How do I bathroom / kitchen / extension? etc.

Have you done it on SK08 or above top hung sizes? Because I wonder if that effects anything (due to weight)?

The windows are supported by the joists and trimmers. A bit of plasterboard isn't going to be affected by the size or weight of the window.

not sure which model I fitted?? but done several over the years and and none have cracked. I've not specified any on a project this i me installing them myself to my own properties. As below the windows aren't structural

@chrisbmx116 I really like the straight boxes you have.
Ok, if the angled stuff is well done and is the same angle as wall below and so on, but that gets complicated and more stuff to look wrong?
Think it's a good example for something that seems simple but wont be easy and therefore go wrong or get expensive.

@chrisbmx116 the velux look good, is the middle rafter between the windows doubled up as it should be? Might be the angle it's taken from that has led to me asking.

Yeah - fucked if I can navigate their site though! 😅

I found a Blum one - £380 😑

I know it's like a late 90s porn password site.

click here for bins>kitchen accessories>Scroll down to bins>click bins>show bins>click on the one you want>kitchen accessories>click here for bins>kitchen accessories>Scroll down to bins>click bins>show bins>click on the one you want>kitchen accessories>click here for bins>kitchen accessories>Scroll down to bins>click bins>show bins>click on the one you want>kitchen accessories>click here for bins>kitchen accessories>Scroll down to bins>click bins>show bins>click on the one you want>kitchen accessories.... Until someone on your call asks you a question.

Forgive me if I’m just sending what you’ve already got in a different shade of grey but is this any better

This all makes sense, but I wish my builders (who were not the cheapest quote we had) had said something along these lines instead of “it’ll be amazing, it’ll be perfect, the lines will all be beautifully straight” - I had the impression I was getting closer to 100% than 80%, but they weren’t capable of it and got very upset when I kept telling them it was poor quality and wasn’t good enough.

Or can you add some diagonal struts to the frame to give it more rigidity?

That is similar but maybe better but also for hinged doors rather than pull out. I think we’ll go for the Blum one even if it means spending £500+ to get a working kitchen bin

On the subject of kitchen bins....

Any freestanding recommendations that are in the sub £100 range ?

Poor quality means something very different in domestic building terms. It's usually obviously defective, the kind of thing that the perpetrator is never around to discuss. It's a nightmare to manage builders to be honest.

is there an answer or solution to this? Or it just is what it is?

Part of the problem is it's subjective surely?

Builders are out and done. Lots of painting to do, but it's a nice feeling.

OH seems more or less happy with it, which is good.

The bigger the budget, the more folk moan as ive found and if people want perfection they need to find a big big budget as that costs money for fucking about.

When you're doing the size of projects that I'm seeing on here and you have young families it's usually a nightmare. You don't have enough time to stay on top of everything and it's very easy to spend money until most people have to call it a day. Even if you have skilled dedicated people you are creating so much work for them that they can't expect to get everything right.

I do a lot of very exacting work for retired people with plenty of planning time and the work is limited to fixing small issues so it's much easier to get it close to perfect.

I see quite a few people in the DIY thread getting great results on individual projects where they are managing every detail including the work and that's the kind of work I try to do for people who can't do it themselves.

Good communication skills helps a lot but what works for one person doesn't work for another and that cuts both ways. Some of the most experienced people I work with, people who manage a lot of projects are surprisingly easy going and grateful for the work that gets done.

They face a lot of frustrations and mistakes from trades but they keep on paying and maintaining polite relationships because the alternative is not getting the work done. I think they have a good appreciation of the difficulties involved through years of experience and being hands on too but often I would have thrown the toys out of the pram seeing some of the bs that goes on.

In short I guess acceptance of the difficulties involved plays a big part.

You don't have enough time to stay on top of everything

A lot of this - we're still working through the snagging and even with what I think have been excellent team I am seeing things which are slightly off and which if I'd spent the time going over at the time would probably have been easily remedied. But that would have meant taking time out of work or with my family so not really worth it.

I also think that speaking as a not particularly practical/DIY person I want to walk through the options and try to understand things from first principles, so that we get it right first time and understand the tradeoffs we might need to make. Which is how I'd do things in work. It isn't quite as easy as that with trades from my experience but when it has been possible I've found the results are better for both parties.

Ready to cry with frustration. Was just starting to feel like the home stretch of new kitchen, and worktop fitters have just wiped a layer of paint off a drawer front whilst cleaning the edges of new worktops. I know it’s not the biggest problem in the world to resolve, but along with other like/work/not having a kitchen stresses it’s just tipped the scale for me. Annoyingly I signed off when they left earlier as all happy, as it wasn’t really visible, it’s only become (very) obvious with the light change.

/rant

edit not a direct reply - but tangential to the conversation either way I suppose.

Then you'll be on their hourly rate while they talk rather than do. To be fair they may be ok with that.

I ended up rowing with my wife over what she thought should be perfection and me knowing I'd got what I paid for when we have had work done in the past. We all have different assumptions, expectations and experiences.

I was being euphemistically polite/English.

Their work was universally poor in the way you describe, in myriad different ways (wonky plug sockets, damaged bath, gas leak on the mains, not following instructions, used internal plywood outside and lied that it was marine etc.), but also their electricians got struck off the NICEIC register for having 3 x C1s on a new install (plus previous complaints from other sites), the man deducted income tax from his subbies and didn’t pay it to hmrc, so the subbies what to pay it again direct to hmrc. The police were called to the site re a fight. He tried to rip us off using a tactic that apparently would have worked under a JCT contract (we used RIBA), he lied to us throughout, and he left an open vent in an SVP behind a facade (100% deliberately) so the kitchen stank of shit until I worked out why, cut a hole in the wall and covered the vent. He left an open sewer in my kitchen.

End result -I find it very hard to trust tradesmen at all, and end up doing too much myself, and I’d now always use RIBA over JCT, and I wish there was a homeowners association standard contract that put the weakest party, ie the only non professional, in the strongest position.

Eugh sounds awful - out of interest - what was their JCT stitch up trick ?

Very sorry to hear you went through all that. Over the years I've heard a lot of horror stories with builders, that's definitely up there with some of the worst.

How much should I expect to pay for a 6m long front garden wall? Excluding bricks (LBC Rustic for matchy reasons)