When will it end?

[Bramco]

5 hours ago, DragsterDriver said:

thats an eye watering amount of money, nobody can accuse you of skimping!

 

It is!            But if it's any consolation to @Adsibob  we're on about the same and we're on mates rates for the Architect.....     I'm sure there are lots more on here that will have spent similar amounts, especially when using main contractors and/or a PM and trades to do the build, i.e. they aren't hands on themselves.

 

Simon

[SteamyTea]

1 hour ago, Bramco said:

But if it's any consolation to @Adsibob  we're on about the same and we're on mates rates for the Architect

You thought you were on mate's rates.

[Bramco]

18 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

You thought you were on mate's rates.

 

No I know we are...   Even though it's a family member, you still have to run things through a practice to get the professional indemnity cover - I wouldn't ask a family member to personally take on that risk.

 

Simon

[saveasteading]

On 28/02/2022 at 21:35, ProDave said:

drilled backwards

That's nothing. Once worked in a design office, and a colleague returned after a site visit,  where he had found the contractor was putting up the whole steel building the wrong way round. A new football stand facing the road.  I know, for some teams that might be for the best.

[SteamyTea]

16 hours ago, saveasteading said:

where he had found the contractor was putting up the whole steel building the wrong way round.

Apparently, the Camborne Tesco is built the wrong way around, though I suspect it is the way that Tesco wanted it.  It does seem strange that the entrance is as far from the road as one can get, so not good for pedestrians, and one has to drive past the store twice to get to the car parking.

Deliveries are easy though, straight of main road and into the yard.

[DragsterDriver]

I worked for a builder years ago that built a cricket pavilion facing the car park 😂

[saveasteading]

Does it matter? I've been to pro cricket matches. People sitting reading the paper and drinking tea. Just out of the house really.

[farm boy]

Reading through this thread so many things rang true. Just checked my gallery on my phone and i erected my Hereas fencing in March 2017 and reckon I got another 2 years to go. There have been gaps in construction where very little has happened for a month or more as I have other commitments. I think I was naive with the costs and time it takes and over spent early in the build. Also I had limited network of trades and employing someone cold found in the local free ad is not recommended. My initial passion for project has been sucked away by stressful conflicts of time, cock ups, redos, and seeing other builds go up and now lived in since I started.

Now still at it and in the third national/international crisis since start. The more prices go up the more I have to do myself. 

My advice to anyone starting is decide the max you can afford then divide by two to get your build cost budget.

Never again.

 

 

[ToughButterCup]

12 minutes ago, farm boy said:

...

My initial passion for project has been sucked away by stressful conflicts of time, cock ups, re-dos, and seeing other builds go up and now lived in since I started.

Now still at it and in the third national/international crisis since start. The more prices go up the more I have to do myself. 

...

 

The initial passion will always fade : thats normal. Seeing other builds go up, owners move in - and in one case (for us) sell up and move while we're still building was hard- at the time. 

But slowly, the hiccups and disasters have faded into the background. More and more I'm starting to enjoy the process; I now know that feeling of almost controlled terror about doing something for the first time , will fade if I just-bloody-do-it. And if we cannot afford it, there's always a way round the problem. It just needs research.  There must have been 20 or 30 instances of that process.

 

To address the OP, I now don't really care when it will end. The only thing that matters is having the guts to put my  Head-Down-Arse-Up-Go no matter how I feel 5 days a week.

 

6 years in, I think I've just about got the T shirt.

[Ralph]

12 hours ago, farm boy said:

Reading through this thread so many things rang true. Just checked my gallery on my phone and i erected my Hereas fencing in March 2017 and reckon I got another 2 years to go. There have been gaps in construction where very little has happened for a month or more as I have other commitments. I think I was naive with the costs and time it takes and over spent early in the build. Also I had limited network of trades and employing someone cold found in the local free ad is not recommended. My initial passion for project has been sucked away by stressful conflicts of time, cock ups, redos, and seeing other builds go up and now lived in since I started.

Now still at it and in the third national/international crisis since start. The more prices go up the more I have to do myself. 

My advice to anyone starting is decide the max you can afford then divide by two to get your build cost budget.

Never again.

 

After the 1st year we would get Google photo alerts, "1 year ago today" and it was good to see the progress. Now it almost feels mocking and we think, bloody hell the scaffolding came down a year ago. We're not too bad, we will be moving in at the end of April but it's taken 2.5 times longer than it was supposed to.
My favourite is when someone tells me they built their own house as well and it was easy, when what they actually did was put down deposit with a developer, pick the kitchen, paint and sanitary ware from a catalogue and move in 6 months later.

[SimonD]

29 minutes ago, Ralph said:

After the 1st year we would get Google photo alerts, "1 year ago today" and it was good to see the progress. Now it almost feels mocking and we think, bloody hell the scaffolding came down a year ago. We're not too bad, we will be moving in at the end of April but it's taken 2.5 times longer than it was supposed to.

 

Yup, I've now got twice the number of alerts from both google photos and microsoft one drive photos. I think they're both mocking me. I look at the photos and often wonder what I've done in the last year yet it feels like I haven't stopped! I'm currently at double the anticipated time, probably, and still have no idea when it'll be finished.

 

34 minutes ago, Ralph said:

My favourite is when someone tells me they built their own house as well and it was easy, when what they actually did was put down deposit with a developer, pick the kitchen, paint and sanitary ware from a catalogue and move in 6 months later.

Yeah, meet a few of them that consider this self-build. It's such a relief when chatting to a couple of friends who have been through the process and understand the challenges beyond, one asking me the other day whether I wasn't overcome with decision fatigue, the other saying frustrating it is when apparently small jobs end up taking days!

 

13 hours ago, ToughButterCup said:

The initial passion will always fade : thats normal. Seeing other builds go up, owners move in - and in one case (for us) sell up and move while we're still building was hard- at the time. 

But slowly, the hiccups and disasters have faded into the background. More and more I'm starting to enjoy the process; I now know that feeling of almost controlled terror about doing something for the first time , will fade if I just-bloody-do-it. And if we cannot afford it, there's always a way round the problem. It just needs research.  There must have been 20 or 30 instances of that process.

 

To address the OP, I now don't really care when it will end. The only thing that matters is having the guts to put my  Head-Down-Arse-Up-Go no matter how I feel 5 days a week.

 

6 years in, I think I've just about got the T shirt.

 

I've seen a few near us where they've finished and gone. There's one project I drive past regularly however, that still puts me at ease because the developers started building works before we even got planning and it's still going on (and it's only one large georgian style town house new build and one existing cottage renovation). I'm hoping I might just beat them to it 😁

 

Like you, I've felt like I've been in a miserable hole with the building work for at least the last year and now the sun has come out as I start to make the kitchen and have a functioning bathroom in the house. It's starting to feel real... well almost.

 

Doing it all myself with not a lot of prior experience, the one thing that I did not anticipate was the amount of time I'd have to spend doing research and learning new things. In all honesty, I think this has been the biggest delay factor beyond the supply problems due to covid. Put this together with a tendency to go round in circles a bit and overthink decisions and it's a recipe for slowing progress. I'm also a bit of a perfectionist - so much so the others on a plumbing course I took a while ago were taking the piss out of me for it. However, people I know are now starting to call me for advice and it's so nice to be able to answer the questions knowledgeably off the top of my head, or like the other day help someone out sorting a problem and fixing it with ease - at least someone can benefit from the learning! 😊

[7dayworker]

On 28/02/2022 at 23:35, Adsibob said:

Don't mean to sound defensive, but just in case anyone thought my misfortune and crazy long timescale was due to not spending money on professional advice, i totted up what i have spend on professionals:
architectural fees: £26k

planning consultant £5k

SE  £4.7k

RICS Surveyor  £1.2K

 

But I agree that none of these professionals did a good job in advising me of the length of project i was undertaking.

 

That’s nearly double what I’m paying . We will rent from a family member so no deadlines . The main issue will be cost overruns and materials and labour. Our builder just sacked his brick layers who asked for £250 a day . His new guys are £170  a day ..

[patp]

Has your builder checked the new bricklayers' standard of work and work ethic? Quality does cost money.

[DragsterDriver]

Christ on a bike- my electric bill for December to March is £2050 😭 

 

bloody static was still freezing cold.

[ProDave]

3 hours ago, DragsterDriver said:

Christ on a bike- my electric bill for December to March is £2050 😭 

 

bloody static was still freezing cold.

That is why I fitted a wood burning stove in mine.  Free heating, but keeping up the supply of logs was a challenge.

[ProDave]

On the subject of long, or delayed builds.  There is an individual plot in town where they have done the foundations, erected the ground floor timber frame and then sheeted it up and left it.  The frame for the upper floor appears to be there covered in sheeting.  It's been like that 3 or more years.  the delay appears to centre on the overhead power cables over the plot right above the house.  I don't know what the story is but you would have thought they would have had them moved before starting.

[patp]

What sort of power cables are they? A developer next to us had to move high voltage cables underground before he started any work. Might this one turn into a bungalow?

[Adsibob]

So just thought I’d update everyone: it’s still not finished and we still haven’t moved in.

To compound matters my builder has left the country and promised he will continue to manage his guys remotely. Who knows how that will pan out.

 We have a few crunch points coming up over the next couple of weeks, but apart from snagging, we should be done by the end of the month. I fear there is a LOT of snagging. How long should snagging for a brand new 5 bed house take?

[DragsterDriver]

16 minutes ago, Adsibob said:

So just thought I’d update everyone: it’s still not finished and we still haven’t moved in.

To compound matters my builder has left the country and promised he will continue to manage his guys remotely. Who knows how that will pan out.

 We have a few crunch points coming up over the next couple of weeks, but apart from snagging, we should be done by the end of the month. I fear there is a LOT of snagging. How long should snagging for a brand new 5 bed house take?

depends how well they’ve built it. Do you owe the builder any money?

[Pocster]

19 minutes ago, Adsibob said:

To compound matters my builder has left the country and promised he will continue to manage his guys remotely.

Wow ! He’s gonna do it all via zoom ! . I’d like to add I can manage anyones build ( badly ) remotely for a very reasonable fee .

[Adsibob]

6 minutes ago, DragsterDriver said:

depends how well they’ve built it. Do you owe the builder any money?

Yes, there is a 5% retention for the whole project (which is fairly significant) and also he hasn’t invoiced me for the work he has to do over the next few weeks.

[TonyT]

5% retention- I’ve had builders walk away from more knowing the grief they will get will be gone….

[SteamyTea]

6 hours ago, Adsibob said:

there is a 5% retention for the whole project

So he is saving you 5% then.

 

[DragsterDriver]

On 19/10/2021 at 23:03, Adsibob said:

I should clarify that the team of 5 will extend to 7 when plumbing/boiler and electrics eventually happens, in that there is a separate gas engineer/plumber and a separate sparky. But the core team of 5 have done everything so far including tiling the roof, building a loft conversion and two story extension, GRP and some stud work and v. basic plumbing. E.g. they laid the UFH and installed and pressurised the UFH pipes on the ground floor, and did a very nice job of it:

 

as for guttering - some bespoke gutters, like for the back extension - have gone in. And the soil pipes do lead to the correct manholes, but all the drainage passages are still exposed and lots of gutters and drainpipes still to be done.

Is there membrane between the pipes and insulation?

[DragsterDriver]

9 hours ago, Adsibob said:

Yes, there is a 5% retention for the whole project (which is fairly significant) and also he hasn’t invoiced me for the work he has to do over the next few weeks.

it all sounds dodgy to me, if he’s been building 30yrs there’s no flys on him. He May well finish the job properly remotely, who knows.