doingupnumber13
you couldn't make it up...
lurching from one disaster to another
23 posts
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Iām upstairs....
My husband has banned me from going downstairs as the third lot of builders (builders C) are here to fit their third hearth....
The plumber who is always late (and tried to stop me from getting my son a prescription last time he was here, and frankly is a plumber so unquestionably a dickhead) is also supposed to be coming to fix the central heating that was obviously āfully testedā before we moved in.... itāll be nice to have it fixed for this weeks heatwaveāļø
Itās only maybe the 6th or 7th visit from tradesmen that weāve had since we moved in 9 weeks ago...
Also we had to transform the living room this morning into the building site look for them... I like nothing more than rearranging all the furniture, putting up the pictures back up, moving vases, photo frames etc etc....
Itās actually fun, I wish I could do it all the time..... I wouldnāt want to feel too at home...
So anyway Iām stuck upstairs so that no blood is shed (or at least so that I donāt have to ask them if theyāve mastered the use of the tape measure yet...)
#plumbers#builders#a cautionary tale#buildingproblems#groundhog day#nightmare#notgranddesigns#youcouldntmakeitup#notrocketscience
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Home Sweet Home
I thought itād all be so lovely when we moved home.....
On Saturday I realised that the washing machine inlet pipe had been slowly dripping since we moved in.... I knew this from a patch of ruined parquet that I noticed next to the washing machine....
Did we immediately phone the plumber who had installed it (and apparently ran it a couple of times to check it - although he didnāt because it was bone dry the first time I went to use it)? No because all plumbers are bastards....
Instead we isolated the water to the washing machine, went to the diy shop and fixed it ourselves and congratulated ourselves that at least there was one bit of plumbing in the house that we could rely on.....
Since we moved in 3 weeks ago weāve had two hearths installed both the wrong size and two plumbers round - this is not quite the triumphant return weād been hoping for....
Weāre all on edge every time we use anything water related in the house. Even my daughterās best friend shrieked āWhatās that? Whatās that noise? Is that supposed to happen?ā when someone flushed the loo upstairs....
As well as all the house dramas and the constant calls to the insurance company/ surveyors/ solicitors and all the normal changing of addresses etc etc that comes with moving as itās also been half term, and inset day, I had to go in a school trip, my sonās been off school for 4 days, school got snowed off and now my daughters been sent home with a dodgy foot...
I canāt get anything done, Iāve cancelled my exhibition in May and may consider giving up everything else other than just getting through each day....
Aaaaaaarrrrrrrgggghhhh!
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3rd Time Lucky?!?!?
When Builders B ripped out everything to repair the damage caused by builders A they managed (amongst other things) to break the slate hearth. They never replaced this as they were too busy wreaking other havoc. Builders C were then tasked with replacing it.
I contacted builders C after Christmas to check many things, one of them being that this was ordered, yes it was in hand - anyway it wasn't as they didn't even have the dimensions of it.....
On what should've been our sign off meeting on 2nd February the Head Honcho said that the reason it hadn't arrived yet was that they were waiting until the floor was fitted in order to work out how deep it needed to be but that it would be here shortly...
When it arrived and on moving day - 12th February - I left our rented house being packed up to come to no. 13 to get the hearth fitted. The dimensions were wrong and it was too narrow leaving a 2 cm gap between it and the skirting boards....
On Wednesday they came and refitted the correct piece of slate. I was somewhat distracted whilst they were fitting it as I'd been to the doctors about my sons severe eczema that morning and was waiting for a call from consultant - I also had a house full of boxes to unpack.... it wasn't til they'd gone I noticed that the cement they'd laid it on was almost as thick as the wafer thin slate hearth (i.e. not a like for like replacement).
Our surveyor also said that this was unacceptable and that he would sort it.
I've got home tonight to an email asking me to suggest a time to meet to discuss the problem with the hearth.....
Should my answer be
a. When hell freezes over?
b. NEVER
c. Just get the right size hearth....
d. I never want the head Honcho of builders C in my home ever again....
e. Just fit me a hearth that is the CORRECT size.
f. Is this really happening? Is this a dream?
g. Tomorrow 8am preferably in a blizzard and please bring Mrs Honcho and all the Honcho offspring so that you are as inconvenienced as we are all the flipping time!!!!! AAAAARRRRRRRGGGGHHHHHH!
H. JUST FIT THE HEARTH!
make it stop!!!! MAKE IT STOP!!!!
Nobody ask me on the school run tomorrow if it's nice to be back in the house.....
I'm unsure as to what the C in builders C stands for Cowboys, Conmen, Cocks, Conniving, Crafty.....
The list goes on and on......
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So on Sunday night I got back from the most amazing, inspiring painting course keen to get my studio unpacked and get back to painting....
But Monday was an inset day, whilst I was away the boiler had been apparently turning itself in at random, also one of the radiators had a small leak (alert, alert, alert!!!!), my sons hands which had had a small rash on them when I left now had an enflamed infected crust and there were piles of boxes in every room for me to attack. The studio might have to wait....
On Monday morning I emailed Head Honcho of Builders C to get a plumber to come round on Tuesday. This would not be possible apparently but one would come on Wednesday to sort out boiler problems, fit a new tap (theyād lost part of the original one), and someone would come to fit the new slate hearth.*
Meanwhile intake my son the pharmacy to show them his crusty hand - he definitely needs to see a doctor, I go to the doctor and book the first available appointment - Wednesday morning.
I email the HH again and tell him that the hearth guys and the plumber will need to come round between 10.30 and 3 on Wednesday. He replies the plumber is booked for 8.30? At this point I phone to explain to HH how you make an appointment with someone, by checking their availability and arranging a mutually convenient time - not by telling your customer when they need to be in. I explained again the times I was available and he came back and told me that the plumber would come round at 3.45 (?!?!?)
Then school email me - I had volunteered to go on the school trip on Tuesday was I still available.... I guess the studio unpacking and the painting would have to wait.
Wednesday arrives, take daughter to school, take son to doctors. Doctor looks horrified by his hand (which is now considerably worse having been on the school trip the day before and encased in gloves all day). He has apparently got some other new crusty blistery kind of eczema (just as I thought Iād got to grips with the good old fashioned red and itchy variety). He will need to be referred to a consultant dermatologist today or tomorrow. He will send them pictures now and I should get a call by the end of the day.
Next the hearth arrives - 3 more builders sorting that out. Seems to fit although does not seem as thick as the other one....
All the while unpacking, moving boxes out of the builders way, keeping son, fed entertained etc etc
Go out to do food shopping and the doctor rings to say heās forwarded everything to dermatologist and I should definitely get a call soon but to call the surgery before 6 if I havenāt heard anything.
Then go and pick up daughter from school , hurry them back up the hill to get back in time for plumber at 3.45....
3.55 plumber calls, he is still in Weston-Super-Mare he has no idea when he will be with me.... alright thanks love (grrrrrrrrrrrr)
5 plumber arrives. I explain the poltergeist boiler situation - I tell him that I had said to HHās sidekick a few weeks ago that the boiler seemed to be on all the time (at the time I got a patronising thatās so the pipes donāt freeze love)
Also show him leaky radiator, other potential leaky radiator....
Show him radiator in daughters bedroom, he apologises as he leans across to sort it out - sorry love (again) I had to do some plastering at the last job and Iām so bad at plastering that I get it all over me - constantly reassuring me of his professionalism....
Show him weird sticking out pipe in larder āwhy is that like that?ā
āNo idea it wasnāt me...ā
āSo let me understand thatās where the cold water comes in, couldnāt it just leak all over the place?ā
āI did think it looked a bit weird when I fixed the stopcockā(which is right next to it)
āOk weāll can we make that a bit more safe then....ā
Ffs
Meanwhile I am aware I need to phone the surgery before it shuts especially as infection has been getting worse and more blistery. I get through, explain the situation to receptionist she gives me dermatology dept number and consultants name. Receptionist at hospital puts me through to department no reply - she thinks theyāve all gone home.
Try and call surgery again, no reply and 3rd in queue. Get kids to put coats and shoes back on ask plumber how long he will be - not long - how long - an hour. I have to go to the doctors, do not go until I get back.
Go to doctors, new doctor is more alarmed, manages to get hold of dermatologist, gives scrip for anti virals and antibiotics. He tells me I must keep him up to get at least 2 doses of antibiotics in him before bedtime and if he at anytime gets worse to not faff about but go straight to a and e.
Suitably freaked out I go home tell plumber he has to wait whilst I go to pharmacy (local one has by now just closed). He tells me he canāt wait for me to get back as he has to be away to another job... I just leave.
Obviously Bristol city are playing and so it takes an age to get there....
Get neighbour to let plumber go home.....
But at least I did let the kids stay up late and watch some of the Brits to get another dose of antibiotics in. We ate pizza and chocolate orange in front of the telly. And by the time they went to Dua Lipa had won two so the kids are very happy....
And the crusty one is now asleep and seems fine
And I just have to call the boiler manufacturer tomorrow to get another plumber to come round....
Do not ever get a house done up, not if you ever want to do anything else with your life ever.....
#aaaaaaaarrrrrrrrggggghhhh #plumbers
*the slate hearth had been broken by Builders B and the replacement shouldāve been fitted before the house was āfinishedā. It wasnāt ordered in time and so they were supposed to fit it instead on the Monday we moved in. However when it arrived instead of being 1483mm wide it was 1438mm wide. And. Probably wouldnāt have noticed except theyād already cut and fitted the skirting boards to fit and it left a big gap either side. Would I like them to rip the skirting boards out and fit new ones? Did they have new ones with them? No then leave this and come back and fit it - aaaaaaarrrrrrrrrggggghhhhhh.
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Groundhog Day Eve
Just been up to number 13 to check progress and go through snagging list with Deputy Head Honcho of Builders C. All is looking pretty good until DHH tells me that the plumber is ācaught up on another jobā and wonāt be here till tomorrow morning. Weāre meant to be having a sign off meeting at 8am. The plumbing work that is still outstanding is the fitting of the utility sink, kitchen sink, dishwasher and washing machine ā bearing in mind that all of the problems that weāve had in this house have been due to plumbers fitting things last minute Iām not very happy about this. Thereās also a slight smell of gas in the understairs cupboard which my husband had reported to them yesterday. So apart from the fitting of the dreaded boiler then theyāve just left ALL of the plumbing until after the sign off meetingā¦.
I ring Head Honcho and express my displeasure ā he tells me that he shouldāve had til the end of the day tomorrow and so therefore this is fineā¦ Despite telling me on Monday that theyād be fine to handover at 8am on Fridayā¦
Although he did tell me in his special Iām talking to a woman and I want her to get off the phone voice that he would try and get the plumber to come over this afternoon. So I expect heās definitely making that call nowā¦
Theyāre all the same ā why should I have expected any different.
House will not be signed off tomorrow.
My optimistic āWhoop Whoop itās Februaryā moment lasted about 2 hours.
C is for!?!?!?!
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We've got a meeting on Friday with the surveyor from the insurance company and the third lot of builders. Fingers crossed the work will be approved and the house will be signed back over to us.....
This will definitely be fine right?!?! Friday is literally Groundhog Day - this maybe the very definition of irony...
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The House of Horrors - the alternate accommodation.
2 weeks ago I reported a leak around one of our radiator pipes to Letting Agents A. It seemed to have started since the installation of the new boiler.
They would send someone round on Friday at 5.15 they said - to check that and the installation of the new boiler. I obviously thought they meant a plumber.
Anyway on that Friday an estate agent came round for his regular inspection of the property to look at the leak and the installation of the boiler. He also wanted to look at the rest of the house. Certainly - what would you like to look at first? The mould in our bedroom, or in the living room or the dining room? The massive damp patch in the kitchen perhaps? The paint flaking off the inside of the bath that had been nicely emulsioned before we moved in? Etc etc....
I also explained to him about the general problems we had with the Arsehole letting agents and the lack of response to any of our problems with the house, the lack of an inventory despite requesting one several times and being told it was in hand. He told me that he would go back to the office, let me know if there was an inventory and also sort out a visit from a plumber. Guess what? No call that evening...
First thing on Monday morning having still not heard anything I sent a (sarky) email saying that sending an estate agent round to do a plumberās job probably wasnāt the best idea. On Tuesday they asked if I was around on Wednesday (which I wasnāt what with having a life and also another house of horrors to deal with that day). Could they come on Friday again as requested last week? That might be difficult they said. Ok I said and waited to hear back from them....
On Thursday I got an email saying that the landlord would call on Friday and they wanted to let me know. What?!?! I tried to call them to find out why, but they werenāt available. As I was just near there on my way back from a run I went to see them. I told them how fed up I was of the whole situation, how I didnāt want a call from the landlord and how I was done with the whole thing and would be moving out ASAP and didnāt want to hear from them again until then.
They then sent an email to my husband (and not me?!?) saying that as we were making ourselves unavailable for a contractor to visit the landlord was going to come round?!? WTF?!?
Iāve made myself available for 5 visits in 2018 - that works out about one very 5 days. Iāve only ever turned down one appointment.
I have also waited in or made myself available for the following pointless appointment arranged by the arseholes
- a plumber who turned out to be the one who illegally signed off the boiler in my other house
- a boiler installation which the night before the landlord decided wasnāt going to happen.
- a fridge delivery on 2nd January which didnāt turn up.
- a plumber who turned out to be an estate agent (last Friday)
They didnāt respond to any of my complaints about anything to do with the house for the first 5 months that we were living here and actually the only time they have responded is
- when we had to re-sign the tenancy agreement and they had to come round and inspect the property.
- when we had mice and having failed to get back to me I went in there and demanded they do something.
- when we called environmental health
I canāt wait to leave, Iām awake in the middle of the night writing this on my phone and wondering when the landlord will turn up....
Happy Monday!
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Builder Bingo - Cup of Tea no 3
It's the New Year and people are making plans - building plans, people show me their plans and have excited little faces when they talk about their plans...
Looking at their plans makes me feel sick, their naive hope makes me panic, they ask me for advice - they ask me to recommend tradesmen (or women) and after 2 and a half years of this bollocks I am really none the wiser.
The only tradesmen I can recommend are the Flooring People. They've fitted our parquet immaculately 3 times now and have never called me love or darling.....
On our local Buy & Sell page on Facebook I see the arsehole builders recommended regularly, this makes my blood boil. I can't really do anything about it though but it does make me worry that other people will have to endure the same lack of care, inept workmanship and ultimately unsafe installation that caused all of our problems.
I've now experienced the business practices of 3 sets of builders in this house, Builders C haven't yet finished and whilst undoubtedly the best of the bunch they don't exactly fill me with confidence.
They are all the same in that they
- seem to think it's fine to turn up late/ not turn up at all.
- talk to you in a voice that is like a patronising pat on the head.
- all have a lack of attention to detail.
- ignore things that you've told them.
- have a lack of respect for their client.
Typical exchange with current builders, builders C
Last week I sent an email to the head honcho where I asked him, among other things, if the ordering of the marble and slate hearth was all in hand - an email which he didnāt bother replying to for a few days and then asked me to call him?!?! ummmmmm - who's the client?
The marble? He didnāt know he was supposed to be replacing it? How reassuring... he then preceded to use his best patronising pat on the head voice to try and make me feel this was my fault that he didn't know this - rather than his lack of understanding.
Slate hearth yes that was all in hand. Did he have the dimensions of that? No he didnāt actually.... hmmmmmm all in hand eh!? Not really sure how he was going to order that without knowing the dimensions...
The Worst of the Rest
The worst tradesmen, until we realised what cowboys the arseholes were, were the kitchen guys who were unbelievably useless. I wrote about them at the time and, in my naivety thought this was the big disaster of the project.... I might post this entire debacle on here sometime but my favourite quote from this was 'I can fit the dishwasher in this cabinet for you but it'll be tight, there might not be room to plug it in'. Handy - I've always wanted an ornamental dishwasher....
My other personal favourite is the guy who installed our woodburner. He fitted it one day and then had to come back the next to do something else, on the second day I was supposed to give him some extra money for the slate or something. Anyway at the end of the first day I just said 'my husband said we owe you this much I'll bring it tomorrow'. The response to this was 'well if your husband said that he must be a liar'. Massive respect for the client relationship there. I was so taken aback I couldn't say anything...
I suspect that many of my problems may have been because I don't have a penis and apparently this is essential if builders are going to treat you with any kind of respect.
I wish I could say that I'd come across lots of tradeswomen but I haven't - and who could blame them, I know how difficult it is working in this male dominated environment. The only woman I've worked with came to repair the stained glass in the front door that the arsehole builders broke (another story for another time). She was polite, on time and didn't charge the earth. It was refreshing.
Everyday on the way to school I play a game of builder bingo, I mutter arsehole or bastard under my breath every time I see one of their vans, sometimes I've seen 5 by the time I've dropped off. Its no wonder I'm a wreck in the morning sometimes. Anyway today I won - I didn't see any on the way there or the way back , morning or afternoon - BINGO!
My advice to people contemplating a building project is DON'T! Buy a house that is big enough for you, make sure the kids leave as soon as they are 18, spend the money on paintings, parties and holidays.
(I'll let you know what the arsehole letting agent of the alternate accommodation have been up to this week another time).
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January Blues
(Disclaimer - this is my account of my depression and anxiety and I am not medically qualified in any way)
I hate January ā I love Christmas, I love New Year, I even love the first bit of January (its my birthday and I MAKE people come out) but then January really starts and itās a smack in the face.
This year that happened on Monday January 8th
- My husband went back to work (he works away but had been off for nearly 3 weeks.
- I took the Christmas tree down (I know its bad luck but hey ho Iāve decided there can be no more bad luck)
- I did my tax return
- I had a plumber here at the rented house (least favourite type of tradesman doing the job that has been totally cocked up twice in the other house in the last 14 months)
- I had the flooring boys (my favourite ever tradesman and the only ones in this whole debacle that I would whole-heartedly recommend) in number 13 starting the flooring again. I woke up on New Years Day with the realisation that they will have fitted our floor in 2016, 2017 and 2018ā¦ā¦
January Blues are awful but nothing compared to the last year. My mental health is something that I have always had to manage and this has been a constant in my life almost as long as I can remember. But during 2017 it had completely gotten away from me ā the constant drip drip drip of the anxiety that the house has caused* has pushed me to/ over the edgeā¦
*I realise that this is not the end of the world ā Iām not a refugee, Iām not homeless, I'm not ill**, I'm not bereaved, I have a lovely husband and (for the most part) lovely children. But even the guilt that this is not a ārealā problem is another cause of stress and anxiety but hey thatās the beauty of being mad! (Iām allowed to say that)
**Obviously I am ill - this is the guilt of it not being a 'proper' illness.
So as I went mad and was completely unable to manage it in all the ways that have worked for me for the last few years all I could really do was go to the doctors again. Surely in the 20+ years since I'd first sought help things would've changed? Prozac wouldn't be the first answer, not the magic pill anymore?
In my appointment I was immediately offered some other anti depressant that would take 3 months to kick in and would make be more anxious until then. Could I come back in 3 months and let them know how I was getting on? What? Why? Surely I should come back in 3 and a half months if it's not going to have any effect for 3 months? Aren't there any talking therapies they can offer? CBT? Anything?
It seemed not.... nothing but the name of the drug had changed since 1995. I walked out with my prescription, googled the drug and its side effects - I decided that if I took it, me, my family and certainly any plumbers I came into contact with might not survive the period before it took effect.... I ripped up the prescription and decided to do something else....
(At this point let me say that I've been through all this many times before. I would always recommend seeing a doctor before doing anything else if it's your first episode)
So anyway the things that have helped me so far this year are the following
- NLP ā Neuro linguistic programming ā Iāve done a one day intro and a lot of reading. It hasnāt changed my life but it did get me through making a best man's speech at my brother's wedding when a week earlier I'd been a quivering wreck in a pit of bleakest despair.
- A course in mindfulness and meditation. I've dabbled in meditation before but really focussing on it once a week in a group session made a huge difference and has made it a part of my everyday life. I even do it with the kids when they're getting anxious about things (and obviously this house fiasco has all rubbed off on them too).
- Therapy - I'd always managed to dodge this when I was younger but wow! If you can, then do, it helped, I'm sure I will go back again but it got me through some of the worst bits...
- L-Tryptophan - recommended to me by a model I was painting (ironically I trusted her prescription more than the doctors). Made such a difference.
The things that helped me come off Prozac in the first place all those years ago were an amazing healer (a friend who worked with me to make it happen), a book - Patrick Holford's Optimum Nutrition for the Mind, running, St Johns Wort and various other supplements that I've found along the way.
I'm a bit of a reader too so there are loads of books that have helped, the one I'm enjoying at the moment is Susan Calman's Cheer Up Love: Adventures in depression with the Crab of Hate. Also I highly recommend Depressive Illness: The Curse Of The Strong by Tim Cantopher - a lot less amusing but something I often recommend to friends who are having their first foray into madness.
On a lighter note Podcasts have been brilliant too - I can't do boxsets because I can't just sit there but I can listen to podcasts and get stuff done.
These are my top 3 -
The Comedian's Comedian - I haven't got a favourite episode but the premise is it's a comedian - Stuart Goldsmith - interviewing others comedians about the way they work. But it ends up being about them, their creative process and their mental health and it's funny along the way too. Fascinating on all sorts of levels.
http://www.comedianscomedian.com
The Guilty Feminist - hilarious, feminist - just makes you feel completely kickass. So many good episodes but a recent favourite is What's the deal with men? (Everyone's hard of mansplaining but mansploring is very familiar too!)
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-guilty-feminist/id1068940771?mt=2&i=1000398843618
Adam Buxton - just great chat, all sorts of guests - loved this Miranda Sawyer one about getting older.
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-adam-buxton-podcast/id1040481893?mt=2&i=1000393769498
Anyway blah blah blah....
The best thing for depression and anxiety is a your support network and I'm fortunate that I have a partner who has coped with all kinds of crazy for 20 years, children that are pretty good at recognising when I'm having a tough day and friends that know when to help and when not to ask how I am so that I can just get through the school run...
Thanks you lot x
#mental health#january blues#depression#anxiety#prozac#meditation#exercise#susan calman#comedians comedian#guilty feminist#adam buxton#the drugs dont work
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2018 so far - the nitty gritty
So far so good - no other disasters....
Well we did get the car stuck up a virtually vertical Cotswoldian hill on New Year's Day, I've lost my voice and we waited in all day on 2nd January for a fridge that never arrived from the world's worst letting agent. But apart from that all has been festive and fun - full of friends and family plus we've been away from both houses for most of the last 2 weeks!
The only blots on the landscape are the nits - at the end of term the kids had nits. I vigilantly treated and combed us all 3 times before Christmas and once since and was pretty confident that all was well. A quick check this morning proved that they were back just in time for the school run! I sent out a flurry of emails and texts to all the people in my life that I consider experts - parents, primary school teachers and boarding school house mistresses, this is what I've learnt....
Nit treatments do not work - hair is now full of super nits.
Only one type of nit comb will do.
Just conditioner and lots of combing every night is the best thing....
Or coconut oil and lots of combing.....
And then you have to do this every night, to everyone, for the rest of your life....
But at least you have nice shiny soft hair.
And you've probably still got nits but at least your bathroom smells a bit like bounty bars.
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2018 - be kind!
I had thought 2016 was pretty stressful but 2017 has broken all records. 2018 please be kindā¦.
Weāve had no more building crises this week (although I havenāt been to our actual house this week and weāve reported our landlord to environmental health about the boiler).
And as its Christmas the kids obviously came home with nits last night. Nothing as festive as nit shampoo and washing everything in the houseā¦.
Hopefully 2018 will be kinder, and weāll just be able to live in a house without seeing a tradesman every day and I might even get some painting doneā¦
Be kind to those around you, you have no idea how their day is going - everyone seems to be on the edge - worrying about their jobs, their partners, kids, parents, health, money etc, etc, etcā¦ so just be kind and have a lovely Christmas!
Unless youāre a plumberā¦
(Iām joking)
(sort of)
x
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So you know I said we were all caught up - Iād never have to post again.Ā I phoned Letting Agent A earlier just to check that the plumber was coming round first thing to fit the boiler (you know so that I can plan my life).Ā Anyway 3 hours later (2 minutes before they close) they send me an email just to say that the landlord has decided not to fix the boiler because weād also asked him to replace the fridge?Ā How lovely - it must be his way of saying Merry Christmas!
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The Alternate Accommodation
As soon as we met with the insurance company after Builders A had helpfully installed a vast lake underneath our parquet flooring it became apparent that we would need to move out. I looked for a house that was big enough for us and our furniture (the house had to be empty according to the insurance company). There was nothing suitable in our local area so we found a house about 3 miles away that was suitable. Crucially for Bristol it also went against the rush hour traffic for the school run every morning and afternoon. We were only going to be there for 6 months ā some of this was going to be the summer holidays.
Also not being in my local area was going to be a bonus ā I wouldnāt have to keep bumping into everyone from Builders A all the timeā¦
The house is in a great location, close to a good friend, big enough for us and our stuff the only problem is it is managed by Letting Agents A ā again for Arseholes.
Every since we signed their tenancy agreement and they knew they were getting their money they have been useless. Our tenancy started on something like 24th April and we didnāt move in until 2nd May. Before I moved in I checked the state of the property again and reported to Letting Agents A that there was a damp problem in the kitchen and various marks on the carpet in the back bedroom ā also we had no inventory. There were two items of (massive) furniture in the house that we didnāt know were going to be there. We were told they couldnāt remove them but we couldā¦.
When I moved in I immediately reported any other issues that came up (lots of little things but notably a leaking bath and the fact that the back doorstep had fallen off. ) We were told a contractor would come round but no one ever didā¦.. Letting Agent A told me to hold off on the bath!! (cos obviously thatās not important)
I chased these but nothing was done for over 3 months.
Eventually we were supposed to be moving outā¦.
Then we had to resign a tenancy agreement because we were stayingā¦.
Then Letting Agent A came round to check the property ā I again reminded him of the problems Iād sent to him nearly 5 months earlier.
He eventually got someone round to check the damp situation in the kitchen. The guys came round said that all the damp proof course would need to be redone and that the kitchen would be out of action for a monthā¦ā¦ Iāve told Letting Agent A that they will āhave to hold offā on thisā¦.
Since then the following has happened -
31st October ā Leak through bathroom floor, through light fitting and into kitchen āassumed it was the showerā¦.
1st November ā Plumber is sent round by Letting Agent A ā he is the plumber that illegally signed off the work for Builders A at no 13. I send him awayā¦..
2nd November ā Another plumber comes round ā he decides the leak is not the shower but is because one of the taps at the sink is loose. Had I not noticed this he asked? I think about explaining broken window theory to himā¦.
12th November ā Mice!
13th November ā Because of Letting Agent Aās general inertia in replying to emails I go into the office and have a tantrum. A man is round within 20 minutes to sort out the miceā¦.
3rd December ā another mouse seen. When I should be buying Christmas presents Iām actually investing in two of those sonic mouse scarer things and a dehumidifier as the dampness in the house is now playing havoc with my sonās eczema.
8th December ā told that the boiler needs replacing ā this will only be another day and a half of having a plumber in my house.
11th December ā let myself into the house and the front door lock breaks.
12th December ā fridge door comes off in my handā¦.
Thatās it youāre all up to dateā¦.
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Third Time Lucky?
3 weeks after this second disaster we had a meeting with the insurance company. This is at a meeting called by us ā there has been no effort by the insurance company to sort this out. And there is no apology from anyoneā¦.
I realise that insurance is all about money and these people have to be robotic but when you have been out of your home for so long to be treated with such a lack of empathy and respect is frustrating and very upsettingā¦. I spent much of this meeting screaming and cryingā¦.
Eventually we met with Builders C also appointed by the insurance company but apparently their best contractorsā¦..
Weāll wait and seeā¦.
They began on 13th November ā shame there was 6 weeks between the second disaster and anything actually happening in the house I hear you say? If only theyād pulled their finger out you couldāve been in by Christsmas?
At least the insurance company is putting you up in a rented house so that you donāt have that to worry aboutā¦ā¦
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The Second Disaster
(look at that lovely marble island)
As the project went on it became clear that the service and communication between the Builders B was not as seamless as it could have been.
Dates differed on emails, our contact for a solicitor, the main contractor and the sub contractor all changed without us being notified. And on occasions when I went to check for post it was apparent that things were not as āin handā as I would have liked. But hey we were dealing with āprofessionalsā now it was in the insurance companyās interest to get it right wasnāt it? On the day before the house was due to be signed over to us I popped into the house with some friends (over from Australia ā Iād wanted to show them our real home and it shouldāve been almost finished). It was clear then that it was nowhere near ready, for a start they were still fitting the dreaded boiler, floorboards upstairs were still up, the floorboards and stairs which they had promised that they would repaint had not been cleaned let alone repainted. It was a complete shamblesā¦.
Unbeknownst to me they had already broken the marble island, damaged the Oak kitchen worktops and failed to replace the slate hearth in front of the wood burnerā¦..
On 29th September the house shouldāve been signed over to us ready for us to move in on 18th October. Despite our insistence that the boiler was fitted first it seems Builders B decided to do it the night before, once again at about 8pm. It leaked overnight. And in the process destroyed the second lot of parquetā¦
18th October should have been the date of our move and we arrived home from the school run to find 2 removal vans and 4 guys waiting to move us. The insurance company procedures obviously failed to cancel thisā¦
B is for bastards
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The Insurance and Builders B
We were devastated. It didnāt seem possible that the house that weād planned so carefully, the work, thought, time, love and money that weād poured in being completely undone - it didnāt seem possible. Builders A assured us that it was all covered on his insurance and put him in touch with them. My husband spoke to them about the situation on the phone.
It then transpires that we need to claim off our insurance initially and then they claim back off our insurance company. The initial meeting with the loss adjustor and Builders B (appointed by the insurance company) all seemed fairly professional and the moving and rental property all being sorted out efficiently.
When the plumber from the insurance company came round to inspect the plumbing carried out by Builders A I was distraught you could see from the mess underneath that it was obviously incompetent.
It was described by the new plumber as illegal and dangerous - we were lucky that it was only water that had leaked. From the way the pipes had been put in the plumber from Builders A must have know that it had all been done wrong and from the moment the floor went down it was all being destroyed by the river of water running underneath itā¦.
They also questioned why any builder or plumber would put the plumbing underneath a parquet floor. Particularly as they had to cut into the DPM of the concrete floor thus the compromising the integrity of the concrete floor.
Because of all the stress that managing the project and its subsequent unravelling had caused we were more than happy to take a step back and let the insurance company and their chosen contractors do the work. The only things that we were insistent on were that the boiler was fitted first and the flooring contractors who did the floor originally were used again as they had been so professional in everything that they had done.
We moved house again ā 5 months to the day after we moved in.
The repair works were to involve the following ā ripping up all the parquet floor (this all has to be thrown away, it canāt even go on the woodburner as it has oils etc on it), taking out kitchen units, taking out utility units, removing plaster from the walls, taking off skirting boards, drying outā¦. And then putting it all back together againā¦.
Also in this time Builders A decided that the plumber, despite being his son, who lived in the same house as him and being employed by them was actually nothing to do with themā¦
A is for arseholesā¦
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The Problems Begin
Almost immediately the floor in the utility began to move but as we spoke to our flooring company and they suggested that maybe as this had the potential to be a fairly hot damp room maybe it was inevitable. But the walls being damp was a surprise (I knew these walls from decorating them and one of them was a brand new wall it didnāt make sense). We raised them all on the snagging list and the main man of Builders A said these were just problems with the building āsettling and drying outā
In addition at the end of January I heard a dripping noise from behind the dishwasher. I took the integral door off pulled the dishwasher out and found the drip. I put a bucket there and then set an alarm to wake myself up to change the bucket in the night. Over 20 litres of water came from that drip. I phoned Builder Aās plumber he came round and sorted it out and said that āit mustāve unscrewed itself!?!?!ā
At the end of February 2017 the floor was beginning to have problems in the hall way, a massive bubble in the understairs cupboard and beginning to move in my studio tooā¦..
When our flooring contractor started investigating the flooring problems and it became apparent that there was a big problem. As he began taking up the floor in the hallway there was water running underneath the parquet.
We immediately called Builders A who came round looked at the problem and said that it would be covered by their insuranceā¦..
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