Harry!

Harry!
Originally uploaded by Burrow Life.

It's all been worth it!

Harry the hedgehog has been sighted in the garden three times, and I know now that the vast expense (and more!) of the build has been worth it. This is what they want - wildlife in full view from the sofa.

Have read up on this, and it appears that Harry should be hibernating any day now but I'm hoping he'll hang around for a few more days.

Rachel & Treacle xxx

Burrow Life

Rain Stopped Work

If this project ever ends we must surely review the excuses we have heard for not doing any work and pick the best. Today's excuse is my favourite so far:

"I looked out of the window this morning & it looked like rain, so I told the lads not to do anything today".

If only the same excuse would work for me in my line of work. There turned out to be some credibility behind this unlikely explanation for not doing a stroke of work. Again. Apparently, much of the joinery work will involve sawing and that creates dust. A lot of dust. Needs to be done outside. Hence the problem with the rain.

So, Monday it is. Again. Subject to the weather, of course.

Treacle & I are not amused.

Rachel

Under New Management

Owing to the stress of the last few weeks, Neil has temporarily retired from his post as Blog Author in Chief. Treacle and I have stepped unto the breach!

The big change follows the same old story. Another completion date promised then dashed. Promised then dashed and so on and on and on.

We accepted "practical completion" of the project about 3 weeks ago on the basis that 90% of the work had been done, it was liveable, and that the last few jobs would be finished within 2 weeks. Of course they wouldn't! Once again, we look back with hindsight and ask "how did we fall for that?"

As it became clear that the fourth (fifth? I've lost count) completion date would not be met, Neil took a call from Mr Builder. The offer was tempting. How about we agree to getting the thirty-or-so odd carpentry jobs being done at when the plumber returns to fit the second bath (yes, the first one's faulty wouldn't you know) is fitted? No, said Neil (the awkward one), that doesn't make sense at all. Aagh, says Mr Builder, "you're just being awkward now".

Two months beyond the original completion date I'm almost lost for words. Fortunately, Dear Reader, not quite.

I called Mr Architect who called Mr Builder who called me. The workers will be finishing another job tomorrow and they're all mine from tomorrow lunchtime. They'll stay "until the job is done"!! New bath promised next week and the plumber will take a shifty at the boiler whilst he's at it.

Is the end nigh?? Watch this space!

Yours, Rachel & the Fluffy (rather clever, in fact) One

Another Two Weeks

Another site meeting last night, this time with the novelty angle of us being in the house.

Absolutely no work has happened at the house since last Thursday, and despite emails and phone calls alerting Messrs Builder and Architect to the fact we can't use the shower and the dishwasher won't work, nothing was done yesterday. Not only that, but they've discovered a leak under the bath, which means we now can't get clean at all!

The site meeting soon descended into a negotiation about the variations to the contract, some of which were quite reasonable and some of which were taking the p*ss. Try as we might to get out of head-to-head discussions with Mr Builder we were dragged down that road, but had a long word with Mr Architect afterwards who advised on tactics. I was advised not to pursue a claim for late delivery of the project, at least for now.

So, the upshot of all this is it will be another two weeks before we see a finish to all the work. And even then there will be a further 5 day wait for the glass shelves in the dining room cabinets. There was, at least, a promise that our plumbing problems will be sorted today.

Let's not hold our breath....

Virtual tour

Come with us now for a tour of the new Burrow...



First, the front door. Looking splendid. Still short of a door knob though.



And here is the living room. How about our new armchair? It feels so light and spacious - much more than we thought it would.



And here is the almost complete kitchen. We're srill short of handles, so if you look carefully you can see some Duck Tape stuck on the edges to allow us to open the cupboards.



Just love the dining room. Our new table and chairs really go well with the floor.



Here is the finished shower, which we can't use at the moment! At least it looks good.

Back home!

The impossible is true - we're back home. We came by to the house on Thursday night and found the kitchen was complete and so was the bathroom.

Obviously I use the word 'complete' in its widest possible sense: The kitchen has no handles at all, the extractor isn't wired up and we don't have any counter lights. But it works and looks lovely. The bathroom doesn't yet have shelved in its built in cupboard, but everything else works. Well, the shower only seems to have one setting at the moment - roasting.

We're find it a little tricky to adjust as we don't know how anything works (we really need to work out how to use the heating since the frost has now arrived), but discovering even the smallest thing is really exciting.

Lots of work still to do to get things straight, although we are making good in-roads into the boxes in the bedroom. Will have to hurry it up as we have a house guest from tomorrow night!

What was really lovely yesterday was having our neighbours come round with flowers and cards to welcome us back. That felt really good.

Lots of pictures to follow once we've managed to get things looking a bit more organised.

Stone me!

Stone me!
Originally uploaded by Burrow Life.

...It's a granite worktop! Delivered "on time" (after a 6 week delay) by Mr Granite. Shame he forgot the upstands to go around the edge, but hey, he got close.

Today is official moveback day No. 3. Needless to say we don't think the house will be ready and have no intention of moving back. Our site meeting on Monday with Mr Architect (now returned from Turkey and noticeably cheesed off with the lack of progress) revealed a 'to do' list that was all too long to be achieved by today. But we have Friday booked off to do some unpacking, so let's hope things are a bit more complete by then.