Home Remodeling

Week 18

The floor layers were due to start this week - they called to postpone till next week because they are running behind with their current project.

Why do builders always underestimate the time a project needs? They come up with a timetable, but don’t even consider the possibility of things going wrong or getting delayed. At the end of a project they are surprised or blame external factors - never themselves. They never admit that they are behind with work, because they have installed things incorrectly or sourced the wrong products, or have been sitting around drinking tea… Oh, no -it’s always someone or something else’s fault. They should allow for hitches - in every project there’re bound to be snags..

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DIY - Home Remodeling

Week 17

I still haven’t recovered from the experience with the plasterer. He’s done such an awful job - I spent the last ten days rectifying his work. I’m now glad that I didn’t pay him  - well, actually, he just walked out on me without waiting for payment. He got pissed off with me because
a, I dared to complain about the quality of his workmanship,
b, I would only pay him for the work he’d completed  - not for the full project. I suspected that, given point a) he would not come back to finish thing off..

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Kitchen redecorating

DIY Project - diary - week 16

I’ve had it with Bristish builders! The plasterer turned up last Saturday and asked if he could do the job there and then. At this point I should have said that he was supposed to call beforehand to arrange a time and date for doing the work, but I said OK,  he could get started  - I  just was eager to get on with the kitchen remodeling project..

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Kitchen Remodeling — Week 15

I managed to get a plumber, who was working on another project, to come over to do a day’s work. We wanted him to move two radiators to their new location and remove one from the kitchen. The work itself took him 3-4 hours, the other 4 hours of the day were spent on tea-breaks and telling stories. This is normal with British builders - in fact, most of them don’t even do a decent job or they tell you that certain things can’t be done (because they don’t want to do them!) and / or charge a fortune. At least this plumber did a good job and didn’t charge an arm & a leg! On the other hand he very efficiently consumed an entire week’s worth of our organic biscuits. Anyway, he also helped to uninstall the sink - and we temporarily reinstalled the washing machine. I do need to do some washing at some point. But we now have no kitchen sink..

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