Pro - Does anyone else's nest boxes get soaked in rain?

[Charlottechicken]

Just sounding off really, apologies this could be a long rant!

 

Builder arrived at the beginning of October to pull down and rebuild as a conversion a tandem garage attached to the side of the cottage. He was due a month earlier but was 'delayed' on a previous job. Work was to last eight weeks and payment was staged for fortnightly. Job was to convert garage into small office, shower room and utility. Builder was to site manage.

 

Work progressed quickly for 4 weeks and then builder was coming round sporadically, whilst things like windows and first fix were being done. Eight weeks in and I held back the final installment as work was very intermittent by this time. Builder clocked this and I stupidly paid final payment after he asked for it, even though there was still a fair bit of internal work to be done. Along the way we arranged for some extras and I asked him to keep me informed as we were on a tight budget, which he didn't. Builder considered the inside of the build finished by about 10th December.

 

Work is still not finished as the cottage needs to be rendered on the outside, a job which was scheduled to be done before Christmas but the renderers never turned up. We were unable to use the new rooms inside over Christmas due to them only just being finished and us having no time to decorate. The labourers were having to pop back almost on a daily basis to get silly little jobs done so that we could start decorating, like putting plastic strip under the back door to fill a gap, and shelving on the top of the boxed in cistern.

 

Builder turned up yesterday with a further bill, for almost 2.5k for extras, which was a shock. A lot of the work is electrics, we wanted more sockets than he was going to put in, but one is an extra consumer unit, which is solely for the conversion, as the consumer box for the cottage wasn't big enough. He has charged us for fitting the sink in the utility, something that I assumed was included in the price, especially as the quote says I had to supply kitchen cupboards. He has charged us over £100 for hinges and catches for the 5 doors (doors and handles supplied by me) and over £430 for a shower tray (bog standard 900mm square) and cloak basin and toilet with concealed cistern, I supplied taps for both shower room and utility.

 

Several things in the conversion differ from the architects plan (builder insisted on us using architect) builder missed sun pipes on the plan, therefore extra lighting was required. Ceiling height in conversion is much higher than it should be, around eight feet, due to miscalculation with ground height. Also the utility room is not wide enough to accommodate a washing machine and tumble dryer side by side without removing the skirting board. As it happens, because of mums hoarding habit we will have to stack the tumble dryer anyway as she has earmarked the corner of the room for a tall freezer which will fit if it is 500mm wide . The interior finish was not great, we have had to go around with filler along all the architrave joints, under a windowsill, around radiator pipes and switches etc. All woodwork has had to be sanded and in places filled to get it smooth before we could paint.

 

Builder had a bit of a hissy fit when we asked him to clear the rubble off the drive, I had been raking it all off the gravel to one end of the drive so we didn't drive over it and compact it as it is mainly clay from the ground. There was some concrete from where they had the mixer but he said they had put boards down, they did, after they had spilled concrete! Just so happens I took photos the day before they started of the pristine gravel driveway!

 

I know builder will be chasing this latest payment but am determined not to pay up until the rendering is done, there is still a £1k snagging amount to pay too.

 

Right, sorry it's a long old rant but I needed to offload. If anyone has any thoughts I'd love to hear them as I 'm a bit fed up right now

[Valkyrie]

Oooh blooming heck! Sounds like one huge ordeal after another. Dunno why some give so much grief and others are so nice. Our bathrooms were done by a bloke that I had already seen his work at a neighbour's house. He'd done a terrific job there. Not so with ours because by then he wanted to retire and had added his son-in-law. SIL was hopeless. The tiles on the floor he forgot where the door opened and so now we have a dark brown strip of wood to fill between the tiles and the bedroom carpet. The doors we replaced has one with a saw mark where he started cutting and oops too short so cut it half an inch lower. He was putting bathroom filler around the baths and both baths now have scratches where he was sitting on the sides - I assume it was the metal bits on his jeans pocket. The shower panels were cut too short and then they made a hole in another bath and blamed us for it and said it was our fault for using it! We hadn't! Showers were taken in our bathroom until the other one had been finished! They were supposed to paint it all afterwards but by then I wanted them OUT! We didn't pay the full amount either. Sad thing was our neighbour had him back again and was shocked at the poor service she received as well. She felt so guilty as she'd recommended him to us. Never mind all in the past.

 

As with the new kitchen, had it done by "professionals" and the company still exists but no longer does kitchens. It's pine and they did a bit of distressing. One bit was extremely distressing and I said no way was I going to have a low shelf with a funny face on it - George Michael with designer stubble! So they took it away and replaced it . . . with the same unit and obviously thought I wouldn't know. Well that was a big hoo ha. I won. Next because we were having a water filter to run the big fridge freezer with ice dispenser and tap - unit to be installed in utility room - they decided to add an extra hole in the granite for the water filter. Er no. Well we can put a soap dispenser in the hole - NO! I don't want any holes apart from the mixer tap!!! That caused more grief and of course I was unreasonable because they'd made these lovely suggestions to cover their mistakes and I wasn't having any of it. But eventually it was sorted. Trouble is now that the cooker is on the blink we have since discovered they have left a gap of exactly 1100cms so that finding a replacement cooker is very hit and miss to go in the gap!

 

The current builder I got from Checkatrade and he's been here before replacing the stairs and they did a good job, so he's back to do more bits.

 

However yours sounds like a nightmare! Is he with Checkatrade or something similar? You could go to town on your review!!!!

[mullethunter]

We had an uncannily similar experience with the builders who demolished our carport and built our attached garage.

 

They Kept 'interpreting' the plans incorrectly (including digging the footings 30cm too narrow and not square!) so we had to watch like Hawks to make sure they were doing things properly, they did everything as cheaply as possible, ours was also an 8 week job but took over 3 months, when they said they had finished actually there were still major things (such as guttering and drainage!) outstanding, and they didn't clear up.

 

In the end we withheld the final payment (also £1000) until we were completely satisfied that there was nothing more we wanted them to do (note I'm not saying until we were happy - we still aren't happy - it's a pretty shoddy job) - that actually got stuff sorted pretty quickly in the end because they were a small firm who needed the money.

 

Good luck.

[soapdragon]

Stick to your guns and don't part with a penny more until they have completed to your satisfaction!

 

Are they registered with any professional bodies? If so you can complain to whoever they are registered with and/or use that as leverage to get things done as you want. Good luck!

[Charlottechicken]

Thank you for your comments

 

Yes, builder is a master builder, and thankfully the footings and actual structure look fine, it is the cheek of quoting for a shower room and utility and then charging me extra to plumb the utility sink in, that is the thing that is most annoying. He says it wasn't included in the quote, but the quote asks me to supply cupboards etc, you assume they will be fitting them if they say that. Also, the inflated cost of hinges for the doors.

 

It looks like we will end up paying the bill eventually, but as far as I am concerned he can wait for this extra 2.5k until the rendering is done. Then we can look at the snagging retention.

 

All in all a very sore experience

[Lewis]

Sorry to hear you're having problems, that's not a small amount of money.

If he's charged you for the extra lighting due to him missing the sun pipes then I'd question that... I've just googled 900mm shower tray and the first few are £60-70 so £430 sounds steep for that!

 

There's lots of good advice online so maybe have a read and see if you can come to an agreement, especially if you have photots of the driveway and plans so show what has differed. I just read something about a 6 month window for snagging payment so there's that too.

[Charlottechicken]

Yes, Lewis, you have discovered exactly what I found, and all the sanitaryware he provided I have found for half the amount he is charging us, and it was readily available from builder merchant type places. He is trying to pull a fast one because we have already had him back for snagging.

 

I will be looking for advice online I think as he will send a reminder for this payment soon and I'm not paying until the render is on!