March 2024
March saw some serious ups and downs for the latest development, however that’s to be expected with any development!
March saw a serious progression at the Foxhall Road property. The main items of work that happened where as follows:
Plastering started
Boarding out finished upstairs, and underway downstairs
Roof replacement of the external outhouse
Meter installation
New window finally arrived
The transformation from brick to board really changes how the property looks, we had some issues with some of the walls in the older building due to how all over the place they were, however we managed to get all of upstairs boarded out, and allowed for the plastering team to finish the boarding out downstairs to save some time.
The outhouse where the downstairs bathroom is located was reroofed, this was something that wasn’t expected when we started the build, however the longer the project went on, the worst it became. To the point where we had to make the decision to replace it. Despite this being an additional cost, it was worth it in the long run. We intend to retain this property for years to come, so doing these extra works now doesn’t overly make much difference to us.
New gas and electric meters were finally installed! After a few attempts and cancellations we finally got an engineer out to change the meters around for us.
Lastly we finally got the window for the kitchen in. The builder had previously measured incorrectly and meant that we have been waiting for the correct window for a sizeable chunk of time. Now it is on the property can start to retain a bit of heat!
Meeting with the previous owners Son -
We had the fortunate experience of meeting the prior owners son. They mentioned that they are not local, but when they come up they often poke their head in to see the progress, and are amazed at the fact someone was willing to take the house on!
The Son also apologised for the amount of waste in the garden, and gave us some insightful information about his mum and what she used to do. Turns out she used to be a childminder for over 40 years! This would explain all the small children’s clothes in the garden (also the nappies!).
Sadly we didn’t have spare health and safety equipment to properly show them around, however we agreed that should the be in the area before it is completed, that they are more than welcome to a tour of the property!
What issues did we face this month?
This month was like most others in the development world. There was issues we faced and had to overcome.
Waste! How can one property produce so much! We have had so many skips and grab lorries at this property, creating a nice bill for us which is slightly higher than the anticipated amount previously budgeted for the development.
The builders seemingly vanished for a few weeks. Super hard to get hold of and get back to the property. This caused some delays in areas where other trades were waiting for something to be done. The more people we speak with, the more it seems apparent that finding builders who finish a job they start in the time they agree is seemingly impossible!
The new staircase which we fitted had a slight conflict with building control. We were 10cm short of the regualtion head height, something that was maybe overlooked slightly on our end. As a result we have had to cut into the landing slightly to meet the regualtions, and unforunately narrow our landing, however it is still larger than the previous walk way.
Water ingress seems to be the bane of our existence at this property. Heavily due to the builder removing the pointing on the rear of the property and not having the guttering on throughout one of the wettest winters to date. Although actions have now been put in place to resolve this, I am sure that the water marks will continue to pain us moving forward, especially when it comes to decorating in a few months time.
All in all a hectic month at the property!
Looks to be progressing with next month, and hopefully a lot of change throughout the property.