Now I can Do It How I Like

26 April 2011

I am a free man!! No more keeping within a ridiculous budget, submitting my receipts to someone else, agreeing the way forward with a project and no more having to do things how other people like them done. Now I can finally put my stamp on something and do it how I like!

Mind you it hasn't been an easy week to get away from Chris and his business head. That bloke really only sees pound signs. I suppose that is how he has become so successful, but he was certainly willing to stiff me for whatever he could. Thankfully I am not stupid either and I had got everything in writing from him. I had an email where he agreed to the whole list of extras for the flat and where he said he wanted it to be high spec and not to skimp on materials.

I don't know if that would have stood up in court, but he agreed to my final invoice once I had forwarded several emails to him.

And so he should have. The flat looked pretty good even by my standards. It was the sort of place any young professional would move right into, but I have to say that Chris is yet to get a tenant for it. Not my problem though!

So I have spent the first part of this week at our new little house. I have been ripping up everything that isn't part of the structure and I have uncovered more than a few things which have made me question what we have done.

There is dry rot in much of the ground-floor floor boards and the source of this damp is coming from the slope of the garden. The water is just pooling around the walls of the house. Claire thinks this is easily fixed by regrading the garden away from the house and putting in some drainage. I am thinking damp-proofing – but we will see.

All of the windows need replacing as the sills are rotten. The chimney needs to be rebuilt before it falls over and the roof tiles need replacing as the holes in the roof are the source of the damp issues upstairs. The whole house will need new plaster on all the walls and ceilings and it needs a rewire. A new boiler will need to be installed and the radiator system will need to be looked at very carefully. I think there might be leaks there as well.

As for the old dodgy extension – that has come down already. We think we might just add a conservatory where it used to be. It will be cheaper and it is south facing and leads into the garden so it is an ideal place.

So how much is all of this going to cost? Without taking into account my labour, I think we are easily looking at £15,000. We don't have that much to spare, so I need to be working at the same time. I have a couple of small jobs coming up next week and am waiting to hear back on a quote for a big kitchen for the week after.

Thank goodness Claire has also picked up a landscaping job for this week or we might be eating beans on toast for the next month!!