Has anyone received a deliver of Cambrian tiles since June this year?

[Gow]

My 20m² extension aka 161 days on at 15 november 2021 and counting

PROPOSED starting date: 7 June 2021. Workmen arrived on 14 June 2021 to demolish the back garden wall so that materials could be delivered. Construction work started in earnest mid-July 2021

 Why so many delays:

1.     The builder’s other project was running late and had to be finished first.

2.   I asked for “tilt & turn” windows and door in July late in the day but before any windows had been delivered.

3.   MOT = 10 days to find a part for the builder's van (Meanwhile his team were at home twiddling their thumbs?)

4.   A contractor bricklayer broke his shoulder due to the close proximity of the neighbours’ fence to one of the wall of the new extension. My so-called difficult neighbours have allowed scaffolding to be erected in their garden!

5.   A funeral that the workmen did not attend

6.   In August the builder discovered that two low telephone cables were causing an obstruction. The first BT engineer quit after being accused of being a “job’s man”. The next engineer resituated the cables two working days later while workmen carried out other work

7.   While dealing with Open Reach in August, I was asked to make a 3^rd payment in accordance with the builder’s payment schedule. The following day he had a rant in front of his workmen claiming that he was unable to pay them because I hadn’t made the payment. I did so immediately. However this payment is not due until the roof tiles are in place.

8.   On 9 October I learned that I should have informed Building Control at the City Council that work had commenced and Stage 1 had been completed. This was remedied on 10 October causing a 7-day delay to allow Building Standards to inspect the work so far.

9.   The roof pitch is 12.7 degrees. Currently there’s a shortage of Redland Cambrian. The builder wanted to use his stock of Marley Moderns. Battens were already in place for Marleys. In the discussion that ensured I was blame because the builder failed to see that Redland Cambrians were indicated on his emailed copy of the building warrant. Work halted on 9 October 2021 and since then the builder has only returned to collect scaffolding, costing him £60 a week to hire. That day he coerced me into accepting two smaller “more expensive” Keylite roof windows to prevent any further delay. The correct size of Velux are still not in stock?

There’s at least one month’s work to be done here before the project is completed. The current delay concerning Cambrian tiles is supposedly due to a shortage of truck drivers. I requested a copy of the supplier’s bill and tracking details but there was no response from the builder. The only news since 9 October has been through a friend who is acting as an intermediary. The builder has ignored my request for a meeting and although I’ve taken legal advice from a building ombudsman who inspected the site he told me that other unfinished work could have been carried out meanwhile but the builder has got me over a barrel due to the payment I made in August before it is due.

I might have coped with the latest delay if workmen had not demolished a wall between the dining room and extension without prior warning 43 days ago. Instantly I emptied the dining room, cluttering the hall and every nook and cranny with the contents of that room. My home is cold due to the hole in the wall and gaps at the external door and in the roof where insulation is missing. For 43 days I’ve been living in a tip. I’m a single senior citizen. Misogyny probably plays a role in this debacle.

At my age why did I decide to add an extension to the house? A close relative has early onset dementia. The plan was to move her here to help care for her but the lockdown happened. The 57-year old is now all but brain dead. Hoists have been installed in her home to move the tiny human being about. It is too late for her to come here and to what? A building site....

Photos to follow from another app.

 

 

[Gow]

Photos of the dining room ad a "standard" mess in the back garden due to it being a building site

 

Edited November 15, 2021 by Gow
Posted the same photo twice by mistake