All your Homebase are belong to... you! / The House 'n' Home Thread. - The Bear and Badger

Cos

acemuzzy wrote:

. And, crucially, my opportunity to buy an fancy new tv the price of which can get lost in the rounding somehow, so she'll never know...

Maybe don't put this one in your bedroom? Unless you need the excuse to avoid embarrassing yourself in FNF of course...

poprock

Brilliant news Elf!

Now add a couple of months and a 15% cost contingency to all your estimates because, y’know, construction innit.

acemuzzy

I hope I overtake Elf - though unlikely cos I don't think we'll start to Jan. Would be glorious though...

hylian_elf

You're only doing an extension. We are doing full renovation - gutting and tearing up the whole house, new extension, bathroom, kitchen, wall plastering and decoating and flooring and new cloakroom, front yard parking/pacing - EVERYTHING.

acemuzzy

We're also tearing some stuff apart, and reading the bedrooms. But yes probably not quite as much. So there's hope...

Dinostar77

hylian_elf wrote:

You're only doing an extension. We are doing full renovation - gutting and tearing up the whole house, new extension, bathroom, kitchen, wall plastering and decoating and flooring and new cloakroom, front yard parking/pacing - EVERYTHING.

How long will that take elf? Sounds a big project anc costly. Though results will be worth it?

You could have saved some cash by giving muzzy a sledge hammer and let him gut the place

acemuzzy

That'll happen just after completion

poprock

hylian_elf wrote:

You're only doing an extension. We are doing full renovation - gutting and tearing up the whole house, new extension, bathroom, kitchen, wall plastering and decoating and flooring and new cloakroom, front yard parking/pacing - EVERYTHING.

Exciting times. Took about four months to do ours, I think. Feels like a lifetime ago now. It was last year.

Funkstain

This is glorious

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1-Rivers-Edge-Dr-Colts-Neck-NJ-07722/39230937_zpid/?

poprock

It’s like they’ve got the right amount of Christmas decorations for the house, but then put them all in one room.

Funkstain

Did you clock the nativity scene next to the pool, near the FAKE BECAUSE NEW JOISEY palm trees??

Love the way each bathroom is identical but colour coded with the worst colour of porcelain ever. Also who doesn't want to sit on a loo elevated by...rubble?

Funkstain

haha just saw the SANTA STOP HERE sign which, you know, good advice

poprock

Aye, they’re clearly a family who need more stuff.

g.man

Appears to be some king of discount warehouse?

davyK

When money > taste

hylian_elf

House renovation work has me so stressed. Didn’t sleep last night. Gotta go and bash the builders later cos they messed up a bit. I hate this.

And who knows if they’re rushing or doing a good job?! It’s not like I’ve done building work before.

Dinostar77

Dont presume anything with builders, plumbers etc. Nothing against them. Its just that you need to be crystal clear about what you want done and check the work at end of every day etc.

It goes back to that dilbert cartoon about making a tree swing and there being 8 different interpretations of it.

post image

tigersgogrrr

Tree swing is a lot more complicated though.

davyK

House renovation is stressful. Even when you get a good 'un. Our last renovation (our 3rd - 4th if I count Wifey's mother's which Wifey was involved in more than I) we had a very good builder and a first for us - a project manager / architect - and they got on really well (not bro-mance level which isn't helpful but they really did click).

Even then there was stress.

Worrying about if something is done right? That is what building control is for. Your local Council should be engaged. Make sure that is getting done. They ensure the integrity of what is being done. Inspectors will appear on site with the builder and look at beams etc to make sure nothing is going to fall down. Make sure that is happening above all else.

nick_md

Got my remortgage approved the other day which means I can finally get the repairs to my retaining wall sorted. This has been the single main source of stress for me since April so I'm happy an end is in sight. Also got enough in the remortgage to hopefully get a new bathroom or kitchen sorted (both showing their age a bit now), really happy. It all hinged on the bank approving a valuation which I thought was pretty high and not what the house is worth, but they approved it, barely looked round the place tbh, took 5 mins.

davyK

Banks will take a valuation based on the area and property size more than anything. Looking around is only fine tuning. Be comforted by the fact that it will be conservative as they are lending based on that valuation.

nick_md

Yeah I figure as well that they're happy to do so for home improvements as it raises the value of their investment. Anyway, think I'm going to buy a hard hat

poprock

That’s brilliant news Nick. Repairs first, but then the fun part of figuring out what you want from some refurb work.

Elf, one piece of advice I have is just don’t be afraid to have an opinion. You may not be an expert, a builder or an architect, but you are the client. You’re the person they have to satisfy. If something feels wrong, question it.

On the big stuff, you can lean on the site manager and ultimately call in the structural engineer to check on things - and if you want to check anything it’s easier to do that while work is still ongoing and exposed.

Once you get past this stage and into finishing - joinery, plastering, flooring, whatever - that’s when you can really be on their case. Call in daily. Check progress. Ask what they’re doing next. Get them to show you - because a lot of small decisions are made on the spot unless you’re there to help guide them beforehand. If the joiner (for example) can ask you questions before building a thing, it’s better than him building it wrong and you feeling bad about telling him to do it again.

GooberTheHat

Elf, have you got someone overseeing the renovations for you, an architect or project manager?

Dinostar77

GooberTheHat wrote:

Elf, have you got someone overseeing the renovations for you, an architect or project manager?

Yeh he has a wierd name yzzum. Elf has never seen him on site but he makes some strange decisions, like sending elfs premium bricks to another site he is managing. Hmmm...

hylian_elf

GooberTheHat wrote:

Elf, have you got someone overseeing the renovations for you, an architect or project manager?

Well kinda. The builder has a guy there but he doesn’t speak English. Neither do all the workers...

We talk to the main guy who owns the company. Get pictures end of each day on what they’ve done. See them weekends. Difficult to go everyday as I have so much work.

acemuzzy

Dinostar77 wrote:

GooberTheHat wrote:

Elf, have you got someone overseeing the renovations for you, an architect or project manager?

Yeh he has a wierd name yzzum. Elf has never seen him on site but he makes some strange decisions, like sending elfs premium bricks to another site he is managing. Hmmm...

Shhhh

acemuzzy

Meanwhile Fle is gonna be helping with my extension in 2021. He promises best price.

hylian_elf

I’m going to insist on meeting the head guy during the week once or twice and ask him to tell me in advance what he is planning next couple of days.

@pop yeah as you suggest at the finishing stage gonna have to make time to go round frequently. Might have to take time off work for that.

hylian_elf

I’ve never been so stressed in my life. At a time when work is the busiest it has been (sadly, we boom when others bust) and that is also stressful. And this fucking ‘lockdown’ isn’t helping as we can’t go and see many bathroom places and stuff.

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