Thursday 23 May
Around 9pm last night, I finally had an email from the man in charge listing those items we still needed to reach agreement on - nine weeks or so after I sent him my "Money Facts and Figures" so we could work out where our views differed.
And today was the big day itself ...the meeting with the man in charge to talk money which I'd requested back on 1st February has finally happened!
It was a well tempered meeting - most of the time, at any rate. There are a number of matters he has gone away to review, including the original quote and agreed changes (we haven't even been able to agree that figure to date!) and some of the deductions he has not passed on.
I agreed with a few of the points he made regarding some of the additional costs, whilst pointing out repeatedly that some items - such as unforeseen works to meet the Building Inspector's requirements - I would have agreed to anyway (no choice). But even so, they should have been flagged up as extras at the time and the price agreed with me before the work was done so that I could budget accordingly.
There were still a few items we continue to disagree about, but both reserved our positions until we'd had a chance to consider the package as a whole...which may include not charging VAT on some/all of the "variations" to be added to the agreed quote. Not charging VAT doesn't make any difference to him, but not adding 20% to the cost of the extras makes a noticeable difference to the amount I pay at the end of the day.
I also took the opportunity to show him some of the things that are causing me concern, which he hadn't seen for himself and, all being well, these will be rectified as part of the final package. If all goes to plan, we'll be able to consider the package as a whole some time next week after the Bank Holiday, and then agree a timetable to complete the small number of outstanding works, snagging, clean up and certification.
The anniversary of the start of the contract last year on 4 June is fast approaching, although they didn't actually start on site until 14 June due to issues with getting a skip to site. Maybe, just maybe, it will all be done and dusted by 14 June this year, if not the first anniversary of the contract start date. I can then take great pleasure in ceremoniously removing my yellow hard hat that's been hanging up in the hall since work began - a symbol that the house project is over as far as the building work is concerned.
Around 9pm last night, I finally had an email from the man in charge listing those items we still needed to reach agreement on - nine weeks or so after I sent him my "Money Facts and Figures" so we could work out where our views differed.
And today was the big day itself ...the meeting with the man in charge to talk money which I'd requested back on 1st February has finally happened!
It was a well tempered meeting - most of the time, at any rate. There are a number of matters he has gone away to review, including the original quote and agreed changes (we haven't even been able to agree that figure to date!) and some of the deductions he has not passed on.
I agreed with a few of the points he made regarding some of the additional costs, whilst pointing out repeatedly that some items - such as unforeseen works to meet the Building Inspector's requirements - I would have agreed to anyway (no choice). But even so, they should have been flagged up as extras at the time and the price agreed with me before the work was done so that I could budget accordingly.
There were still a few items we continue to disagree about, but both reserved our positions until we'd had a chance to consider the package as a whole...which may include not charging VAT on some/all of the "variations" to be added to the agreed quote. Not charging VAT doesn't make any difference to him, but not adding 20% to the cost of the extras makes a noticeable difference to the amount I pay at the end of the day.
I also took the opportunity to show him some of the things that are causing me concern, which he hadn't seen for himself and, all being well, these will be rectified as part of the final package. If all goes to plan, we'll be able to consider the package as a whole some time next week after the Bank Holiday, and then agree a timetable to complete the small number of outstanding works, snagging, clean up and certification.
The anniversary of the start of the contract last year on 4 June is fast approaching, although they didn't actually start on site until 14 June due to issues with getting a skip to site. Maybe, just maybe, it will all be done and dusted by 14 June this year, if not the first anniversary of the contract start date. I can then take great pleasure in ceremoniously removing my yellow hard hat that's been hanging up in the hall since work began - a symbol that the house project is over as far as the building work is concerned.
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