Me and ma hoose

[Annpan]

Thanks Suzie, the builder is being payed a set price in installments, thing is.... he only has about 15% more left to get... plus he has other jobs on. Meanwhile I am being left to project manage a bunch of random workers that simply don't know what is happening.

At the start of another day now.... the structural engineer is on his way, but I have no builders here to take his instructions....



and breathe......

[homegrown]

threaten the builders and huplumbers and hubby that you'll trwoel their buts with quick drying cement if they don't get a move on and then feed the prunes for breakfast.

[JulieSherris]

Oh Ann, you have a lot more patience than me, I think!

I keep thinking about adding to our extension, moving the bathroom, redoing the kitchen, etc... then I read your posts & think that I can cope with what we have!!

Good luck with it all - let's hope you start to see a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel real soon. xx

[Millymollymandy]

That's how I feel Julie these days after having dealt with so many inefficient w*nkers in the past, not just that but who wouldn't take or didn't like taking instructions from a mere woman either, or any cricticism even if their work was absolute crap, which it often was.

You have my sympathy Ann. Though I can't now blame just Portuguese/Italians/French workmen (we had all three working on our last house), I presume yours are Scottish?

[Annpan]

Thanks guys

They are Scottish MMM - and I think I have eventually got round the feminism issue. It is clear that I know what I am talking about, I can make decisions without a man telling me what to do. I'll gladly climb to the top of the scaffold or through holes in the floor to have a look at whatever they are doing.... and of course I know the plans inside out and I can answer every one of their questions in an instant. Maybe more women are pre-occupied with the wallpaper pattern than the construction method.... but not me.

The structural engineer came and told them what to do... so I am now just hoping that the proper joiner comes back in the next few days to carry out the instructions.

The joiner that is here every day is the dad of the gaffer - he is either an alcoholic, or has alzheimers or some other serious affliction - he can't follow a plan, never remembers damp proofing or insulation, wanders about aimlessly for hours each day and has had an argument with me about a plasterboard wall looking nicer than a bare stone wall
Basically he needs a sitter to look after him and apparently sending him to some poor souls house everyday is how they deal with him. He drives the rest of the builders mad. My main concern is making sure he doesn't do anything that can't be undone

Everyone else we have had working here has been top quality, friendly and conscientious. I think the main issue is that gaffer has bitten off more than he can chew.... and of course we don't help with our reclaimed flooring, our larder, bare stone walls, septic tanks, pre-occupation with insulation and of course wood burning stoves .... we are not exactly easy customers.

Having said all that I'd really like them to HURRY THE F*&( UP SO I CAN HAVE MY HOME BACK!!!!!!!!