Small problems and unfinished work

Bathroom problems

Towel rail in wrong place, horizontal toilet buttons put in vertically, mirrors not arrived (now no longer made), 1x soft close toilet seat doesn't close softly etc

Door handle stops Jalousie closing

Incompetence personified!

New furniture arrived

Some minor problems

Things not straight ...

No scaffolding!

Window ledge not sealed very well

Dutch slate arrived and patio being laid

Jalousie broken

Water problem 4 days in

UK satellite plus satellite Internet now working

Satellite Internet via UK VPN gives me 5% bandwidth

8Mbs download speed becomes 0.4Mbps when UK proxy is enabled :-(

Window mess

Didn't spot this before - complete botch job fitting the jalousie, and a cable elsewhere had now fallen down (we already had to have another jalousie fixed).

The aftermath

We found that there was no pipe from the kitchen sink ... it went into the ground!

A new pipe was laid and a hole needed to be drilled so the kitchen unit also had to be removed.

Here is the scene after the pipe layers successfully managed to drill a hole through the wall ... as well as a water and electricity cables, sigh.

A little piece of England

I wonder of something is missing ...

Dutch grass is the best!

Week 98

Laminate completed, doors fitted, bathroom/WCs done. Plasterwork outside well underway. Removal company commissioned, satellite Internet installation booked, grass company offer requested ... the end is in sight!

Week 97

Insulation being completed, electrical works and satellite too ... laminate started - kitchen needs some corrections, inside ready in a week.

It also took 14 unanswered phone calls to my lawyer in 4 hours before he finally pulled his finger out and arranged a meeting with my old builder.

Week 96

Carport finished but looks mugly and it has a gap so that it can't be used without a ramp.

House has been painted inside.

Kitchen arrives Friday.

Week 95

Laminate arrived, doors to be fitted.

Week 94

Remaining tiles being fitted .... and bath mounted. Car port nearing completion.

Seems we are hitting the home straight and the end is in sight.

Week 93

Winter persists, work doesn't.
Only progress I saw this week was a bath dumped in the bathroom.

Week 92

Humongous car-port almost finished and facade work started also this week - good progress made on that score.

Week 91

Today is the day, according to the contract, that we should be moving into the house. :-( Bad luck struck us again this year with a long and cold winter. Just when we thought that Spring was hear with +15 C then this week has seen heavy snow and minus temperatures. Hopefully from next week Spring really does come and then there are about 4-6 weeks of work left - end-April looks likely.

Week 90

Tile works almost completed on ground floor and in bathroom plus good progress on the car port.

Despite the warm weather they only plan to start on the facade work on Monday ... which is when the minus temperatures return. Architect seems puzzled why I am asking that they can start 2-3 days earlier.

Week 89

Met the builder to iron out some details about flooring costs. Despite the cold he promised wrk would commence on the carport.

For money reasons we had to stick with initial contracted tiled stairs.

Week 88

Despite the architect trying to rebuff my suggestion that f*** all has happened in 2 months, the builder now wants to delay the move in date by 3 months due to the cold winter.

I can't begin to say how p****d off I am.

Winter = cold. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that - so why didn't the builder plan to get the insulation done before winter??? Builders are definitely the people who flunked school.

Kitchen maker suggested passing by, architect told him (without me on cc.) not to bother as the house is too wet due to the cold winter and lack of insulation.
Architect stands to lose his cash cow once the house is finished of course.

Finally signed the contract this week.

Week 87

As far as I can see, this week saw tiles being laid in the living room only and, as requested, a shelf cut into the shower wall.

Progress disappointing.

Week 86

The tiles will arrive this week and they will be laid in the ground floor. Meeting with lawyer took place but the builder didn't arrive as he was stuck in a Stau, sigh.

Week 85

Apart from some plastering work, no progress. Despite the promises and the unusually warm weather, there was no work on the outside insulation - apparently the walls were still wet/cold. A meeting with the lawyer to sign the contract as the lawyer canceled at short notice because he had no car, sigh.

Week 84

Too cold, no progress.

My question is, why am I paying to have the heating on full if I am told that the minus temperatures outside mean there has been "no progress with the drying"?

Week 83

Again the minus temperatures delay the house drying and delay the work.

The only progress was the blow door test for the KfW energy efficiency loan was done - all seems ok.

Also some plasterwork was apparently continued.

Week 82

The house hasn't dried out enough yet - another 1-2 weeks are needed :-(
so the internal work is delayed.

Meantime the external work on the perimeter and steps to Fussweg is going on.

Also we chose a new Laminate for upstairs - Ahorn.

Week 81

Again no work due to XMas break.