As far as we are concerned the house is finished though it may not be till close of play today that Paul actually finishes. He’s got to lay eight slabs, put on the overflow for the boiler and then fit the bath panel, and fill some gaps with expanding foam. The electrician has to come and swap the polarity of a bedroom light, and tidy up the main earth cable in order for the house to pass its electrical certificate (I have an image of the house sitting an exam!) Why he couldn’t just do this on his last visit rather than write a report and to then have to come back is beyond us....!
Brian was over on Monday, leaving me home alone in Derby with Ruby dog and Stimpy cat. Ruby was a different dog when it was just me and her, we caught Joanna and Ebony up in the field to have a social walk and then lay on the bed and read quite happily late into the morning. Monday was carpet fitting day, so Brian was there bright and early to vacuum before carpet laying, vacuum after carpet laying, take off doors, plane (with an electric plane some bloke gave him at the tip... “is this any good to you? I’m moving to a static caravan, have no use for it, none of my friends or family want it, it’s only been used once” and rehang, go to the tip etc. He rang just after lunch with the horrible words, “do you want the good news or the bad? The lounge looks fabulous, but it’s 5” short, so they’ve joined it, just by the front door...” bearing in mind we paid a premium for a carpet that came in a 5 metre width so we wouldn’t have to have a join this is all a bit irritating! They have accepted full responsibility and will replace it, but have assured us that the join is stronger than the carpet.... so what to do? I hate to think of the wastage of time and resources and actually where it is it won’t be walked on as you’ll open the door and step over it, no one who wasn’t looking for it has seen it, we are now here and not there.....
Everything else seemed to go very quickly and smoothly and looks great.
Yesterday Ruby was in doggy daycare, so was collected at 09.30. We immediately left to do the last clean and tidy. We also had a letting and sales agent come over from another agency, just out of interest and to have a second opinion before Colin starts! The selling agent was great, knows we are unlikely to sell, but quoted a price of £260,000! This brought a huge smile to our faces, Colin had quoted £175,000 ish before we started, so a price of £200,000 would have been about break even! Makes it all worthwhile really.
We haven’t had Paul’s bill yet, as he hasn’t quite finished, so we haven’t got final figures, but expect it to be about £25k, which is about what Brian predicted in the first place. Colin however guesstimated £11k, but then he also said it’d be back on the market beginning of June and he wanted it to realise £1000 a month. So predictions 1 and 2 were wildly out and we don’t expect to get £1000, though £900-£950 was what the other letting agent quoted so not quite as way out as the other two...
Time almost ran away with us yesterday, though I think I did everything I wanted it was all a huge rush, just relieved that Ruby was on 6pm drop off not 4.30! The house looks fantastic, the hard work has really paid off but it’s lovely that it’s over. We enjoyed the work, very satisfying, learnt some new skills and achieved a lot. What we didn’t enjoy was dealing with Colin, we could have achieved as high quality a finish kitchen at a much lower price if left to our own devices. We were however pressured by him into going where he wanted so we could use his builder. Paul has done sterling work, capable in all things, though not necessarily the fastest. He was however available to start immediately and has followed through to the end. It all needed doing, it’s great now it’s done and we’ll breathe a huge sigh of relief when new tenants move in.
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