patp Posted October 12, 2020 Share Posted October 12, 2020 As some might remember we had a huge hold up last year when a mains water pipe was discovered slap bang under our proposed build. All things building stopped while we did battle with Anglian Water over their extortionate charges to move it. We cleared off to winter in Spain and left them to complete the job. Since returning, and starting the complaints procedure over their £17K charge to move it, we have hit one hold up after the other. Our groundworker returned, eventually, and completed the trenches but then de camped to get on with his other job (farmer). There is a bit of a building boom locally and finding someone competent to carry on where he left off was a nightmare. We, in the meantime, managed to get a local chap to supply the hardcore and we borrowed a whacker plate to flatten it all out. Then we laid the sand which promptly blew away in Storm What'sitsname! We did it again (we are both in our seventies) and then, having found an experienced ground worker, we got the concrete poured. Thank goodness we did because it has not stopped raining since Now the Brickie has been claimed back to a, held up, job across the road! It is particularly galling as it is just their garage/connecting corridor/flat, that is almost as big as our bungalow, to add to the delays. I am not sure whether seeing him working on it is worse than not knowing where his or what he is doing. He is one of the good guys so worth waiting for. I keep thinking about the shortening daylight hours which will get gradually worse along with the weather Keep thinking we should sell up both the plot and the house and buy ourselves a little finished place somewhere. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patp Posted October 12, 2020 Author Share Posted October 12, 2020 Forgot the bit about laying the dpm ourselves in temperatures of over 25C. Phew! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gav_P Posted October 12, 2020 Share Posted October 12, 2020 I think pretty much everyone has the thoughts of ‘just buying a completed house instead’... In reality you will do that a few more times yet. But when you are in the house, you’ll forget how bad it was and be really proud of what you have created. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LA3222 Posted October 12, 2020 Share Posted October 12, 2020 Its like anything in life, good and bad. Have faith that once the end is nigh all the bad will be forgotten. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gone West Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 As they say time is a great healer and you do forget all the crap times during your build. Having done a complete renovation and a self build I definitely enjoyed doing the renovation a lot more than the new build. Everybody is different and you have to consider whether building a new house is really what you want to be doing for the next however long. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 It becomes more of a PITA when you set out with a plan, and some things on the plan don't go to plan (mostly relating to finance in our case) so you end up having to do it more slowly and do more yourself otherwise it simply would not get done. It can then become a real struggle keeping motivated to keep moving forwards. One day I hope I can tell the full story with an ending. Not yet though. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe90 Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 After many years of refurbs I found a new build refreshing, perhaps I was lucky (had a brilliant main contractor for the heavy work) and very little went wrong but I think that was mainly down to meticulous planning on my part. I also had an attitude of “shit happens, so get over it”, which I imparted on my builder and he was grateful that I was realistic (unlike some customers). Funnily enough I have suffered ill health from stress related conditions in the past and people close to me were worried the build would make it worse, but the opposite was true, I got great satisfaction from what I achieved and to this day I am still proud of what I have done. p.S. Edit to add this forum gave me great support for the things I was not sure of, ASHP, MVHR, ETC. thanks guys ? 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToughButterCup Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 20 hours ago, patp said: ... Keep thinking we should sell up both the plot and the house and buy ourselves a little finished place somewhere. Are you pushing on an open door with us..... Our build is a catalogue of delays. Not to mention disasters. Big and small. Lots of success too though. Self-building is a character test. Surviving it seems to involve a hardening off process. Unless of course you are already involved in the building trade. Most self builders need to become involved in all sorts of new , sometimes local , networks. Why was it for example that your brickie was pulled off your job? I often think that the most important thing about a self-build is the human networks that you know and have access to. What you build and how you build it it is not as important as knowledge of who is going to build it for you and when : or perhaps I should say by when. Self builders already in the trade tend to know the answer to that question. During our build I have come to value the life experience I had before building our house especially in relation to persistence. That skill is hard won. As Peter above says you soon forget the difficult bits and hopefully come to look back at them with a rueful smile. Stick with it and we will help you with the technical bits of your build. Moaning on this site is very useful to all members. It helps us all realise that we are not alone in having annoying problems. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patp Posted October 13, 2020 Author Share Posted October 13, 2020 Thanks guys for all the support. Hwmbo is a heating engineer so has worked on sites all his life. Even he is frustrated though. We have renovated three houses and built daughter's large extension so should know about patience. Those renovations, though, were all done entirely by us. I am a "do it now" person and find the "hurry up in order to wait around" of the building trade very hard. We are lucky to have lived here for nearly 40 years and most of our tradesmen are either known to us already or come on good personal recommendation. The brickie is much sought after but approached us to offer his services on our bungalow as he says he is getting too old for clambering up scaffolding. We gladly agreed but the job over the road was started before ours and so he feels obliged to finish it first. It was held up (!) for a while as the architect had made errors on the roof of the garage complex. The roofer is sorting them out and the build is continuing. Just galls me a little that our neighbours didn't say to to our brickie to go and finish our bungalow before starting on their garage complex. Had the water main fiasco not happened we would have had the brickie first and have been finished and in by now. Hey ho. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onoff Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 9 hours ago, joe90 said: things I was not sure of, ASHP, MVHR Ah, acronyms! When I first joined the then eBuild forum I couldn't fathom for the life of me why people would put anything "passive infrared" under their floor slab. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gus Potter Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 Enjoyed reading all your posts, very encouraging and refreshing. Thanks all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gav_P Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 1 hour ago, Onoff said: Ah, acronyms! When I first joined the then eBuild forum I couldn't fathom for the life of me why people would put anything "passive infrared" under their floor slab. Why would they do this? *sits down to learn something I wish I knew 3 years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onoff Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 3 minutes ago, Gav_P said: Why would they do this? *sits down to learn something I wish I knew 3 years ago. I'm too tired to explain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gav_P Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 2 minutes ago, Onoff said: I'm too tired to explain. Cheers... that’s what this forum is all about is it? fine.... you are all out to get me and I’m off. Goodbye. ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gav_P Posted October 14, 2020 Share Posted October 14, 2020 10 hours ago, Onoff said: I'm too tired to explain. I’ve just realised... PIR ??♂️ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daiking Posted October 14, 2020 Share Posted October 14, 2020 26 minutes ago, Gav_P said: I’ve just realised... PIR ??♂️ You put it under the concrete slab so they can't find the bodies Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gav_P Posted October 14, 2020 Share Posted October 14, 2020 1 hour ago, daiking said: You put it under the concrete slab so they can't find the bodies Handy tip, thanks ? *off to dig up the patio now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bored Shopper Posted October 14, 2020 Share Posted October 14, 2020 Can I please just moan please - my garage door, ordered back in July, is now further delayed until end of the month. Am really concerned as with another impending lockdown it may be sc**d up further down and BCO is on our back to get the final inspection before early Nov so that certificate can be issued within 8 weeks of us moving in, otherwise LA building control may intervene (not sure how it works, but feel bad). Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patp Posted October 15, 2020 Author Share Posted October 15, 2020 21 hours ago, Bored Shopper said: Can I please just moan please - my garage door, ordered back in July, is now further delayed until end of the month. Am really concerned as with another impending lockdown it may be sc**d up further down and BCO is on our back to get the final inspection before early Nov so that certificate can be issued within 8 weeks of us moving in, otherwise LA building control may intervene (not sure how it works, but feel bad). Thanks What reasons are you being given for the delay? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bored Shopper Posted October 15, 2020 Share Posted October 15, 2020 1 hour ago, patp said: What reasons are you being given for the delay? The usual ones - delays due to Covid! They are apparently being shipped from Germany. Anyone now covers their lack of good business organisation with Covid. I bought composite fence back in August from a website which advertises all items as in stock with next day delivery. After a long battle I eventually got my fence on 8 October :((( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dangti6 Posted December 2, 2020 Share Posted December 2, 2020 I'm only building a garage, therefore requiring just a small proportion of trades and services/suppliers compared to most, and I'm really beginning to wish I hadn't bothered managing the project. As soon as I get my head around a problem or source what I need which makes me feel like I am making headwind, I often get let down by trades or strung along which adds further delay. I am starting to think it's an idea to back off a bit and chip away one at a time rather than try and pre-empt everything and make stress for myself that I don't need to. It's as if the more I try and find out, the more questions I find than answers which is frustrating. The more answers I discover the more I feel I could otherwise crack on and make better progress if I wasn't waiting for others. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe90 Posted December 2, 2020 Share Posted December 2, 2020 Welcome to our world ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gone West Posted December 3, 2020 Share Posted December 3, 2020 15 hours ago, dangti6 said: I am starting to think it's an idea to back off a bit and chip away one at a time rather than try and pre-empt everything and make stress for myself that I don't need to. That's how we built our house. One step at a time, never having trades lined up, who'll let you down. Mind you it took us eight years . 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted December 3, 2020 Share Posted December 3, 2020 23 minutes ago, PeterStarck said: That's how we built our house. One step at a time, never having trades lined up, who'll let you down. Mind you it took us eight years . Thank you for the encouragement. I have been going 5 years, only another 3 to go then. When we set out to build our retirement home, I did not realise I would still be building it after I have retired...... 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe90 Posted December 3, 2020 Share Posted December 3, 2020 Well I had a main contractor and have always said here how good he was, and reading the above has made me realise how lucky I was with him. His work was done in 14 months from foundations to plastering and my work another 12 months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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