Owning your own home

Does that include scaffolding and rubbish clearance? Make sure it does because those things add £2k

Fitted most of the kitchen today

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It does, aye.

Very clean! But the gap on top of the cupboards is making me angry - such a tiny gap is worse than a huge gap.

He can fill it with expanding foam

I think you're joking, but I'm not sure.

Yeah it's annoying. They can't be any lower though. Other option was to have smaller 500mm cabinets up top but we needed the storage.

I might try whacking some sort of cornice on.

I had a little chuckle because that is like 10% of the job :) I know what you mean though and it looks very neat.

I would try and squeeze some formica in there. would be easy enough if you scribed some and then took the cupboard down/fixed the pieces to the top of the cupboard and reinstated them. That's how I would do it. I guess it need not be formica but it would be easier to match the cabinet than have to paint it.

It does throw up some issues about corners though, mitre or edge band.

It would be easier just to use the gap to shove in spare shopping bags.

I have about 6m of pelmet material that I can use for this. Annoyingly it’s 50mm in height so all needs scribing. Such a faff.

Why couldn't they be higher/up against the ceiling?

When I eventually get around to putting in a new kitchen the cabinets are going to abut the ceiling and have totally flat faces. I've devoted enough of my life to cleaning grease off surfaces.

Between myself and the leaseholder of the upstairs flat we have had an S20 for the repainting of the property. Normally it would be fine but Hyde or totally incompetent and the cost is up to £20,000. About 3/4s of that is for the scaffolding and charges.

As the only 2 leaseholders can we tell the freeholder to get stuffed and for us to undertake the work?

In the terms of the lease we are liable for maintenance and they are responsible for any external fix and repairs. EG Windows are their liability but the glass in them is ours.

The issues are at least 2 lots of the windows actually need replacing not painting over. What I want to avoid is the scaffolding going up, coming down and then going up again.

We got the place painted using some local tradesmen about 6 years ago, we got in touch and their quote was about half.

The freeholder charges 10% of total cost as management charge, the work has been estimated to take up to 5 weeks but should be done in less than 2. However as I see it neither the freeholder, contractor or scaffolding company has any inventive to do it quickly.

As the only 2 leaseholders can we tell the freeholder to get stuffed and for us to undertake the work?

No. But you can suggest contractors they should get quotes from and there's nothing to stop you getting your own quotes.

They also have to "consult" you.

Which would be the opportunity to state your desire to find the contractors and manage the work yourself so that you aren't mugged off.

Cheers for that, are they under any obligation to then go with them or are we basically a bit over a barrel?

I don't mind paying for things but I hate paying for incompetence and sub sub sub contractors to do a 1/3rd rate job

Also they want to do the works in February, I don't understand why they would want to repaint a place at that time of year as I was always told spring to autumn was best time to paint externally

Cheers for that, are they under any obligation to then go with them or are we basically a bit over a barrel?

No, but if they went with a more expensive quote for no good reason you'd have solid grounds for challenging the reasonableness of the service charges.

10 percent of the total cost is a liberty but they can get away with murder especially when they are over paying for the job too start with.

The ceilings and walls are on the piss. The corner cupboard is flush to the ceiling at the back of the unit and that dictates the other levels.

The ceilings and walls are on the piss.

Old properties. So much fun!

Made it to the top floor today. The end is in sight.

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Ah, ok. Well, whatever - we get used to everything. Eventually you'll learn to love cleaning those crevasses!

Is there a forum-approved electrician that covers E11? Straightforward job replacing an element in an immersion heater...

Can anyone lend their thoughts on window configuration? It'll be getting replaced as current one is shagged. 1st floor above a 1 storey pitched roof at the back of the house, so seems like a sensible spot to climb out of in the event of a fire.... but it'll also house a child before too long, so needs to be toddler proof. I've heard tilt and turn are liable to fuck up due to forces on the hinges. It's 1000 x 1600 roughly so too big for one standard sealed unit I think. Highly accurate survey attached:

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Looking like a really solid job.

How long do you reckon until it’s habitable?