Then the Insurers builders did a really bad job of renovation & it all had to be done again. So it took a year in all & cost a fortune. Fortunately not my fortune!

I have always been able to think 3 dimensionally & see the potential in houses. So when I came to do this project on my own I knew what I was doing & what it might be like. However it was worse than anticipated. I seemed to be continually fire fighting & problem solving. I'm reasonably good at research, sourcing fixtures & fittings etc & organisation. But I didn't anticipate having to be as hands on in the actual building process & virtually project manage. It's not part of my skill set.

I'm glad I did it & I love my house. I am quite proud of what I have achieved. It isn't something I would want to repeat though. Looking back it definitely took it's toll on me physically & emotionally. I doubt that I could repeat the process now. But who knows? 

We don't know what we are capable of until we do it.

 

Moving Forward - 2

My excellent Surveyor came today. There is no subsidence anywhere round my front door. Phew! The minor cracks above the doorway are not serious & can be left. If I wanted to I could get them re-mortared with lime mortar, but it's a specialist job. Massive relief. The doorway should have been templated & 3 horizontal measurements should have been taken. It should be possible to make a frame which fits the space as well as the original, which was a cheap wooden one, without an increasing gap at the side. So thank goodness it isn't my problem to solve. But it is very frustrating.

Now all I have to do is wait patiently for the suppliers & the fabricators to agree what they are going to do about this & make a door & frame that fits. 

I don't imagine that's going to happen quickly given my experience over this last year, but at least I'm secure & draught proof. It is ironic that both my front door & side door have been wrong & have to be replaced. They are from 2 different companies. It doesn't say much for the UK double glazing industry.

In the meantime my hallway will have to stay unfinished until the new door & frame arrives. Goodness knows how long that will be.

Moving forward

Today is momentous. Finally, 8 months after ordering, my front door has arrived & is being installed.

The delays in the supply chain for the building trade are notorious & I have blogged about them several times. It was bad enough when I wasn't living here, but not having a proper front door when I was has been a trial. 

I am delighted with the door & the men fitting it seem very good. I will be so pleased to feel completely secure & finally the internal work in my house will be almost finished when the hallway is done. I actually started planning where to hang my pictures with my daughter yesterday. So it will really begin to feel like a home rather than a building site. Most of my pictures have important memories. 

All the exterior work is on hold though, possibly for a long time. A neighbours wall at the bottom of the garden is leaning into my garden & needs to be demolished & replaced. It will be a big job & cause a lot of disruption because I have offered that all the work can be done from my side because access is much easier than from hers. So I can't have my drive, security gates, patio & garden done till the work is finished. All the men, machinery & materials will have to come in & out through my entrance. That can't happen until the Surveyor has done his report though. It's a pity, because I do want to get on with my garden, which looks dreadful at the moment.

Even as I'm writing this I have just been told that there is a problem with the door frame! The arch has been wrongly constructed. My doorway has a flat arch & the frame has a true arch. So it won't fit properly. They will install it temporarily & fill the gaps & get another frame made. Also the inside of the door should be cream & they have done it in Chartwell Green, which is the outside colour & looks very odd from the hall. So that means another door

Unfortunately I'm not even surprised. It's par for the course. Nothing has gone well.

UPDATE 4 pm

Just when you think nothing worse can happen! The window & door company founder came to see the problems with the door & frame & noticed something that I certainly didn't. But worse, my surveyor & none of my builders noticed either. The side wall of the house isn't level & there are signs of cracking on the front wall above the doorway. My skill set doesn't stretch this far, so I have emailed my surveyor. (This does prove that a - You do need a good survey & b - Even that doesn't necessarily stop you from getting a nasty shock).

I will wait with baited breath.

If there is a serious problem it does make you wonder what the point of employing professionals is. Because it certainly doesn't seem to protect house buyers from having to go through this sort of truly worrying scenario. The side wall of my neighbours detached house is covered in cracks, so maybe I don't need to be too worried. But that isn't helping me at the moment.

System Failure 2

I have had to threaten 2 companies with issuing a summons through the County Court for failure to supply goods of a satisfactory quality in a timely way. Both sell double glazing windows & doors. 

The company who supplied the sliding sash windows for the original 1930's house have to replace some fittings which don't match, fitted with some rusty screws. The windows were installed & left filthy inside & out, frames & glass, with labels on which I can't remove & no keys to a couple of casement windows. Some windows were not properly sealed on the outside. They are on the second design for my front door which was ordered & paid for in September last year. My original front door is not draught proof or fit for purpose. The work on the hall can't be finished until the door is fitted.

The company who supplied the windows & doors for the new extension have fitted a side door which is the wrong colour inside & doesn't match the frame or their other windows. The windows had the wrong colour trickle vents which haven't been replaced & no keys. I have non matching handles on the windows & doors, some white, some cream. The company was paid to supply & install everything, but they didn't install the door. The frame for the door is damaged because the hinges were put in the wrong place & holes were left. The exterior frame was never sealed.

A Quality Control inspector is coming from the company I bought my kitchen from this week because of issues with chipping paintwork & an extractor fan cupboard which bowed because it wasn't strong enough. I had already had an issue with the wrong configuration of the oven housing cupboard.

I could go on. The number of trouble free transactions during this build could be counted on the fingers of one hand. I have spent hours, days, weeks & months chasing suppliers, who often don't respond. British manufacturing & supply is in a dreadful state. The building trade has always had a bad reputation, but it is now totally unfit for purpose. 

I actually don't blame the suppliers. It's the fabricators who are the problem. It is mostly down to the supply chain - difficulties sourcing materials & also a lack of a skilled workforce. The suppliers have justifiably irate customers on one hand & fabricators who seemingly don't give a toss, because they don't have to deal with the customer.

The customer is relatively powerless, at the mercy of companies who simply ignore the problem & bullshit & bluster their way through this mess. The customer is left just wanting the agony to stop & their build to be finished to a good standard & the builders to move on to some other poor client.

The building trade needs a good shake up. If Northern European countries can do it, why can't the UK? There needs to be proper quality control of both goods & tradespeople. The customer needs protection & enforcement of reasonable standards. Big builders have huge power & make huge profits. They are very effective at lobbying government, who do little or nothing to protect individuals like me who renovate old property.

My house will be very well insulated & fit for climate change. I have not had any financial support to do that. I won't live long enough to recoup the money. If I had known just how bad the building trade is I would never have started this because the mental & physical toll on me at 77 has been enormous.

It shouldn't be like this. What incentive is there for property owners to renovate old property. A conservative estimate is that 25 million homes in the UK need insulation.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/292265/insulation-in-dwellings-in-england-uk-y-on-y/

System Failure

This last year has been a revelation in many ways.

Currently I am waiting for 8 outstanding complaints, some escalated to formal, to be resolved.

• An Amazon seller sold me a supposedly new plinth heater which didn't work.It has a bent casing, broken fan & rusty screws. I didn't know he was an individual seller not a bona fide trader. He admits he bought it for himself & then decided he didn't want it. He hasn't sent a refund label & isn't responding. Getting Amazon to do something about it has been very difficult & wasted huge amounts of time.
• Thames Water got my bills wrong for my rental & the house I've bought. They also tried to debit my account for a monthly payment of £23,537.00 which resulted in my bank sending me 4 warning texts about being overdrawn. It's not resolved & almost caused me to have a heart attack!
• I notified Oxford City Council that I was moving out of the rental & into my house. They have sent me a notification for the coming year council tax for the rental & my own house tax still isn't right.
• The company who supplied my side door haven't done the inside the colour I ordered. I have no keys or trickle vents for the windows, which were delayed by months.
• Another glazing supplier has put some wrong fittings in & used rusty screws. The front door which I ordered months ago still hasn't arrived.
• The gutters & dreainpipes, supposedly matching the metal cladding on my extension, are the wrong colour. The drainpipes actually go on top of the cladding, so it is really obvious.
• My mobile supplier seems to be unable to get me reliable mobile reception in my house or outside it. I live in a city with no tall buildings around me.
• I am still waiting for delivery of fittings for my wardrobes which were ordered before Christmas.

Why are big companies, the building trade & utilities, so broken? Is it really simply the result of a devastating financial crash, Brexit & Covid resulting in a broken supply chain & huge staffing issues? I am really beginning to wonder. I do understand the underlying transport, raw materials & staffing problems. But organisations have had years to adapt & re-organise. The fundamental problem seems to be communication in the 21st century, which has the most effective communications ever. There is also an underlying staff training & skills problem, which hasn't been resolved.

The other revelation is that I have coped with all of this & more. I have taken each problem & eventually found a way to resolve it. But it has taken a massive toll on my time, energy, health & finances. 

My point in Blogging about this is that it shouldn't happen. No system is perfect, but people have a right to expect that when problems arise they will be dealt with speedily & efficiently. I can't tell you how utterly fed up with phone menus, irritatingly repetetive music & messages telling me to hold every 12 seconds I am. It is like Chinese water torture - it can literally drive you mad.

 

You just have to remember that the person you ultimately speak to is hardly ever the one who is responsible for the problem. 

 

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!

Upheaval, Disruption & Nietzsche

I'm moving again in 11 days. This will be the 14th place I have lived during my life & the 6th house I have owned. With any luck this will be my final resting place apart from the obvious one!

This move will hopefully be fairly straightforward. Most of my things are in storage & I can choose when I'm ready to have those. There isn't that much to pack in my rental & I can get settled in the new house & wait until it is completely finished inside before cluttering the house with everything. Some builders are quite likely to still be working when I move in. The house is full of mess & dust at the moment so it needs a really good clean.

Synchronising everything is tricky. Although I can get by with a microwave & a kettle upstairs, a kitchen would be really nice. 

 In the same way I can manage with the clothes rail & furniture I have in the rental, but it would be really great if the fitted wardrobes were done. The carpet upstairs can't be fitted until they are anyway.

Given the weather at the moment, heating would be good. I do have a functioning bathroom though.

The point is life doesn't always run smoothly. A certain amount of disruption, uncertainty & tribulation is inevitable. The important thing is how we deal with that, how well we are able to put it into perspective. So I'm not facing the imminent posibility of a war with a neighbouring country, or a life threatening illness or injury. I'm not a refugee or migrant searching for a safe place to call home. I have the basic necessities of life, shelter, food, reasonable health, enough money, family & friends.

I have learned what is important in life & what isn't. I do get frustrated, stressed & even annoyed. But I know that I can face almost anything now & deal with it, because there isn't much that I haven't had to cope with in 77 years. This last 10 months has been very difficult. Renovating my house has been far more of a challenge than I thought, but I think I will be quite pleased with what we have achieved with the wreck of a house that I bought. 

German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche said  “That which does not kill us, makes us stronger.” I couldn't agree more.

Delivery Woes - Ikea

Never, in the whole of my life, have I researched so many products, visited so many showrooms, talked to so many salespeople, ordered so many things & spent so much money. Apart from the actual building materials, everything in my house has been sourced by me. I know more about every product & building process than I ever thought possible. I also know more about the things that can go wrong on a build like this than I could have anticipated. 

Each step forward has been matched by problems. One of the main issues is delivery. Some companies are excellent. They communicate well, they are flexible, they respond positively to the clients difficulties. When a house is uninhabited & the builders are generally only there between 8 - 4 on weekdays, receiving goods can be a nightmare.

Mobile phones are a godsend. Delivery companies should be able to phone, text or email the customer giving notice about delivery slots. Preferably 24 hours in advance & then perhaps 30 minutes before arriving. Taking a photo of the goods at the premises proves delivery. Also taking photos of damaged goods & packaging provides proof for the customer.

Sometimes this all goes completely wrong. Ikea has been a nightmare to deal with. I ordered a lot of Pax wardrobe frames & fittings for 2 bedrooms in December. The products I ordered showed available on the website. So I ordered, paid & got delivery dates. That to me is a contract. Then, often close to delivery, I got emails saying that some products were unavailable & I had been refunded. There is no reliable system for the customer to be notified when these products become available. You just have to keep checking on the website. Your order isn't given any priority & you are in competition with everyone else who might want to buy those items. In fact you might order & pay & go through the whole loop again.

Ikea don't give you information about the time slot until a 6am text on the morning of delivery. My mobile is normally switched off overnight. There may be very little time between the text & arrival. This doesn't work if a house is unoccupied. You can't contact anyone at Ikea. Their whole communication system is not customer friendly or fit for purpose.

I was given the first delivery date after Christmas. In fact they tried to deliver, very early in the morning, just before Christmas day, on a date I hadn't been notified about. So then on the date I did know,  half of the stuff went to my house & half went to Bristol! Why wasn't everything on one van? They told my builders it would arrive the next day. It never arrived. It was all supposed to arrive yesterday. No contact & no delivery!

I found the email of the CEO Europe & complained. He put someone in charge of sorting this mess out. I am still without all of the wardrobe frames & most of  the shelves & some fittings. 3 of the shelves I have got are broken. I've had to pay for delivery more than once. I don't want money. I want everything I ordered & paid for. Ikea seems completely unable to do that. Their system & communication is useless. 

I can't cancel the order. It's too late. I'm committed because I have some items & ordered sliding doors from another company. I move into the house in just over 3 weeks. 

A big international company like Ikea should have better systems in place than this. I'm a fan of the furniture. It's well made. The customer service is abysmal. I understand all of the supply chain problems, but Ikea have had plenty of time to respond to Brexit & Covid & ensure that their website is up to date & communication & delivery is effective.

Ikea says 

"finding solutions to “impossible” challenges is what made us successful". I haven't seen any evidence of that.

"We want to challenge conventions and drive positive changes in our industry and sometimes even in the world. We are restless doers, driven by curiosity, enthusiasm and a desire to create a better world". My dealings with Ikea have wasted huge amounts of time & caused me huge stress & frustration.

"Our vision (is) to create a better everyday life for the many people". Sadly, not for me. It's been a journey of incompetence.

   

Boundaries - Physical & Metaphysical

I don't think I have ever had to think about this before. Obviously I know what my personal boundaries are. I try to tell the truth, unless the truth will hurt someone, I feel I have a strong eithical sense, I believe in equality & equal opportinity, I am assertive, but try not to be aggressive, I don't believe in physical violence, I don't believe in ignoring wrongs, so I am quite political & lobby a lot, I don't believe in inherited wealth & privilege, I do believe in fairness, I try to respect everyone even if I disagree with them.(I do find that hard - I don't tolerate fools well). Basically I follow societies rules & comply with the law.

Since I have been renovating my house & building an extension I have had several issues with property boundaries. My party wall caused problems & was very expensive to resolve. Fortunately I had employed a Party Wall Surveyor. Now there is an issue with a fence & also 2 walls in the garden which I have discovered are dangerously unstable. 

I thought fences were clearly marked on deeds & plans held by the Land Registry, but it appears this is not the case. However, for anyone who isn't sure which fence is theirs, this is what the Land registry says.

​Boundary Structures

​Fences

The following Boundary Presumptions or Conventions will normally apply, subject to rebuttal by evidence to the contrary:

1. The fence is on the land of the fence owner. This means that the boundary will be presumed to be on the outer side of the fence.

2. Struts. Where a fence has struts on one of its sides it is presumed that the owner of the fence is the owner of the land upon which the struts stand.

3. Upright Posts. Where a fence is supported by upright posts on one side it is likewise presumed that the upright posts stand upon the fence owner's land.

4. Fences with Footings. The Party Wall Act 1996 allows for a fence footing to be laid underground, partly under the adjoining property.

5. Wooden Panel Fences. Where the wooden panels are fitted between the posts the convention is for the external face of the posts to be placed on the owner's land against or close to the boundary.

6. Wire Fences. Where wire fences are supported by concrete posts the convention is for the outer face of the post to be against or close to the boundary, and for the wires to be passed through holes in the centre of the posts. Where the posts are of wood, the outer face would be against or close to the boundary and the wires would be stapled into the outer face of the post.
    

   Walls are different. 

   Unless the title deeds make specific reference to responsibility for a wall, it is generally accepted that the person whose land is retained by the wall is responsible for its repair and maintenance.

    
   The mark on Land Registry plans which denotes responsibility is like a sideways T 
   
   
   
   This is just one of the many unexpected problems my house project has thrown up. It's a microcosm of the situation with Nation States - everyone protecting their own piece of land. Going to war doesn't solve anything though. I feel I have been on a huge learning curve. 
    
   The end is hopefully in sight. I just hope that I will feel it has all been worth the time, effort, stress & cost. 10 months or more of constant fire fighting has taken it's toll.
   
    
    
    
    

   
    

    

    

    

Renting a House

On Wednesday I had been renting for 8 months, while the house I have bought was being completely renovated & an extension built. I gave my notice to move in 2 months time. So come what may, early March will see me in my own home. It's a big leap of faith.

So far I am possibly on my 4th projected moving date. I doubt the house will be finished, but it should be livable in. At least I will have all my stuff out of storage & I will be back in Summertown with everything that makes it convenient.

I am not looking forward to moving house again. It's exhausting & a huge amount of work. But the removers are booked. 

Planning, research & buying everything from the flooring up to make the house habitable has been a full time job. But I haven't had to do any physical work. I have a really good team of 5, (R, H, R, J & C + a plasterer & V who did the ground works), who all work very hard, sometimes in dreadful conditions & always seem to actually enjoy what they do. I certainly have no complaints about the quality of the work & I'm really looking forward to seeing it when it is finished.

It has been a steep learning curve because of the unique circumstances caused by Brexit & Covid in the building trade. Very little has gone smoothly. I have had to be far more flexible than I anticipated & find solutions to problems I couldn't forsee. I have always thought it was worth doing though & have been confident in the vision. I do have new sash windows in the 1930's house & a new side door now.

I've absolutely no idea whether it will prove to be cost effective to have done all the work. The property market is volatile & unpredictable. But I hope that won't be my problem. This is my long term home, not an investment. I don't anticipate moving again voluntarily.

I have actually enjoyed a big project, even if it was a particularly risky thing to do at this time. It has to be better than sitting at home vegitating. It has kept me active & engaged. What will I do when it ends? The garden will keep me going for a couple of years.

It's a new beginning & at 77 that is a good thing.    

Patterns of Behaviour

We humans have 4 major behaviour patterns - Optimistic, Pessimistic, Trusting & Envious. The latter is the most common, with 30%, compared to 20% for each of the other groups. Maybe that explains our consumerism & need for more "stuff". I am truly horrified watching TV programmes showing people who have so much "stuff" that they can barely use the rooms in their houses. The "stuff" literally weighs them down. No surface is uncluttered.

I have cleared houses for family & friends when people have died. The most shocking things were piles of useless rubbish like bills & receipts which were years old. Or huge numbers of single items like shoes, underwear or make up. Sometimes brand new & unused. I wonder what drives hoarding. Do we think that we must have what everyone else has? We must be part of the crowd? Or is it a basic insecurity?

I have known people at both ends of the positivity spectrum. I have found Pessimistic people very draining. Nothing can change their world view. Optimistic people tend to be much easier to get along with unless they take it to extremes as Bi Polar people often do. A Bi Polar man I knew was really exciting to be with - life was fun, but it was exhausting & sometimes dangerous & uncontrollable. I am definitely a "glass half full" person. I always try to find the positive in a situation.

I think, generally speaking, I am trusting. When travelling abroad this has often led to really worthwhile insights into different cultures, but occasionally into quite dangerous situations. On the whole I think trusting is a positive trait. My internal monitor, or gut reaction, has usually been correct in summing people up.

Type A Behavioural Pattern

Type B's are relaxed, Patient & Easy Going

I am Type A - I am climbing the mountain. Currently I am out on a limb because I am completely trusting a lot of people who are contributing to the renovation of my house. I don't have the necessary skills, knowledge or experience. I have to trust that they do & do the job well. I also have to trust that suppliers are competent in navigating the currently broken supply chain. 

Everything is fluid & changes day by day. We are all having to adjust to changing circumstances. It is a huge gamble & could go "pear shaped" very easily. It's certainly taking far more time & probably far more money than I thought it would.

I do believe the outcome will be worth it. I will reach the top of the mountain.

Broken Supply Chain - To Panic or not to Panic!

Anyone who has ever done building work knows that it never goes entirely smoothly. There are always unexpected problems to deal with. It's all a question of degree - real schedule & heart stopping surprises, down to minor inconveniences. It's all a question of how you deal with the unexpected. Are you a lateral thinker, are you positive, do you look for solutions, are you prepared to compromise?

If you aren't, don't even get started, because the stress will get to you.

My timing is dreadful. This is not a good time to be doing a big renovation & extension. The building trade is in crisis. The supply chain is broken. Materials are in short supply & have increased hugely in price. It doesn't matter what you need, there are long lead times & suppliers are fraught. Getting hold of people is a nightmare, despite the fact that this is 21st century communication. I'm tired of phone menus & music, voicemail, being cut off, non response to emails, people not doing their job.

Not everyone. Some do their darndest to help you through the issues - Bless them all. But they are in the minority.

So last week was a shocker:-

• The order for the ultra modern metal cladding for my extension, which should have been confirmed at the beginning of September wasn't. So now the company can't do it until Feb / March 2022.
• The bifold doors & windows, also for the extension, which I ordered a couple of months ago & should have been ready within a few weeks, are not even on the horizon. The lead time suddenly stretched to 16 weeks - February 2022. They must have known that before now!
• The company who are supposed to be fitting my sliding sash windows this week are not answering the phone or responding to answerphone messages. The plastering can't be finished until the windows are done.
  
• I've been waiting on accurate measurements so I can design my kitchen for months.

There is progress. The foundations are being built & the extension itself should be quick to build. It just won't have any cladding, doors, or windows. The flooring I ordered is coming this week, so the bathroom can be installed. The garden & groundworks are a sea of mud & rubble, but have been cleared. The shed I have ordered is coming this week - really looking forward to that. (Just need to find someone to erect it). The company I found to strip all the internal doors is collecting them this week. I really want to re-use them. They are original & solid wood, but are thick, sticky, smoke grimed paint.

Literally every single thing from the floor up to the loft, in both the renovation & the extension involves choices & costings. The only way to deal with it all is to be organised & ahead of the curve. I'm trying to plan the kitchen - need to get to grips with the sorftware. Ditto wardrobe planning software. I have a notebook & pen beside my bed so I can write down the things that spring into my brain in the middle of the night. How obsessive is that!

But - and it's a big but. This is only a house. It isn't COP 26. I don't live in a war or famine zone. There are more important things than my home.

 

Renovation & Building

 Stripping out - Thick lime plaster walls, lath & plaster ceilings & internal walls. 

Filthy, noisy, dusty work.

Mountains of rubbish - Several huge skips.

Demolishing - the sun room & old outside loo & larder - Spot the difference.

Front & back garden - 4 trees removed & huge shrubs drastically pruned. Stump grinder for massive Lime tree.

Mini digger scraping off all the weeds. Suddenly the garden is much bigger.

Help - I need a landscape gardener to tell me what to do!

Boarding Out -All the internal outside walls are well insulated under the plasterboard.

Bricking in - the old side door. A new one will go where the window is.

New Foundations - Literally & metaphorically.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Message from the past - Done in 1950, something to do with papering the room.

It's definitely all been a learning curve. Always interesting, sometimes exciting, sometimes frustrating & occasionally quite depressing. But the people I have working for me are amazing & hard working. I'm really grateful for their practical experience & knowledge. 

Who knows when it will be finished though.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Neighbourliness

We live on a crowded island. We don't have a big landmass like France (126% more landmass) or Germany (47% more landmass). That means that although we value home ownership, again in contrast to our European neighbours, we don't generally end up with a big plot of land all round. 51% of Germans owned their homes, 65% of the French did & 63% -73% Brits did in the same period.

This space poverty is particularly true in Urban areas. So it is important that we "live & let live". That we are generous spirited. Covid has shown that we can keep an eye out for our neighbours & often help where we can.

I have only once had a problem with neighbours in the whole 55 years that I have lived in my own home. That was 3 houses ago. The man was very wealthy & very obnoxious. I was actually afraid of him & that is not something that usually affects me. He was simply a bully. However Karma worked against him & he lost a lot of money & had to sell up.

Renovating my house has been a revelation. Most of my neighbours to be have been extremely welcoming, friendly & tolerant of the noise, disruption, dust & mess created by the work - I am so grateful. I am just surprised at the occasional level of intrusiveness & unnecessary difficulty that can be caused. 

The neighbour who stopped work on the felling of my lime tree because she erroneously said there was a  TPO on the tree, caused the whole team of tree surgeons to stop work. There was a lengthy delay while we tried to confirm that we were right & she was wrong. I was extremely worried. Frankly it was self interested & malicious. She just didn't want to be able to see my house from the back of her house.

Then a neighbour informed my builder that she had checked our planning permission & wanted him to know that she knew that the depth of the extension had been reduced by the planners. She would be checking to see that he complied. The reduction is 15cms - 6" in old money! Of course we will comply. Why would we want the hassle of having to remove anything wrongly constructed? What I really object to is the implication that I and my builder are dishonest & untrustworthy. 

 

 

It isn't the first time that we have been made to feel that we would not comply with "building regulations" or any relevant legislation. It isn't pleasant. To be honest it leaves a bad taste. 

I just need to focus on the much bigger proportion of really nice neighbours.

Keeping my Head above Water

Swimming helps me on so many levels - fitness, range of movement, distraction from problems, calm meditation. I love it & do it 3 times a week. I would do more if I had the time. I'm happy to have my head in or under water.

It's so different to life at the moment. Sometimes I do just about feel that I am keeping my head above water. Sometimes, although I'm not drowning, I need a lot of advice & information. Normally, I know stuff. I'm within my comfort zone. Not so renovating my house & building an extension.

I just don't know the answers to questions & I'm beginning to feel that I must be a pain as a client. It's all quite technical & there are so many areas to research. What do I know about groundworks, underpinning, modern building techniques, wiring...? I can do the selection of fixtures & fittings. I know what I like. But the more complex things mean I don't actually know the right questions to ask, never mind the answers.

Getting 3 quotes for everything has been a revelation. Each person you talk to gives you different information, so by the time you see the final one you do, just possibly, know what to ask.  Take the driveway. I want it to be permeable & as eco as possible. One company say I need to have all the concrete dug up & removed & then start laying the resin based gravel. Another company says no, not all the concrete needs to go, only the poor stuff in the front garden. The side drive can just have 3 drainage channels. Well, how do I know which is right? I just want the rainwater to get into the soil.

I don't think I have ever had to make so many choices in such a relatively short period of time. It is daunting. Thank goodness for the internet. Thank goodness I don't have a "proper job".

Planning Consent & Tree Preservation Orders.

I have never liked Rollercoasters. But that is what I am on, holding tight, closing my eyes & trusting that the whole structure won't collapse & send me flying into the abyss.

Dealing with the City Planning Department during Covid isn't easy. They have problems, mainly staffing issues I think. So yesterday afternoon I was on a high. An email from my lovely Architect finally came several weeks & several supposed dates late. I have got full planning consent. Huge relief. The groundwork for the extension can begin. Hopefully it will be quick to build. But that depends on whether we can get the contractors who do the specialist standing seam cladding in before Christmas.

Today my tree surgeon team arrived with 4 vehicles & a mass of kit to take down the huge Lime tree in the middle of the garden plus 3 smaller trees. I've waited for months, because they are really busy over the summer period & there are rules whilst birds are nesting. A neighbour apparently came round & told them there was a Tree Preservation Order on the Lime. She said she liked watching the birds, (there aren't any to see in the Lime it's too dense), & she didn't want to see my house. She lives at the back I think. Frantic phone calls to City Planning Tree Department by the main tree surgeon & me. Also a call to my solicitor, because I don't have any of the paperwork for my house because Land Registry have a backlog. The 2 planners dealing with TPO's are not in the office, they are out in the field so a really helpful lady left them both voicemails. 

Both the tree surgeon & I were fairly sure there was no P O on the lime, but we couldn't take the risk. A long stressfull delay until we finally got the go ahead. Huge relief, again. When they started work they discovered, as we expected that the whole of the middle of the tree was rotten. Lime's are very prone to that. So it was a disaster waiting to happen.

Meanwhile I feel shredded. This is a big undertaking, requiring a lot of time & effort. Nothing is going smoothly. 

By the time I move in I think everyone involved will feel a huge sense of relief & achievement.

Eco Warrior Failure - A tale of Woe

That's how I feel. I set out with high aspirations to refurbish my 1930's semi in as Green a way as possible. I'm a complete failure. 

Windows - What I wanted was sliding sash replacement windows in a modified softwood called Accoya. It's sustainable & really good. But it's also a lot more expensive that what I have bought, which is really good quality UPVc sashes. From the kerbside you won't be able to tell that they aren't wood, but that isn't the point.

Wall Insulation - What I was going to use was Pavatex wood fibre. But again the price has shot up because there is "A Severe timber shortage as ‘a perfect storm’ brings price hikes and delays" because of a surge in demand due to Brexit & Covid. It's now more than double the alternative. The underfloor insulation also looks as if it is coming in very expensive too. I haven't got round to the loft insulation yet.

Heating - I was seriously considering a heat pump instead of a combi gas boiler & did my research. I can't have a ground sourced heat pump because I don't have enough land for the collector loop, which is laid horizontally in a trench about a metre or so below ground. Where there isn't room to do this, you can drill vertical boreholes to extract heat from much further down, typically between 90m and 160m deep. It's significant, costly, disruptive work in the garden. A 6-8 kW horizontal ground source heat pump system usually costs around £10,000 to £12,500 to install. A larger 12kW heat pump system would cost around £15,500 to £17,500 to install. I simply can't afford to do it. 

Air source heat pumps are cheaper, but they are noisy & UK houses, not insulated to high enough standards, are not kept wam enough in winter.

It's a no brainer. I am having a gas boiler. I won't live long enough to get the financial benefit from the technology & the government have withdrawn the Green Deal financial support.

I don't expect the Government to foot the bill for my project, but as a member of Greenpeace & several other Eco charities, I know how important this is. We need to be doing this now. But the public won't do it unless they are helped with incentives of some sort. There is a limit to how much extra cost an individual household can absorb, however high their ideals. 

According to the International Institute for Sustainable Development in September 2020, " a majority of people across Britain support an ambitious transformation of the United Kingdom into a greener, fairer, and more equal society. The assessment is based on an extensive inquiries by a cross-party group of MPs, which involved over 55,000 people through representative polls, workshops, and telephone conversations". Covid triggered a widespread desire for change. There is plenty of evidence that a Green economy will benefit the whole country. But it won't happen on it's own. It needs political will & Government commitment.

So I have failed & I'm really dieappointed. I just don't have a bottomless pit of money. The good thing, if I can afford it, is that I might have a resin bound, permeable, gravel driveway that uses recycled plastic drinking straws.

This Government has failed me & everyone else too. To quote Greta Thunberg  “Build back better. Blah, blah, blah. Green economy. Blah blah blah. Net zero by 2050. Blah, blah, blah. This is all we hear from our so-called leaders. Words that sound great but so far have not led to action. Our hopes and ambitions drown in their empty promises.”

 https://www.facebook.com/gretathunbergsweden/videos/1033097317441254

We don't have long to sort this out. There have been plenty of warning signs. We are hosting Cop 26 in a month's time. I don't know how our Cabinet have the cheek to do it. 

 

But I am so disappointed with myself personally too. 

 

Communication

We assume that because we can think & speak we have the tools to communicate effectively. Communication skills & understanding are really important in all aspects of our lives. We are lucky that we have communication tools which were not available for the majority of our lives. I must have been in my 20's before my parents even had a landline!

Managing my renovation & extension has made very clear that there is huge variation in how effective communication is. Yesterday was a case in point. Planning consents were expected in late August, early September. It was delayed to Wednesday 22nd this week, because of staffing issues. It didn't come. It is holding up a lot of the work. We can't risk starting before we have it, even if it is permitted development. 

I spent all day yesterday trying to communicate with the city planning department by phone & email. My builder wasn't sure what he can do & thinks he has done everything he can stripping out & first fixing in the actual house. I spoke to 3 different people, all of whom tried to be helpful, but none of whom actually knew anything about the application. The officer who dealt with it is on leave & no one else was appointed to cover this work. I find that amazing & frankly unprofessional. So we are in limbo until the officer returns & gets round to issuing my paperwork.

I have had a team of 4 professional people working on my project plus the 3 people actually doing most of the hard work. That meant that there needed to be effective lines of communication between them & me. It hasn't always worked & I have often felt I was fire fighting & acting as a relay. Sometimes I have been concerned that I don't have the skill set to really understand processes & technicalities. I have to rely on the people I have employed. They are all busy people & have other projects as well as mine. It can be a bit of a quagmire.

I also need to try to keep open good communication with suppliers, which is a real nightmare. There are huge supply & lead time problems. They are all struggling to cope with their supplers - it's a chain which is broken currently, due to Brexit & Covid.

Then there is the importance of keeping neighbours informed & on side, despite not living in the house. I'm not having to live with the noise, dust, traffic & disruption, but I do realise what an impact it must have. I'm a big believer in face to face communication. You can pick up body language & expressions & hopefully respond appropriately. Emails are quick & provide a paper trail, but can be misinterpreted. The receiver doesn't necessarily read what we intend when we write.

It's all hard work & exhausting. But I can go home to my rental, read a book, watch TV & unwind. I have a supportive daughter & family & I have lots of friends who are also interested & supportive. They all know what a huge task this is. They sympathise & encourage when things are not going well.

So, all in all, I am lucky.

Renovating & Building an Extension

Two of my previous homes have needed massive renovation. One needed a big extension simultaneously. My husband & I lived in both whilst the work was going on, which wasn't easy. But at least we were there every day to oversee the work & answer questions. Both houses were detached, both were in rural locations. So we didn't have to be too concerned about the impact on neighbours. Neither project went smoothly, but we were able to divide the work between us & share the ups & downs. Just as well as we were both working during the first one.

My current house is a completely different situation. It is a semi in an urban street. So there are neighbours all around who must be impacted by the builders. There are the vehicles & workmen. There is the noise & dust. Obviously the work only goes on during prescribed hours, but even so I can understand that it is disturbing.

So far my lovely builders have had to remove all the lime plaster on the interior of the 3 outside walls in order to insulate them. There is no cavity. Many interior walls & ceilings were still lath & plaster, so they also have to be stripped out & replaced. Some floorboards were rotten. The whole of the ground floor needs to be stripped out & insulated, then some rooms need the level raising so it is the same throughout. The wiring & gas pipework was all visible on the walls, so all has to be replaced. The water comes through lead pipes, which need replacing. Interior walls have to come down & new ones need to be built. It's noisy, dusty, filthy work. But the builders remain cheerful despite it all. Most of my neighbours are understanding & tolerant & I'm really grateful.

 

I'm finding it all quite hard now. It feels like a full time job. It's a combination of fire fighting problems, constantly chasing for fittings etc, trying to second guess which choices need to be made & getting quotes, driving back & forth to the site. I never know what each day will bring.

I seem to be transferring money out more regularly than ever before - It's a one way river. This is not a good time to be doing this. The building trade is suffering from a combination of the aftermath of Brexit & Covid. Both have made prices spiral out of control because of increased costs & shortage of materials. Lead times have increased because of delivery problems. Scheduling the work has become more dependent on outside circumstances than ever before.

This house could be a dream fulfilled for me. It could be "future proofed" for how ever many more years I have. I'm lucky to be able to buy a house with so much potential & be able to keep the best of it whilst bringing it into the 21st century. 

It is taking it's toll though. It certainly isn't easy. Think "Grand Designs" on a smaller scale. I need to keep the "vision" in mind on the really difficult days. 

I do just hope that it will be worth it all.