Building works, Nothing ever goes smoothly

[SueEllen]

lets hope the bill for the hoarding is the only worry.. wouldn't put it past the council to pull out planning restrictions on this 100 year old wall

No what they will tell you is the wall is in part of a conservation area then fine you another £2K for removing it.

[Zippy]

I'd ask the council to also provide the laws/bye laws that had been broken, and ask to see proof it had been broken. Then ask for justification in the bill they send. The councils, more often than people like to believe, send bills out in the hope that people are scared enough to pay.

Vermin, all of them.

This is true. The mother-out-law owns her place but the council own the leasehold, so are responsible for the 'fabric of the building'. Feckers tried to bill her for (not) painting her (brand new, UPVC) front door. Chisellers.

[KentPhilip]

Make an offer to pay it, in £5/week installments. Pay the first month's payments, then stop. Hopefully by then the inspector will have discarded the paperwork and they would be unable to sue you for the rest.

[Wanderer]

Beginning to think we have chosen the wrong builder!!

Just had a call from them saying that the foundations on the existing wall aren't good enough and needs to be dug out and proper foundations laid, and that's not in the estimate.

They are taking down a 110 year old wall, WTF did they expect to find?

We are now stuck between a rock and a hard place, in that the existing wall has been demolished and its going to cost a load more to complete.

I think I will have to bite the bullet, once I get the figures.

Been there done that. You are dealing with REAL business men now. Nothing that goes wrong is ever their fault or their problem, everything you ask for costs extra, they always come in with a cheap quote and it ends up costing a lot more. They are professionals at this game, they do it day in day out. Watch and learn, young padawan.

Dealing with builders on a major project taught me a whole lot about the hard realities of doing business as opposed to this namby pamby bed wetting IT contractor stuff we think passes as being "in business".

I still say that you should lob them the bill from the council and tell them it was their cockup so sort it out and you are withholding that money from their invoice.

[MarillionFan]

Beginning to think we have chosen the wrong builder!!

Just had a call from them saying that the foundations on the existing wall aren't good enough and needs to be dug out and proper foundations laid, and that's not in the estimate.

They are taking down a 110 year old wall, WTF did they expect to find?

We are now stuck between a rock and a hard place, in that the existing wall has been demolished and its going to cost a load more to complete.

I think I will have to bite the bullet, once I get the figures.

Does your 'builder' keep saying 'To be sure, to be sure' in a funny accent & does his daughter look like she should be a hooker on a street corner in Manchester? Just asking like.

[SueEllen]

I still say that you should lob them the bill from the council and tell them it was their cockup so sort it out and you are withholding that money from their invoice.

They will just come back when you are out and destroy your wall.

[Scrag Meister]

So here we are, over the barrel, trousers way down around my ankles and broom firmly rammed up my ar5e, no boundary wall around the rear garden, and they have the "pleasure" in providing us with an additional quote for preparation of the foundations for the main 30m wall of nearly £5300.

HIGHVIEW BUILDING & MAINTENANCE LTD, NORTH LONDON

[original PM]

You wanna borrow some lube?

[Old Hack]

So here we are, over the barrel, trousers way down around my ankles and broom firmly rammed up my ar5e, no boundary wall around the rear garden, and they have the "pleasure" in providing us with an additional quote for preparation of the foundations for the main 30m wall of nearly £5300.

HIGHVIEW BUILDERS, NORTH LONDON

That's a lot. I am having a 12m wall built and it's costing £1400, including digging foundations.

A quick dig:

Excavation should cost around £15m3 and that's down to a metre. Concrete is about £60m3, then there's labour on top, which I'd think was about £150-175 a day.

[MarillionFan]

So here we are, over the barrel, trousers way down around my ankles and broom firmly rammed up my ar5e, no boundary wall around the rear garden, and they have the "pleasure" in providing us with an additional quote for preparation of the foundations for the main 30m wall of nearly £5300.

HIGHVIEW BUILDING & MAINTENANCE LTD, NORTH LONDON

BTW. You also owe me £1500 for having to read this thread.