How do I bathroom / kitchen / extension? etc.

Is this service basically not already provided by building managers or whatever they're called? They have their teams of decent trades and a book of sufficient ones.

Good progress today although the entire house was trashed.
Had a melt about the window frames being too thick but have mitigated it slightly and will prob build ply reveals myself once the loft company are done.

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Opted for luxury vinyl planks/tiles with built-in underlay for the bathroom.

Now wondering how much tolerance is reasonable in height difference between them now that they're in and there's some bumps and what will p*ss the plumber off if we mention we’d like it looked at and fixed…

After my attempt at self levelling I had about an 8mm dip that I couldn't face trying to sort.

The product datasheet should specify a tolerance

My basic idea is a membership/concierge site, which gives you access to member vetted and reviewed trades.

As if getting shit done isn’t expensive enough!

In recent years there has been a power shift from the buyer to the trades. Decent trades have almost unlimited work, the demand far outstrips supply and most of them can rely on word of mouth exclusively to keep busy like you say. The firms that can’t rely on WOM are probably not the ones anyone wants to work with.

If you want to find the builders and tradespeople who are really busy and who don’t need to advertise. How can you find them? I don’t think it needs to be quantity - the big aggregators need that bc it’s a transactional service and high churn. This way you would have a smaller audience who would be willing to pay for the service.

If people are paying £500 pm on bespoke fitness then why couldn’t you have something similar

You are just trying to simplify complex relationships. Different trades are 'perfect' for different people and situations. I work with property managers who still use checkatrade occasionally to get a job done, even though they have a black book of contacts.

At the moment you are young, have young children, lots of work going on and very little time. The people I see getting it right are older, managing the same properties for years and with some experience in a trade or practical skill/understanding of the materials.

Your situation forces your hand, you need to do too much at once, it's impossible to manage the details and the net result is compromised over price and time.

The answer to there not being enough trades is not a management agency for trades, it's training young people and changing the view of the trades so that young people want to get involved.

Hmmm ok - it’s interesting feedback and one formed from tons of experience so appreciate it 🙂. I just can’t help but think there is something here and having worked in marketplace/aggregator businesses and from advising some membership communities.
Need to spend some more time working it through

Sorry didn’t mean to ignore this. I need to dig it up. Will try and find it tomorrow

In a way what you're describing already exists in different ways inside the building industry. If you can get people to pay for the management overhead and the extra cost of retaining good trades then you might have a business.

Kinda on topic but I need a new radiator fitted. New piping etc will be needed as it will be in an area that never had one before. Does anyone have any recommendations for someone who could do this in North London?

The guy we used was OK. Ended up getting the rads installed, took direction fairly well, worked hard.

I not sure I'd rave about them, but equally not sure I have much to complain about either.

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As well as sharing useful information, this the place to bitch right?

Our mate (and his mate) who are doing our patio told us to buy easygrout. We were unsure so shared a link. £250, so not fortune, but not nothing.

3 boxes in him and his mate have decided it's the wrong stuff.

We're going to try and sell the remaining tubs and eat the cost, but it's always really annoying to just throw money away. Plus having to wait for them to find time. If it wasn't a mate we'd obviously tell them to eat the cost, but as they've worked hard, done a good job and are less than half the price of our cheapest quote.

Also I'd like them to have put a bit more mortar in the gaps so we wouldn't need as much grout - which costs more.

Also they used some of my tools and as a rule I never let trades touch tools as they dgaf about them.

Still it looks good tho. Just a bit of a low for something thst should have been a high to end the week on.

Oh and if anyone wants to buy 15 black lime slabs 900x600 let me know.

... And 3 tubs of Grafino easygrout obvs.

How thick are the slabs? I'm trying to buy almost exactly that many 50mm pavers for a shed base and either the company sells for a reasonable price but won't deliver that few, or they're £31 each from B&Q.

Send a link?

They’ll be too nice for this!

Have you tried Freecycle? They seem to come up fairly regularly

If you can get to Enfield i'm now about to pull up my old ones.

Thanks. Simply not having something bad to say is just what I'm looking for.

Black Limestone Paving Slabs, Midnight Sawn Edge 900 x 600 22mm calibrated.

https://www.stonepavingdirect.co.uk/products/black-limestone-paving-garden-patio-slabs-900-x-600

They’ll be too nice for this!

Yeah...maybe. Edges will look nice tho!

It's a fucker isn't it? When I wanted a base of one of our little sheds I found somewhere to get pavers for free. Then I worked out how much they weighed and how many tripped I'd need to do and sacked it off in favour of Ecobases delivered.

but as they've worked hard, done a good job and are less than half the price of our cheapest quote.

I think this is it thought isn’t it? If the worst part is using your tools and getting the wrong grout it doesn’t seem bad going!

Absolutely. It's definitely in the mild bitch category - and probably more about the personal relationship dynamic / not wanting to be a prick.

Although the garden is carnage I have managed to slyly get some plants in when I probably should have been packing up the downstairs.


On which note we're almost all packed up downstairs, with no room to swing a cat upstairs, so our ground floor flooring can start on Monday. Luckily a mate round the corner is away this week, so we can WFH there as well as stay for the day(s) the self levelling and first part of the floor goes down.

Bit sad to loose the old finger parquet floor in the sitting room, but I think having a matching downstairs will look better than our current patchwork quilt.

Also a bit worried about opening up the kitchen door way/removal of a half wall. It'll look better, but when I'm working in the dining room I'm currently able to close the door when my OH boils the kettle, or if I'm WFH when my youngest isn't in nursery. However, I'm telling myself that soon both kids will be in school and we can just move the kettle.

In the spirit of the thread I'll try and post the cost breakdown.

Has anyone seen easy grout jet black irl?

Also are there any tips for searching on Instagram ( not the app)?

Slowly loosing my cool at how few proper images there are online of real in situ examples of colours.

Forbo floor fitters near e17, any recs?