Owning your own home

We had a small leak in the bathroom which rotted the plyboard under the tiles, swelled it and popped the tiles up. Leak is fixed. Just had someone in to quote for replacing the plyboard and tiles, plus re-fitting a tile on the wall where they went in to fix the leak. Bathroom floor is 1m by 2m. Also included was tiling the kitchen floor, 1m by 3m, where the plyboard is fine. We would supply tiles. He quoted £1,100. That’s mad, right?

Standard reply - ask what their hourly rate is and take it from there. 'So you're saying it'll take X hours to fix this?' Much easier if you break it down like that.

Also, get quotes from other builders for comparison.

Roof gone!

Thanks for the tip on the curtains, room feels better (running hotter....) Than normal aftertucking them in.

Sounds like 3 days work (depending on the kind of tiles which I assume you will be providing).
Someone decent will be £200 a day, plus materials...

You could be at £800 there already.

As if anyone in The London works for £200 a day...
@Sparky you could prob tile the kitchen yourself, the bathroom sounds a couple of days work so get another quote from someone who will charge 500 quid and then do the kitchen yourself, bigger the tiles the easier!

'as if' meaning you expect higher, or you expect lower?

Interestingly, the bathroom trades I have used over the last 5 or 6 years in South East London have been exactly £200 a day.

Really? I was expecting higher... not sure I have ever found anyone for £200 a day, I had one guy trying to ask £600, which was ridiculous. £250 is what I would expect.

So…this week’s been a rude introduction to home ownership. Picked up the keys on Monday and bounced around to do a weewee in every room and mark my territory.
My parade was very swiftly rained on after walking into the lounge and realising that previous owners had strategically placed their sofa over an area of flooring (laminate) with precisely zero floorboards underneath – sofa was resting on joists. I think I would be justified in feeling someone shocked and using a few choice, four-letter words…
Moving on…the house is filthy – we’ll take that on the chin in the interest of water sliding off this particular duck’s back and still being buoyed by owning a home of my very own.
Up the stairs into the loft conversion. There’s graffiti all over the bedroom walls and dog shite on the carpet. #wtf moment.

Now what to do?!

I reckon we are stuffed with the lounge floor as the surveyor was very explicit in saying that he wouldn’t move any furniture. Having said that, the floor is soft outside of the area where the sofa was too. Recko I have grouns to ask him to come round for a little inspection and ask him how the devil he was unable to walk around the room and conduct damp meter readings in the walls without spotting a soft floor as he approached the front wall? (It definitely would have been noticeable)

With regard to the loft, I have instructed the solicitors to ask the sellers what they were playing at and why the floor and walls have been desecrated. My feeling is that we should be buying the property in a very similar condition to that which we viewed it in. This is categorically not wear and tear.

I’m sure there are many, many more nasty surprises lurking but I am doing my best to remain buoyant and not let this get me down!

Any suggestions?

We are likely to need:
Someone to:

• lay some flooring (laminate/carpet)
  
• sort out some guttering, flashing and fascias
  
• fit and plaster a ceiling in a couple of rooms
  
  

The house is in Romford. If anyone has any recommendations for good people then holler.

Cheers,
Joe

Has it been squatted in or similar between the previous bunch moving out and you moving in?

That's the thing with fiddly fix a problem jobs, most people will price it like they don't want it.

No the previous owners were living there...I think they just had a massive party to be honest!
Pretty upsetting given I have saved for the last 15 years for this but I remain resolute!

Sounds like a kick in the nuts but nothing that isn’t fixable with a little effort and minimal money. Defo kick up a stink - I wonder if you could even make a claim or press charger as one you exchange there’s gotta be some rule about not fucking the place up?

Yes I wondered this too...I don't really want any drama but by the same token, they have taken the piss!!!

Exactly! Don't let it stress you or get you down though, you're still the big man in your new castle!

They haven’t taken the piss, they’ve left a shit.

You're so out of touch, grandad

This is an interesting idea. Kitchen would be much simpler. I’ll ask for a bathroom-only quote.

too soon

FG shark is best shark

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oe8MkkqSUKg

I reckon that your chances of getting a penny out of the seller are zero or next to zero and going after them will just be stressful, expensive and more painful than forgetting all about it and moving on.

^ probably this

Find out where they moved. Fuck it up.