Being away I called up my neighbour. He says they've done some plastering in the bedroom, but not that much and it doesn't look very good. He'll try and take some pictures and email them over.

Pete, a local builder I've used before is back from holiday and he's been in to inspect the work.

He says he's rather surprised that so little has been done in the two weeks he's been away. The only work that has been done is the plastering, but that's two walls and a ceiling in the bedroom - not the sloped ceiling around the windows nor any other rooms. He also expressed concern about the plastering quality as it's far too thin (even for a "1st skim") and the bumps and ridges of the plasterboards is clearly evident. He says it is possible for them to finish the work off correctly, but looking at their first attempt it looks unlikely they will and if they mess it up more, to correct would involve more work as what they've done would have to come down.

I explained that a week ago I set a deadline of 2 weeks ending next Friday 20th and they had agreed this was fair. As it looks unlikely they're going to go anywhere near this, I asked him for a formal quote for all the items outstanding from Friday. I would then want him to do that work, the others be excluded from site (I would write to them removing permission from them to be on my property) and pay him direct, being prepared to go to court if necessary to adjust the outstanding balance to them (either way).

My intention is to get the work done. My preference is that the company finish it and keep to the contract, Pete is the backup plan to be used reluctantly.

I figured sending a letter reminding that I intend to keep to the deadline that is now one week away would be a warning shot that might produce action.

I  try and call my solicitor first, but he's not in today. I came up with the following, sent it by email to the MD (cc'ing my solicitor) and then sent a copy to my Mum in England who sent it by recorded delivery direct to the firm:
 

As you know I have been frustrated by concerns over quality and the lack of progress on the loft conversion you are doing for us. On 5th April, your Project Manager and I agreed on a date which was fair and reasonable for all outstanding works to be completed, and this was 20th April (as confirmed in writing and also agreed with you in person during your visit on 10th April.)

Despite repeat attempts to find middle ground and a way that we can move forward; I am yet again disappointed that very little work has been done since then and do not think you will be able to meet the agreed deadline.

Of principle concern is the limited work that has been completed during the last 3 weeks; this has been limited to initial plumbing works, the removal of some of the rubbish on the scaffolding and some plastering of a very poor quality. During your visit on 10th April, I pointed out my concern with the plasterboards, which were not secured properly, that they overlapped and that some flexed. You personally advised that they would be secured and would be a correct surface to apply plaster. The current situation is that a very thin skin of plastering has been applied onto some surfaces that are still unsuitable - not flat, flexes and have ridges. In addition, the plastering is extremely thin for a first skim. Although it is possible for [company name withheld] to correct this and the other items on my snagging list (to this point in the work), I have little faith that [company name withheld] will either complete this by the deadline; or attempt to do this at all.

I am writing to advise that I have employed an independent expert who will be visiting each day this week to provide me with a report of the quality of the work, and that I have now engaged my solicitor.

After the 20^thApril, if the outstanding work as well as the agreed snagging list is not completed to a reasonable standard; I will consider our contract terminated and will engage another company to quote for completing the outstanding work & to address any items that have not been fixed on the snagging list (dated 4th April); and deduct that from the outstanding balance (£2,000). If the quote exceeds the outstanding balance I will be seeking redress, if necessary through legal channels.

Regards

Although he wouldn't have had the recorded delivery letter today, I received a reply from the MD. This, being the first reply in writing, was a surprise, but I thought indicated I had him rattled. 

He claims the delay was my fault as I withheld payment for work that their project manager confirmed was not done and that they had to wait for the building inspector (Hmm.. will come back to that one). He also comes up with what I want: a schedule indicating he does intend to do the work. Looks good, but will he? So far my impression of this firm is it talks big and delivers small. Remember I'm still waiting for the architect to produce accurate plans!

Dear Ben,

Thank you for your e mail dated 9th April.

There have been a number of reasons for the delay in completing your
loft. For example, we have had to wait for payments to clear and for
payments to be made as per contract, ie, £4,000.00 paid instead of
£7,000. also, you made a complaint regarding the team which
necessitated getting the building inspector to come round for which we
had to wait a few days. This has now been passed by the Building
Inspector.

However, we are as anxious as you to get the work finished. This is the
proposed schedule for the rest of the week:

Tuesday/Wednesday - plasterers complete
Wednesday - Railing and soffits and guttering
Weds/Thurs - Electrician/plumber
Weds/Thurs - 2nd fix carpentry

I would be grateful if you could confirm that the 4 panel fire door is
what you require for the loft.

However, if a trade does go over by a day I do not accept your proposal
to get your own workman in and adjust the balance. This not acceptable.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Regards,

You know I think that this chap's tactic is assuming that the customer is rather intellectually challenged? Either that or he assumes that I have absolutely no idea what is going on?  "Waiting for the building inspector"....."which has now been passed" ??? Right then - I called the building inspector today. He said he hasn't been out since, he hasn't been asked to go out since and his notes say that the last he has on this is when he spoke to the project manager 2 weeks ago.  Oh, and when he did, the Project Manger asked him, the building inspector, to write down all the items he wanted addressing. The building inspector bluntly pointed out that he was the building inspector, not the project manager and this was not his job. The building inspector has not passed the extension off, he's merely made some inspections.

As for the schedule, this looks good but he still doesn't mention the snagging list or that the work will be done to a satisfactory quality. My opinion is that if a trade does go over by a day, then yes that is okay, but what I've seen so far is if you give them a day they'll take a week, or two, or maybe more...  Actually, why the hell should I give them any more time at all? No, we agreed a fair and reasonable timescale that they have (before my letter yesterday) shown no intention of actually trying to keep to it.

I called my solicitor. Ran him through the basics of what happened and he's indicated it's not a problem. Keeping a record of the events and communications was important and agreeing to draw a line in the sand, agree a reasonable timescale to finish and then wanting to keep to it is also quite reasonable.

So, we're going to wait until Friday then get a report from Pete. If it's all done, then great. If there are a few little bits that'll take a day, then okay but if it's lots of bits that will take 5 days, then NO. I will exclude them from site and give the other builders the go-ahead.

In the meantime, I thought the (unexpected!) request for confirmation about the fire door was a sneaky delay that he might have dropped in (most strange this should come from him) so replied just to that: "I haven't previously been asked about my choice of fire doors or given a selection to chose from. However, I do not want this to be a delaying factor, so please go ahead with this 4 panel door."  I didn't mention anything else, and I'm not going to. He'll either deliver or not.

Later on this day I got a telephone message where he had got the letter by recorded delivery. In it he said he found my letter "irritating" and was with the salesman right now who says he did not say it would be 3 to 4 weeks.

Right.. so your salesman is really going to have a conference call with the customer and boss and fall in on the side of the customer! Not interested.

Oh, and then there's the point of my letter being an irritation... what the does he think he is to me???!!! And I've paid him! £29,000! 

As much as I wanted to call him back and rant, I wasn't allowed. My girlfriend saw how much it was stressing me and we were on holiday!

When the carpenters came in, they firstly weren't briefed, but also were pretty horrified at the state, plus advised that it was unsafe as part of the landing was being held up by the part of the existing ceiling and plasterboard. They called the MD and took it all down and reconstructed it.

It now looks like this.... which is how I asked for it to look, but more importantly, was now structurally safe:

After seeing the pictures of the plastering line, I called John at 08:30 his time. He answered the phone but on hearing it was me, was immediately "in a meeting". I told him it was just one bit of info I wanted to give, that the plastering on the main beam is awful and as he has plasterers in today, can he please instruct them to correct the bottom of beam so it's straight. He said, yes, no problem as I left him to his meeting.

I called for an update to find the work has not been completed.  

Tuesday/Wednesday - plasterers complete
Wednesday - Railing and soffits and guttering
Weds/Thurs - Electrician/plumber
Weds/Thurs - 2nd fix carpentry

...but the only thing he's managed to do is the railing, plasterers and a bit of the electrics (not very well)

Outstanding are:

• plasterboards,
• plastering,
• plumbing,
• electrics,
• guttering,
• soffits,
• some roof work,
• the balcony.

My independent builder provides an estimate of £4,000 to complete this work and advises me, as I'm not going to be there for another week anyay, it's best to leave the in for another week to reduce the outstanding work.

Considering the options, I do want to close the gap between £4,000 and the outstanding balance (of £2,000) so I'm going to give them more time. Also, it is possible that they can do this all in a week.. if they want! 

I called the MD to try and negotiate further, but there was no answer so I left a message requesting he call me back.

After no return call from the other messages and it now being "next week", I tried again to call the MD.

No pickup.

Having a little think, I then try again from a different telephone number - 'Bingo!', it's picked up straight away.

He says "in a meeting" and asks to call me back within 10 minutes. An hour later he actually does (I was somewhat surprised).

I asked about missing the deadline and he replied they "tried their best" last week, and didn't comment on the "slipping by one day" possibility. The MD advised that they were nearly there and assured me it would be all done "by Wednesday" so asked for a few more days.

I pushed him a bit on the rebuild of the unsafe landing / ceiling expressing concern that that work needed doing in the first place. He avoided my specific questions instead pointing to the fact that it had been completed.

I asked his plans to get the other work done and he said the plumber would be there first thing in the morning. I pointed out it is first thing in the morning and there's no one here. He was rather startled by this (surprised I was at home) and said "oh, well he has a dentist, doctor appointment and will be there at midday". Yeah, right.

So I called Pete. He'd already been in touch with the plumber that morning and guess what? He was at the "West Ham job", the job that the 2 builders went to when they finished mine about 4 weeks ago. Hmm...

Anyway, I'll leave them to get on with it.

So, it's Wednesday - finish day, I'm still in Australia and I think he hasn't completed. So I give him a tinkle. The phone rings and rings, but is not answered. Hmmm... 

I wait 5 minutes, then do the same trick as before and borrow someone else's phone. A cheery, friendly voice answers straight away... my opening line of "Hi, it's Ben here" was met by "err, I'm in a meeting, can I call you back?"

This guy's in a lot of meetings, isn't he?!

Meanwhile, I call my man on the ground and find out what's happened. There has been some more work, but not much. Regarding the plumber, he came out today, but got flustered as he couldn't find where to tap in to the hot & cold water supply or where to pick up the flow/return for the radiators.

My call to him yesterday was 08:30 UK time, and at 19:30 (UK time, but now next day where I am) a call comes back in and goes to answerphone. Not sure what he was doing in those 11 hours of him not calling me back, but I bet it was important.

The message waffled lots, but the gist of it said that the project manager's been fired and not to call him and that the plumber's wife has left him so he couldn't attend, but there would be another plumber in and they're "almost done"

 [I've noted that's the 7th time he's used that phrase to me now. Maybe I should call him "Mr.Almostdone" rather than his name?].

He went on to state although he's over the time printed in the contract he doesn't think he's that much over and therefore it's not that bad. The building inspector is booked for sign off on Friday afternoon and would I like to be there when he attends. If so, please to call back.

When I had my bathroom done a year ago, the plumber was delayed for a number of reasons, including "wife left him". Must just be my luck.. employing these plumbers with runaway wives...

Another thought is a theme of his seems to be forming, of using the promise of official inspectors on certain dates :
        "We're booking the building inspector, would you like to be there?", or
        "Building inspector is booked for Wednesday", and
        "We don't want to book the building inspector until you're there".

Hmm... 3 times so far and each time I hear it I think "almost there, I'll calm down".

Anyway, when the message came in it was Thursday morning, had remembered was Mr.Almostdone (who I have now associated with spouting random words with no meaning) that had left the message, and I was busy taking the picture below (really!!!)

 I couldn't give a hoot and left him to get on and deliver:

Soooo.... think they've finished? Na, not really. Think they'll call me? Na, not really. Think they've made inroads? Well, yes.

I was going to call Pete, but.... na, better not. It's sunny and I'm going for a sea plane ride and I don't want to be stressed thinking about the Mr.Almostthere's blatant lies about my house talking to me like I'm some sort of intellectually challenged knobend.

Here's a picture of my non-stressful day:

• Used plasterboard in the hallway
• Broken radiator cover in the hallway
• Lots of dirt and rubble on the stairs
• Lots of wood on the stairs
• No carpet on the landing outside the bathroom and floorboards taken up and left up (WHY???  They didn't need to go near this area?)

• Electrical cables hanging down and unsecured
• Large trench knocked in the wall with the pipes for the new bathroom sunk in. The rubble and mess from cutting it was left over the carpet.

• No carpet on the landing
• New landing ceiling that follows the line of existing, and it's been plastered

• Pendant light hanging down - no sign of my original downlighters that were removed
• Pendant light is on... no switches turn it off! Also attached to this 'always on' circuit are existing lights over other landing
• Water / heating pipes are not boxed in.
• Handrails / banisters are on

• Plastering along the new wall is complete, but with the step on the wall

• Gap between stairs and wall has been filled
• Stairs no longer creak
• Plastering around new stairwell looks good
• 2 lights next to each other at top of stairwell. Very odd
• Main room fire door is on
• Plastering in main room looks good
• Plastering on main room beam is not straight
• Juliette balcony is attached
• Bathroom door is on
• Bathroom has lights in really strange position; preventing shower door being installed
• Bathroom extractor fan is in
• Shower tray on the floor
• Bathroom rad far bigger than requested, but installed
• Towel rail installed.. on the floor
• External vent is not installed
• Additional fire door propped up in the main room

It's not enough.

I look around further and find unfinished roof flashing, missing / broken tiles, unfinished guttering, unpainted balcony, rubbish on roof, electric sockets hanging from walls, no hot water, some lights in house not working, burglar alarm bypassed, my carpet outside, and oh look my house keys.

I call Pete and he tells me more. It seems there have been quite a number of contractors in, but only for a few hours at a time. At a quick count from memory I've had 4 plumbers, 3 electricians and 2 carpenters. There's been a problem with no central co-ordination so each chap comes in and does a bit of work without speaking to the others. The subcontractors report back with a "I'm done" message, but no-one is coming to inspect that subcontractor is done.

The security was also of grave concern. I've bleated on about this before, but to absolutely no avail. It turns out the sub contractors have been moving the keys between them by hiding them in a < standard builder's hiding place > for these sorts of jobs. I won't write what this standard place is as someone will read this and try it, but I'm ABSOLUTELY F**KING LIVID to think that my keys have been outside, ready for anyone to pick them up / watch someone pick them up, and especially in the area I'm in. I have excellent security on the house making it near impossible to break in... unless some tosspot has the frikkin keys...!! 

Surprisingly the plumber did actually have his wife leave him, however this was not the reason why he was unable to finish. The reason was he couldn't find a the hot/cold or flow/return so the company sent a more experienced chap and he came on Friday. He announced himself as the problem solver rather than the plumber to finish things off, found the hot/cold and flow/return, tore up 2 carpets and threw them outside, left floorboards uncovered and channelled a trench in the wall for the pipes and left the rubble where it fell.  Lovely - NOT!  Hmmm... does the MD think that I'll never know of these things?

I wonder if the company actually intended to come back as on Friday, they took ALL the tools and left the keys.

My local builder says the remaining work will cost less than £2,000, so I've given the work to him.

The new builder will itemise everything he does with a corresponding price and once complete this will go to the company with a cheque for the difference between the balance (£2,000) and the bill to complete the work.  

The company can't get into the house without the keys and I'm not going to let them in. When they call me to explain why they haven't finished by the date they said, then I'll tell him of my decision, but I wonder how long this will be?

Back at work today. Don't you just love it? Still it's warm and sunny in London and wet and cold in Sydney so it isn't that bad! 

Whilst at work, my phone takes a message purporting to be from the company. It's a lady who I haven't heard from before. His secretary maybe? Perhaps has been asked as the MD knows that I'm at the end of my tether??

She says she's calling to let me know that we're almost there, the carpenters will be in tomorrow to finish off and that they are going to do the electrical check and building inspector final sign off on Friday where it should all be complete. If this is a problem to call them back.

Right, so..

• Who is this lady and where is Mr.Almostthere?
   
• The carpenters don't need to come back in. I do however need a plumber (OH PURLEEEEAAAASSSSEEE... can we have a frikkin plumber? 1 month ago the MD said plumbing was a 1 to 2 day job!!!!!), a plasterer (preferably one with a spirit level that's not 7 degrees out), an electrician (a trained one if you don't mind. Lights that don't turn off are bad for the environment) and finally a builder (one that knows how to finish off a job started 3 weeks ago would be super).
   
• What's that? We're a) "almost there" and b) would I like to be there for the building inspector as you're booking it? Ahhh... now you're using that line too much I think! That's now FOUR times... 

I'm looking for the MD to call me back and explain a few things - like

• why has he missed the latest deadline,
• why do they not have the keys,
• why is the electrician a Muppet,
• why did the plumber put the towel rail on the floor
• why did the plasterer still not correct a bad bit I told him (the MD) about 7 days ago?
• why have they not addressed all issues on my snagging list of 3 ½ weeks ago ?

So I call the MD... straight to voicemail. I leave a message saying as advised in writing on 5th April, and confirmed in my recorded delivery letter of 16th April, I have now employed other builders to finish. I have been as fair as I could be, but you've just not shown sufficient effort on your side. I asked for a call back.

Nothing happened from this - as expected. I did wonder what his next move was though. I reckoned he was going to send in a load of workers then cry foul when they can't access site.

In the morning I thought "I wonder".. and called the building inspector. He's not had a request to attend Friday, nor has heard from the company at all. Funny that.

I told him what had happened and that I had employed someone else. He asked to come down and meet them and we made an appointment for Tuesday 2nd May.

Right on cue.... just what I thought, did happen!

As the new builders are working, some bloke from the company comes up the scaffolding and asks what they're doing. He's with some others from the firm. Pete explains that the client has employed them to finish off the work and that as far as they're aware the company shouldn't have people there anymore.

The guy calls Mr.Almostthere and explains that there's someone else working on the job. He asks to speak to Pete. Pete explains that the client has employed him to finish off the work. The MD's response was "but there's only a day left" as Pete said there certainly is a lot more than a day's work to go.

The MD said that I wouldn't return his calls [The only telephone message I have not returned of his is on 17th April (click)] and asked how well he knows me. Pete said a bit as he's done work for me before.

In rather an aggressive, threatening tone he said "you tell Ben that he DOES NOT wanna go down that route".

Pete pointed out he was merely a contractor and any disagreement between him and Ben is between him and Ben and he is not getting involved and would be handing the phone back now.

He then asked if his guys could clear the site down before they leave and Pete said fine.

I wondered what this meant - why would he be so concerned with clearing the site down immediately, but then I realised. All the rubbish will have gone from the scaffolding... he intends to have the scaffolding down immediately to make it difficult to continue. Ah-ha... that's just want I want!

I call my solicitor to ask for for advice from here. He asks some questions and concludes I'm well within my rights to give it to another.

He thinks that the company won't take me to court as they'll never reclaim the costs and if he takes me to the small claims, I represent myself and taking this (blog) documentation will have a clear picture of what's happened. The law sees things as fair and reasonable and I have been.

My solicitor says to send an email or letter stating the position... so I do (by email and recorded delivery)

But, whilst I'm typing it, a phone call comes in from the MD. I drop it to voicemail on purpose as if I talk to him we'll end up arguing - he'll spout bullsh*t and I'll tell him he is. No point.

The voicemail is intimidating (I think it's intended to be anyway). This was the general gist...

• He starts off by saying "this call is being recorded" - yeah, wotevar! 
   
• "as have all our conversations previously" - What? You've been recording me without my consent or notification? Isn't that illegal? 
   
• "My guys could not gain access to site today. This is 2 hours that I'm charging you" - Really? 2 hours? Not a whole day's work then..
   
• "There's only one day of work left" - oh change the bloody record. You haven't been to site so you don't know. There is about 2 weeks left
   
• "We are very disappointed you have conducted yourself in this manner" - YOU'RE disappointed with MY manner? Cheeky f**k! That line really made my blood boil. He's been been taking advantage of my good nature for far too long, pissing on my head and telling me it's raining!
   
• "You owe me this money" - what? For work you HAVEN'T done?
   
• "I'll sue you in court" - I'd love to go to court with you - PLEASE!
   
• "I won't take down the scaffolding or issue the certificate" - what's that? A threat? Blackmail? Recorded on my voicemail...
    Ahhh, lovely. Thanks for that. I'll be sure to bring it up in court. Oh, and thanks for clarifying at the start that you know this recording is taking place!  Baddabing!

So, next step, convert voice message to a WAV file and store for future use.

But in the meantime, this not removing scaffolding thing is really bad. I haven't been able to park my car on the drive for 2.5 months (it's hidden in a garage elsewhere) and haven't been able to get my contractors in to landscape the garden in preparation for my kitchen extension. So not only have they delayed this work, they're delaying other work! Grrr...

So, I call my solicitor again. He says have it removed and taken to his premises and bill him. I said that may well come to over £1,000. Ah. Okay then, how about someone removing and disposing of it? Well.. I don't want it (it's scrap metal to me), but someone else might and they might accept the scrap metal as payment for dismantling and removing. Right. Soooo... you could get it removed and disposed of without charge? Yep. What's the legalities... his property is trespassing on your land, give him 14 days notice to remove it or you will. How about 7 days notice? Don't see why not! Excellent - another solution! 

I followed up the earlier letter with this, also putting it in for recorded delivery:

The remove "and dispose" words should wake him up, although if he can't be arsed I'll give him a warning shot next Monday and failing that will have to find someone who wants to make it go away. I'm sure it can't be difficult!

I don't hear anything today. Not a phone call, email or letter.

In the meantime, I've left a camera with Pete to document what they've done and one interesting bit is this, the extractor fan in the bathroom "that's ready for use":

Although the extractor fan looked 'done', it was noticed that there was nothing on the roof.

... so when they took it out, they found this - it vented nowhere - just into the loft void!

As far as I'm concerned it's scrap metal, junk, unwanted property. It's causing me inconvenience as I haven't been able to park my car on the drive nor have I been able to get the company in landscaping the garden in preparation for the kitchen extension (scaffolding stops the digger getting in). Plus it looks VERY ugly and is a security concern.

• Where did those 4 glass doors come from? They're not on the plans, windows are (he is correct, I queried this at the start). Oooo.. bit too much glass there - over 25% You may have to remove - I'll check.
• What's that balcony? Nono, can't have that. Nearest you can have is a rail to stop you falling out.
• I've told them 3 times about the bulkhead on the stairs and it's still too small a gap! You'll have to bash it out, re-support and re-plaster. 2m is the legal min height.
• He still hasn't checked all the floor for fireproofing (and the chickenwire to support) and asked for some spots to be uncovered. And what did he find? Fireproofing did not go the whole way through. He's now insisted that all the floor comes up. That's EVERY board.

And something else that's pretty bloody major- it turns out that the signoff certificate will go to the submitter of the application, the loft company.. rather than me, the house owner. The man from the council is seeing how this can be changed as his first thought is that I will have to put another application in! This is more of an admin task than a huge deal, but now I understand John's message saying "I will not release the certificate" - he would have it sent to him after my guys finish the job.

I spoke to Pete about how these extra items would affect the £2,000 and was told it would increase it by a whopping 50%. "Another £1,000 which would make it £3,000 I'm afraid".

I told him to proceed - I would try and claim from the company or would  take it on the chin.