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the latest on my house, taken from my
blog
It’s been some time since I mentioned my house so I thought I’d better do so. The main reason that I have neglected to mention it is because almost nothing has happened. Well that’s not quite true, but what progress has been made has taken about four times longer than it should, but more on that later.
Well what’s been done in the last couple of months? The brickwork and has been finished, the electrics, cabling and plumbing have been roughed in, plaster is up, cornices and skirting boards are in, timber fittings (window and door frames, internal doors, wardrobe doors) have been applied in almost every room, and the cabinetry for the laundry, bathroom, ensuite, bar and kitchen (*hurrah!*) has been installed. That’s how it stood as of two weeks ago.
However, the situation a fortnight ago was also that our supervisor had left the company without warning – or apparently even giving notice – and that our project had been given to someone else. Never mind that the new supervisor also inherited another five projects from the previous guy. Never mind that he already had six of his own on the go. Never mind that they didn’t even have any sort of handover. Never mind that the new guy doesn’t know any of our previous history (which may not entirely be a bad thing) or even the first thing about our job. What is really annoying was that we only found out about all this more than two weeks after it happened because I had to ring their office on a completely separate matter.
“Didn’t you get the letter?”
“What letter?”
“The one informing you of your change in supervisor.”
“No.”
“We sent it last week.”
“Well it hasn’t arrived, but then neither did the letter I was meant to get with the details of my first supervisor, or the receipt you owe me for my last payment.”
“Oh….ummmm…well can you check again please?
Suffice to say I did eventually get the letter (the one about the new supervisor) a couple of days later, with a very recent postmark on the envelope.
AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But wait, there’s more…
Now, the matter I originally called the office about. Due to scheduling issues with various tradespeople, we agreed to split one of our stage payments so that the builder could begin work on the inside while work was completed outside. So, despite being under no obligation to do so (and our contract explicitly stating we had every right to refuse variation of the payment schedule) we paid 75% of the Lockup Stage. We did so in part to avoid even more arguments following our earlier troubles, and also because we had a feeling we would run into problems later so playing nice early would hopefully strengthen our position down the road.
One of the conditions of the split lockup payment was that the remaining 25% would not be paid until the work specified for the lockup stage was complete, regardless of the actual progress on the rest of the job. So what happened? Just after our original supervisor left (the timing I discovered later) we received an invoice for the remaining 25%, even though the outstanding work was incomplete! I finally got on to someone in accounts:
“I’ve received this invoice, but the stage isn’t complete”
”You’re well past lockup. The plaster is up and the carpenters are working on the fit-out”
“But you’ve invoiced me for work that hasn’t been done. There are no eves, the spouting isn’t in, and the roof tilers have to come back to paint the valleys and repair the tile cement.”
“The construction manager has advised me to send the invoice because the stage was finished and work was being done inside.”
“I drove past yesterday and it’s not finished. I’ve already paid 75% of lockup to cover the work being done inside.”
“Oh….ummmm…can I call you back later today?”
Three days later, after leaving several messages, I got a voicemail from the new supervisor informing me that I should ignore the invoice and that I will receive a new one when the lockup work is done.
But wait, still more…
I arranged an inspection at the house a week ago with the new supervisor, partly to meet the person I’m dealing with but mostly to make sure he knew about all the things we had agreed with the previous guy. So around we went, with me pointing out this, that and the other thing we were unhappy with or that we had arranged to do differently. On the plus side this new supervisor seems to be a bit more on the ball. He in fact pointed out a few things that I had on my list to show him, acknowledging the he was unhappy with what had been done and that it need attention. Where the previous supervisor was quite blasé and brushed issues aside with “But the work isn’t finished and they’re coming back”, this new bloke is “No, that’s not good enough and they’ll come back and fix it.”
It seems to me, based on conversation with the new supervisor and the declining attitude of the previous, that our original supervisor must have known or at least suspected he would be leaving for a while. Since he no longer had a commitment to see out finishing our house, then he no longer cared about scheduling work so it would be finished on time. On several occasions he admitted to us that he could have arranged for other tasks to be completed while some of the long-term work was still underway. He seemed happy enough to let things trundle along at their own leisurely pace without too much intervention, and found excuses for practically everything. Even with the delay of losing the original supervisor, I think long term we are better off with the new one (despite the learning curve) who at least seems far more diligent.
So, now the ‘still more’ part. Based on progress for our house to date, and without yet having looked at our contract, the last part of my conversation with the new supervisor went something like this:
“So, when’s it due to be finished? February?
“No – November.”
“What? You mean this month?”
“Yep”
“When?”
“About the 21st”
“Oh geez! I thought we had some time.”
“Well as long as it’s done by Christmas we’ll be happy.”
“That’s eight weeks away, so we’ll see.”
I’m sure you realise that the word “happy” as used in the above exchange is a relative term, more akin to acceptance than genuine feelings of joy, pleasure and satisfaction. We worked out some time ago that the job was likely to overshoot the scheduled contract completion date of November 21st. If it goes beyond Christmas, well ‘really shitted off’ is a mild description of my likely mood. In theory we will be owed liquidated damages for any schedule over-run, but we’ll see how that goes.
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Posted: 2005-11-09 04:23:01
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Never a dull moment on your builing site eh?
It looks like that new supervisor is going to rattle a few cages.
Glad to hear progress is being made.
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Posted: 2005-11-09 05:30:05
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for anyone interested, last sunday 4th december was my first wedding anniversary.
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Posted: 2005-12-06 02:27:13
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@gelfen - So, when will your newly built HOUSE (totally/completely) be finished matey
Belated Happy Wedding Anniversary !
Remember the Wedding Cake that I gave you then
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Posted: 2005-12-06 02:33:55
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thanks JN.
hopefully the house will be finished sometime in the next couple of months.
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Posted: 2005-12-06 05:03:18
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Quote:
On 2004-06-09 00:15:34, JN wrote:
@gelfen - Now, please come out from your cave . . . bring Osama with you, so you'll get your US$25 Million reward! Enough to buy this site from @laffen (teheheheh).
This is the third time i read about you wanting to buy esato off laffen.does he own it ?Can i have a bit off history about esato its a great site and wouldnt mind owning it i have a few penneys lying about
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Posted: 2005-12-11 02:18:42
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i don't want to buy it. if you want a brief rundown on esato try
here. there are members older than me who can give you a more comprehensive history than i could.
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Posted: 2005-12-11 23:51:26
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@gelfen - I thought it will be finished before Christmas Day (2005)
matey . . .
@thami - Why NOT try sending the GREAT man (Laffen) a pm pal
As I've learned from him in the past (2003, I guess) He was doling out some US$ 900.00/mo. to keep this site . . . running !
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Posted: 2005-12-12 03:04:25
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Quote:
On 2005-12-12 03:04:25, JN wrote:
@gelfen - I thought it will be finished before Christmas Day (2005)
matey . . .
we were hoping so, but they seem to be getting slower
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Posted: 2005-12-12 03:44:25
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@gelfen - H m m m m, maybe the 'laborers' needs some 'charging' matey
or additional PAY, say, like . . . GREASE money
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Posted: 2005-12-12 03:49:46
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