This month the focus has been on getting all the second fix work finished, the drylining, and the blockwork and rendering done so that a first coat of paint could go onto the outside of the house. Its been busy, but worth it as the house is really beginning to take shape.
Potton arrived with all the second fix joinery including the stairs, skirting boards and doors to be fitted throughout and outside. Their recommended carpenter, Tom, who was doing all the second fix carpentry, was amazing. Every morning, without fail, he turned up at 6.30am. He worked tirelessly throughout the day and did a beautiful job. He even helped me by creating a miniature door for the under-stairs cupboard. It looks like a mini front door which we will put a knocker on and at Christmas time, dress with a wreath so that our grand children can have a ‘build in’ playhouse.
Meantime, the plumber and electrician have been working hard to get us to the point where we have lighting and heating and the dryliner, Danny Bramley, has covered up all the extra insulation in the walls which we painstakingly cut out and put in last month. (All that work and nothing to show for it!) Danny has been great though, not only has he done all the drylining but he has also done some fantastic work putting up coving which has been meticulously crafted and finished off throughout the entire house.
Our jobs continue to be ordering materials and making sure that the trades are onsite as and when they need to be but, this month, I have been doing some tiling, a job I haven’t done in 30 years, which I have to say, I have really enjoyed and so will get on with doing the tiling throughout the house as it will save us a few hundred pounds.
Everything has been great except for one hiccup with the company supplying the steel lintels for the windows and door frame. They made three attempts to bring the right material and each time the lintels were wrong. So, rather than waiting for a fourth delivery, which, could also have been wrong, we went with an idea that the blockworkers had to solve the problem. To cut a long story short, they suggested cutting down the steel lintels that had already been supplied. We checked the idea with Potton and they were happy with the suggestion so we then negotiated with the company who supplied the lintels to let us have the last delivery free of charge.
All in all it meant that we had the money to pay the blockworkers to fit the lintels. It cost us about three days in time but after paying the blockworkers we found we were about £500 better off…. Great news as it gave us a little extra to spend on other things!
We’ve learned that it’s often like this… what you save with one deal you spend on another. It’s the only way to stay within your budget and keep to the build schedule.
