Stress levels reach new highs

Stress levels reached new heights this month. My builder fell out with my Project Manager meaning they refused to work together, and despite the walls now being up on both levels (hurrah!), as anyone who watches Grand Designs will know, the main objective now is to get the house watertight. This means getting the roof on and the windows in. I am having a large flat roof, which means lots and lots of wood. And wood and water are not good bedfellows.

Rain, rain go away!

I have felt the pain of the farmer who watches the weather every day, and having enjoyed the most glorious summer ever, with months of baking sunshine, during which my site almost ground to a halt, it now resembles a scene at muddy Glastonbury. 

What has been most frustrating is the frequency of the rain.  It has rained at some point almost every day for the past month, and what my builders need is a long, dry spell to get the roof finished.  As I type this, we are on day 1 of a weather forecast of 4 dry days … so the pressure is on to get the roof completed.  I am a ball of excitement and terror.

Queue another disaster…

Turning to my windows, queue my biggest disaster so far. It seems that the company that I trusted was a scam, and there was never ever any intention of delivering my windows, just of taking my money. So, to make the building weathertight I must install temporary windows – more expense! But this has to be done, or, as well as losing a lot of money, we will lose time, as none of the internal fit out can start until the building stops letting the rain in.

Looking at the positives

Add onto all of this the stress of feeling so abandoned by my excellent Project Manager, meaning even I have felt my resolve to complete this build falter. I have to take comfort in the small steps of progress: I now have power back in the house – thank you UK Power Networks and the wonderful David. Fabulous Leda Scaffolding also did a huge amend to my scaffolding which meant the roof above the car port can also go on. These small steps feel like substantial progress when you are battling some other monumental challenges. And I know that the progress over the next month will be exciting: the roof will be on, and the external cladding will start which will mean my building will stop looking like a massive Lego block!

My key learns this month:

  1. If you can plan your build in any way, try and ensure that the roof goes on in the warmer months, which may perversely mean you start building in the winter rather than the spring.
  2. Do lots and lots of research on any company that you plan to use and start with the belief that they are out to scam you and work backwards to a position where you trust them.
  3. Be kind. I find that kindness gets you so much further than anger. Mark at Leda Scaffolding and David at UK Power Networks – you have been amazing, and I will love you both forever.