How do I bathroom / kitchen / extension? etc.

Ha. I’m broadly past it it now! A friend of a friend had two steels put in - in a T shape, adding a side return and a full glass bifold wall. One of them was a bit short and the holes were drilled in the wrong place so the builder padded it with polystyrene and glued on fake bolt heads …

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The actual fuck - that should actually be a criminal offence

It’s called “smash and grab” - I couldn’t remember it’s name.

“Smash and grab is the term used to describe an adjudication seeking payment on the narrow ground that the contractual payment mechanism has produced a ‘notified sum’ and this has not been paid.”

Link - very legalese

Builder puts in a “notified sum” using the valid mechanism under the contract (whether or not the sun is actually correct) and then can get a quick claim against you if you don’t dispute it in time.

That is fine, but the ruse was to go from reasonable-ish monthly payment notifications, made direct to me the homeowner, copying the architect / contract administrator, to a notification for an absurd amount that I was deliberately not copied to. The architect correctly thought “that’s ridiculous, no one is paying it” but didn’t properly follow the method to dispute it. My memory is now hazy (/repressed) but I believe had we used JCT we would have been fucked, but the builder wasn’t familiar with RIBA, and under RIBA we weren’t fucked.

I suspect it is - some sort of criminal H&S law. Also negligent obviously, and probably criminally negligent I have no idea.

Absolute cowboy material here.

Where are you people finding this level of incompetent builder?
I can’t believe these are legit companies with history and previous clients.
This will need to be inspected, but I guess they are skipping that process.

Architect found 5 for us to choose from. He had not worked with this co but had been recommended them by I don’t know who. We went to see a house they had done, builders were there but homeowners seemed relatively happy.

I would do it differently next time, I was very “on it” but only after realising it was going wrong. Too trusting at the start.

The gas safe fitter was definitely in the normal realm of good - he just made a mistake [leaving us with a gas leak that the gas co came and fixed immediately at ~midnight]. Electricians were cowboys. Owner / foreman was money grabbing dishonest cunt. Decorators were honest but not given enough time/money to do the job properly. Tiler was good. Brickies caused the fight/police it turns out because they were not being paid, but we didn’t know that at the time.

He must have gone through sub contractors at a rate of knots, and therefore have been scraping the barrel.

Demand outstrips supply so much that you don’t need to be any good.

We hired a reputable company who were personal friends of friends of mine to finish it off, but it was very traumatic!

but had been recommended them by I don’t know who.

Yeah this is bad.

Tbf sounds like you did nothing wrong, sounds to me like they were over stretched so outsourced, outsourcing in any world is always going to result in issues.

I hope you’ve got it all sorted now, sounds breakdown inducing.

Cant say leaving gas leak is classed as in the realms of good

Haha no of course, but otherwise he was very professional - specially compared with some of the others.

All done now and not worried about safety etc thanks to new builders.

Any tips for a cheaper alternative to Terrazzo for a bathroom vanity unit surface and up-stand? Had a few quotes, cheapest is £725 ex Vat delivered which is more than I want to spend. It's a refresh rather than a full remodel of the bathroom. Setup will be similar to the image below, but not so long, 102cm x 50cm to be exact.

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https://smile-plastics.com

https://foresso.co.uk/pages/table-top-calculator

A “second hand” slab of marble? I just trawled eBay briefly but didn’t see anything in exactly the right size, but a few coffee tables that were close. You might end up spending £50~

bloody expensive as you have to pay for shipping.

I actually have some in the Kaleido which might be the right dimensions for @cjr if he did like that kinda thing

I got my kitchen splashback from here very recently.

It's really good stuff but be warned the lead time was about 12 weeks.

If you like their product they have an offcuts section on the website that's probably worth keeping an eye on especially given the size you want.

seconded,

we just got foresso for our utility, will be using it in the kitchen when we get there

I’d be very interested to see it. My partner will get the final decision though.

Had terrazzo jumped in price like everything else? I thought maybe £3-400 max. But never bought it before!

Yeah, thought about that. Have a big lump in my studio but the wrong size. Also heavy as f**k.

Can you (with the help of your brother with his own workshop) easily cut tap holes in marble etc?

Have a search on ebay and see if you get lucky with some of the more colourful Corians kitchen worktops?

I’m planning to do it in situ for a second hand marble topped unit I got to put a sink on. Practice on the waste > perfection on the tap hole. Fingers crossed. Diamond hole cutter bits, water, patience, crossed fingers.

I am also eventually (several months down my to do list) planning to cut windowsills from cheap/free marble, which I think I can also do in the garden - big diamond blade in a circular saw. How hard can it be*?

*I am planning to do some practice on free marble off cuts before actually starting

Ugggh... We've repainted our first room - bluey-grey to purbec stone which is a taupe-grey. After leaving it a day we've decided we don't really like it in the evening as it goes properly taupe. Now the curtains and other bits don't match - they all now look blue.

Such a ball ache after smashing through on Sunday. The blue/grey was always a bit cold in the day and didn't quite work with the lighter floor in that room. But if we go back then it means I don't think we can go blue in the dining room.

How do folks on here choose and test colours?

Lick do A4 low-tack stickers you can try in a room.

Also: white