Week 40
Monday 4 - Wednesday 6 March
Most pregnancies last around 40 weeks....this is week 40 of what was supposed to be a 10 week build. At the start of the week there are still a couple of jobs on the original list of works, plus some remedial electrical work and lots of rubbing down and cleaning up. What are the chances of the project finally being completed at the end of this lengthy gestation period?
I have been away most of the week visiting family and meeting up with friends in Bristol, so no progress in the house for the first three days of the week.
It took four weeks to respond to an email I sent at the beginning of February querying his last invoice, but the man in charge has finally come back to me with a new invoice so that's something I need to look at in detail before we meet up to go through items in dispute.
Most of these items relate to "variations" i.e. increased costs which he wants to pass on to me. However, the contract requires him to notify me of any works that will increase (or decrease) the quote I accepted at the outset, give me a price for carrying out such works and it's up to the client - me - to decide whether or not to go ahead.
The problem is that he is now trying to charge me for work carried out which he says is over and above the fixed price agreed, but for which he hadn't given me a price for beforehand (or indeed told me that such works were "extras") and I hadn't agreed to pay. In short, there has been a breach of the contract requirements.
The contract is clear. Only the client can make or agree changes which involve additional costs. I have requested three changes since the contract was signed; requested and been given a price for all three changes, agreed two of them and paid up when the work was done. All the other "variations" are works done off the builders own bat, without giving me a price or getting my prior agreement. Although the work has been done, I've been given a fait accompli rather than a choice about whether or not to go ahead with the work. That's not what was supposed to happen under the contract...It certainly blows my carefully worked out budget out of the water!
I hope we can sort this out amicably, but I think I'll have to do a bit of research about contract law and maybe seek legal advice before our meeting.
Ironically, he hasn't passed on to me savings in the costs arising from not having done some of the works specified, or putting in fewer lights and power sockets than shown on the tender layouts. Just as annoying, he's declining to pay in full for the costs I incurred on his behalf to keep things moving along when he had cash flow problems, or bought myself, even though they were on the specification so should have been included in the quote. It's not going to be an easy meeting...
Thursday 7 March
A busy morning... the kitchen fitter arrived first and started removing the fridge freezer from its housing, closely followed by the electrician and Miele engineer.
While the electrician relocated the socket for the appliance to somewhere accessible (up to now you could only turn it on and off by taking the whole integrated unit out of its housing!) the Miele technician examined the fridge freezer and decided the whole unit needed replacing. As its still under warranty, this will be done free of charge. They do the whole lot, including putting the new appliance into its housing and taking away the old one.
When all this was done, the kitchen fitter put the fridge freezer back into the housing, ready to be swapped out next week. Job done.
Week 41
Tuesday 12 - Wednesday 13 March
With help from my son who has been staying this week, the flat pack sideboard sideboard which was delivered Tuesday afternoon has been constructed and put in place under the stairs and is now fully utilised. It will have to come out of the understairs alcove at some point in the future to paint this area, but no time now before I go on holiday so it can stay there for the time being.
Thursday 14 March
The only other action on the house project this week has been the swapping out of the malfunctioning fridge freezer (bought last November half price from the Miele Outlet shop due to a couple of dings in the side) with a brand new one, FOC.
The job was done in less than two hours in the morning and by the afternoon, all the food which had been temporarily stored in cool bags was back in the appliance.
The man in charge has suggested a meeting to discuss outstanding issues in one of the three days I have between coming back from a holiday and flying over to Guernsey for work. As I have to finish preparation for two planning appeal hearings and attend a family funeral that day, I've had to say thank you, but sorry can't make it. He won't be best pleased but had he not waited four weeks before responding to my request for a meeting, this could have been dealt with in February...he'll have to wait for me now...
There will now be a short intermission while I'm away, catching up on life that was put on hold for 8 months last year. Yay!
Monday 4 - Wednesday 6 March
Most pregnancies last around 40 weeks....this is week 40 of what was supposed to be a 10 week build. At the start of the week there are still a couple of jobs on the original list of works, plus some remedial electrical work and lots of rubbing down and cleaning up. What are the chances of the project finally being completed at the end of this lengthy gestation period?
I have been away most of the week visiting family and meeting up with friends in Bristol, so no progress in the house for the first three days of the week.
It took four weeks to respond to an email I sent at the beginning of February querying his last invoice, but the man in charge has finally come back to me with a new invoice so that's something I need to look at in detail before we meet up to go through items in dispute.
Most of these items relate to "variations" i.e. increased costs which he wants to pass on to me. However, the contract requires him to notify me of any works that will increase (or decrease) the quote I accepted at the outset, give me a price for carrying out such works and it's up to the client - me - to decide whether or not to go ahead.
The problem is that he is now trying to charge me for work carried out which he says is over and above the fixed price agreed, but for which he hadn't given me a price for beforehand (or indeed told me that such works were "extras") and I hadn't agreed to pay. In short, there has been a breach of the contract requirements.
The contract is clear. Only the client can make or agree changes which involve additional costs. I have requested three changes since the contract was signed; requested and been given a price for all three changes, agreed two of them and paid up when the work was done. All the other "variations" are works done off the builders own bat, without giving me a price or getting my prior agreement. Although the work has been done, I've been given a fait accompli rather than a choice about whether or not to go ahead with the work. That's not what was supposed to happen under the contract...It certainly blows my carefully worked out budget out of the water!
I hope we can sort this out amicably, but I think I'll have to do a bit of research about contract law and maybe seek legal advice before our meeting.
Ironically, he hasn't passed on to me savings in the costs arising from not having done some of the works specified, or putting in fewer lights and power sockets than shown on the tender layouts. Just as annoying, he's declining to pay in full for the costs I incurred on his behalf to keep things moving along when he had cash flow problems, or bought myself, even though they were on the specification so should have been included in the quote. It's not going to be an easy meeting...
Thursday 7 March
A busy morning... the kitchen fitter arrived first and started removing the fridge freezer from its housing, closely followed by the electrician and Miele engineer.
While the electrician relocated the socket for the appliance to somewhere accessible (up to now you could only turn it on and off by taking the whole integrated unit out of its housing!) the Miele technician examined the fridge freezer and decided the whole unit needed replacing. As its still under warranty, this will be done free of charge. They do the whole lot, including putting the new appliance into its housing and taking away the old one.
When all this was done, the kitchen fitter put the fridge freezer back into the housing, ready to be swapped out next week. Job done.
Week 41
Tuesday 12 - Wednesday 13 March
With help from my son who has been staying this week, the flat pack sideboard sideboard which was delivered Tuesday afternoon has been constructed and put in place under the stairs and is now fully utilised. It will have to come out of the understairs alcove at some point in the future to paint this area, but no time now before I go on holiday so it can stay there for the time being.
Thursday 14 March
The only other action on the house project this week has been the swapping out of the malfunctioning fridge freezer (bought last November half price from the Miele Outlet shop due to a couple of dings in the side) with a brand new one, FOC.
The job was done in less than two hours in the morning and by the afternoon, all the food which had been temporarily stored in cool bags was back in the appliance.
The man in charge has suggested a meeting to discuss outstanding issues in one of the three days I have between coming back from a holiday and flying over to Guernsey for work. As I have to finish preparation for two planning appeal hearings and attend a family funeral that day, I've had to say thank you, but sorry can't make it. He won't be best pleased but had he not waited four weeks before responding to my request for a meeting, this could have been dealt with in February...he'll have to wait for me now...
There will now be a short intermission while I'm away, catching up on life that was put on hold for 8 months last year. Yay!
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