Singing Pig

Katpoo,Just read through this thread and I'd like to add my two pennorth (hope all you southern piggies understand my northern accent!). I suppose I should say that yes ,I am a man!---Any how,I like your style,don't you stand any crap from these builders. They will always try it on (most of them anyway),be you man or woman. ----Those who say 'we don't need the work' are lying,why are they there if they don't want the work? Those who patronise you because of your gender,don't deserve the work anyway. I don't consider them to be professionals. Also,can I say that clottie is well worth listening to. And george seems to be good a throwing his toys out of the pram As to the surveyor and mortgage man,I think that they're applying far too tight an interpretation of what is 'habitable'. I recently got a mortgage on a 'repo',which was not much more than a shell (no problems at all). From memory,my mortgage man said that ,if it has a kitchen sink,a toilet,a water supply and power,then it is classed as habitable!! What your mortgage said is ridiculous!! You need to find someone else. Anyway,that's my rant for tonight!----Bye the way,I think Katpoo is a GREAT name.

Thanks j !! blush blush !!

Am back from my refurber in Lancs, having met my new builder Brian again, and thought i'd pass on a few gems :-

I've not seen the house for 2 weeks, so, now that upstairs has new studding walls, and is all newly re-plastered, i was enthusing "thanks guys!!!!!" to the plasterers "GGRREAT JOB Guys !!!".

When Brian took me to lunch later on that day - "dont be so flipping enthusiastic with your praise to those ...... plasterers for goodness sake !"

"Why not Briain ?"

"the more you enthuse, the more the price goes up on the next job"

"my gob is SHUT Brian !!! "

They had cleared out the whole of the rubbish from the house and yard, and had filled many skips. An old fridge was left in the corner of the yard.

"Come on Brian", i said, "lets get that fridge in my car and take it to the tip shall we and get rid of it for free ?"

"Great"

It would have cost him a fair few quid (trade disposal prices) to have turned up in his van and disposed of it - i definitely scored brownie points there i can tell you.


More later !!

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Clottie the Positive. windswept and interesting !!

"The Lancashire Lady"

Post Edited (clottie) : 10/21/2004 10:12:16 AM GMT

Brian phoned today

"just thought i;d better let you know the kitchen back wall of the house has fallen down - but dont worry" !!!

I burst out laughing, seriously, i just burst out laughing - " hope you've got it up on acrow jacks Brian! "

"yea, dont worry - we knew the wall ties were a bit old, so we might as well rebuild it all now, we can have it done by teatime - just thought i;d let you know."

"Cheers - talk to you later

further progress reports as and when ladies !!

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Clottie the Positive. windswept and interesting !!

"The Lancashire Lady"

Hiya all

Reporting back

In the past ten days the damp proof has been finished, the central heating system installed, almost ok just a few snags, had to get Transco out because gas was leaking out of the meter and the kitchen door only half opens because they have put the radiator directly behind it, as you would .

Electrician finished Saturday with no problems

Plasterer No. 1. Came and pulled down all of the ceilings and then disappeared of the face of the earth (apparently his wife hasn’t seen him for a week( hope he isn’t trapped in a hole in my house somewhere) managed to get plaster No 2 he came around and is starting to put the ceilings up this week. He has charged £300 less than plaster No.1 and is going to knock down the inside lobby as well in the price so that turned out ok. He will be finished next Friday.

The guy that is replacing doors and boxing bits in has put himself in charge of the keys and drops them off and picks them up as is needed and phones me every night to tell me exactly where they are which is so sweet of him.

Going up Monday to and get a price for the painting and choose the kitchen, and if that is fitted in a few days things are more or less on schedule. Phew

Anyway more interestingly while I have been away things seem to be happening! Clottie has herself an admirer from SP; new people are joining in great

Hello Scots lass,
Humm there was me thinking the initial scuffle was one of the more interesting bits………just goes to show………congratulations on your first baby! Do let us know about the ‘baby singing piglet’s’ arrival

Scots lass said .........so we are looking to be a bit more clever with the way we spend and invest our money…………have you considered ’lease options’ I have one at the moment as the seller, which works well, however, now the climate has changed and the market is slowing down a bit I think it will be more possible to use this method as a buyer to do refurbs.(OPM) Well I am not sure if you do refurbs because you do not say. But I echo clotties and Incas view that no question is silly so ask away

Hi jayen4
I have run your definition of what is habitable past my mortgage broker; I think he was a bit surprised at the company’s reaction. I get the impression that he has not used this company before, but they are offering a good deal on the interest which is 5.7% but everything comes at a cost!!!. At this point the time factor stops me changing companies I wonder if you can tell me the name of your mortgage company, I am looking to do another refurb after this one, but don’t want the same problems. Thank you for the vote of confidence about the name, I think you are alone in thinking katpoo is a great name, but hey I can cope

Thank you for the kind thought Inca, I'll make sure my next refurb is very near to you so that i can take you up on your very generous offer



have a great week-end all

katpoo :

Great news Katpoo - sounds like the end is in sight !! AND you want to do another one!! go for i t !!

another gem from my builder brian:-

"Hiya Clottie, the plasterers thought they'd give me grief today"

"whys that Brian"

"they saw this wall falling down, and said, ""Well, we'd best get off then Brian""

"Whys that ?"

"Well, you'll need a couple of days to sort this out, so we'll come back next week to finish off the kitchen"

"Just stay where you are, i'll have this wall built by the time you've finished the lounge - you're going nowhere" - they stayed put. Brian is short on height, but tall on might!!

Apparently, as the contract nears its end, sub-contractors already have their next job lined up, and will almost certainly have told their next "client" that they can arrive far sooner than they can in reality. So, keep a tight tight tight rein on subbies as the work is coming to an end - once they have gone, its a heck of a job to get them back. Brian hasnt; paid the plasterers much yet, so, a great incentive to hang on and finish the job!

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Clottie the Positive. windswept and interesting !!

"The Lancashire Lady"

Hiya Katpoo, (See,I know how to spell it ).Just been reading through the last few days posts. Don't blow yourself up with that  dodgy gas meter!  Sounds like you've got a good guy,with plasterer No2. -----You say: Clottie has got herself an admirer from S.P.---I think you're referring to me!! ---See,you're making me blush now!   (Hey,what a sweetie that Clottie is !!) I'm a right flatterer,you can tell when I'm after something,eh? Clottie,this new builder of yours,is he willing to work in Yorkshire,I may be looking for a reliable builder soon,if a major project,which I'm working on,comes to fruition??------Back to Katpoo, Re your thing about mortgage companies,I don't have a 'Mortgage Company',as such,I put my business through a IFA. Very good he is too,knows all the wrinkles. (Probably shouldn't say that word on a ladies board,eh??)   Anyhow,if you want to P.M. me,I will give you my mans contact details,I'm sure he's better that your current lot.  ---- And I STILL think Katpoo is a great name! Oh and before I forget,I think you're a sweetie,too.  ----Later, Jayen4. 

Normally, as you know, i am a very caring sharing sort of woman,  but,  this builder is such a treasure, and he is already turning work down from older clients of his,  so, sorry J, no can do !!  I'm talking to him about a JV/ new build project we're researching at the moment.

he took me to the carpet warehouse today (we're buying a roll), and told me, "pick the carpet, then Shut Up pls and go sit in the van!!" Yes Brian.  Apparently i;d only picked THE most expensive carpet in the warehouse !!  (always knew i had good taste).   He's only negotiated a humungusly hugely enormously huge discount off the price  !!  (Under such circumstances, Clottie really CAN be quiet!)

House nearly finished. 

I told Brian i was taking prospective tenants round yesterday, (he's only gone in on a Sunday afternoon to turn the heating on, so it would be welcoming for us all)  and in spite of the builders mess (thanks for this tip Yieldly)  they Lurved it ! and have signed AST (dependent on credit checks of course)

Some major things i have learned in all this is:

if you have a good builder, let him get on with the job, trust him, and dont pester him.

the Way you ask for changes is more important than the changes themselves.

listen to his advice.

be prepared for the unexpected  (I had hoped for a fixed sum, but, we had walls falling down, and some older walls needed rebuilding, so some change orders were inevitable) and have a contingency fund.   I'm not now knocking down the back garden wall for access for a car, as my new tenants dont have one and dont want one - so extra money on studding walls, savings on garden walls.

paying him on time really really gives  you brownie points

dont get stressed - it doesn;t do a happorth worth of good !

make sure you  have the most carefully prepared, written specification of works - this is THE most crucial document.  i must have revised mine about  10 times before i was happy with it.   I gave Brian an A4 ring binder  file with contract, spec, sketches,and  lots of clear plastic envelopes in it  - he thought it were "dead" good, as he keeps all the paperwork/invoices etc in it, and doesnt lose stuff.

i've really enjoyed this.  We agreed the change order costs today  - turned out to be about  one fifth of what i might have expected !! 

Have even agreed with the next door neighbour to co-fund our lovely leaning tower of pisa -  "garden wall".   Its got a deeper lean on it than a drunken irishman  !!  (i'm half irish, so, dont get cross OK?)

The crunch will be the valuers and the estate agents valuations  - both planned for beginning of December, so, then i will  post figures so others might beneft from what is possible on a VERY tight budget.

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Clottie the Positive. windswept and interesting !!

"The Lancashire Lady"

a final wee hiccup

As Briain and the carpet fitter arrived in the carpet warehouse to cut up the roll into room-sized chunks, they discovered a large flaw in the middle, so, no could do carpets that day.  Next day Brian rang and said " that brown carpet had a flaw in it"  -"i thought we'd ordered the red Brian ?"  -  "no, brown, ", "oh well, see if you can get red".

he's got me green !!      moral  - check if your builder is colour blind !!

what do i care, i'm not living in it !

anyway, the green was cheaper than the brown or the red - so in effect  i got free Underlay.   But, he now needs to shave 1/2" off each door !!

Thanks PM  !!!!!!!!!   and YES i did use Cloud 9 underlay , greeeeeat stuff !!!!  - oopps wrong thread, but, PM waxed lyrical about Cloud 9 underlay on some other threa,  and how  it will give a far longer shelf life for carpets.

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Clottie the Positive. windswept and interesting !!

"The Lancashire Lady"