The Driveway Lower Layers
The first time I met extra charges from builders was when I had the driveway re-laid. It was a lovely red tarmac but grass was peering through.
I didn't want brick. But this seems to be the modern thing. The advantage is that if you need to lift the driveway (we did for the gas board after we smelled a leak), the bricks can be lifted from one area of the drive and re-laid, no change in colour from newer tarmac.
I got a couple of quotations for relaying the drive with bricks, took the cheapest, and told him that I had a small budget and could not go over budget?
Were there any extra costs, VAT, anything else?
The assured me that was a fixed price. He would lay down a brick surface.
I assumed it would go on top. No. He insisted on digging up my lovely undulating red tarmac to lay the bricks on a new even cement surface.
Then he told me he had to dig up the existing cement underlay.
Then he said it was unusually deep, three feet instead of one foot. (Not sure of the exact figures.) He needed special digging equipment at vast expense. It would take a few days longer.
Since I was going overseas, but didn't want him to know that, I was not pleased at the longer time. And definitely not pleased about the extra cost. I refused to pay. I did not have the budget for it.
He agreed to finish the job, with or without the digging machine. He wanted cash.
However, I did not want to run around with that amount of cash. No guarantee that I could prove I had paid.
I insisted he came with me to the bank. They counted out the cash. I handed it straight to him under the bank cameras. He could not say I had removed any of the money. He knew the bank had just counted it.
I had a new drive. the gaps between the bricks were not sealed, just loose sand. Plants pushed their way through.
A few months later I found the driveway was sinking under the weight of a large car and delivery vehicles, such as a gardener's van and all sorts of heavy vehicles. Now I knew why the builder of the house had laid an extra deep foundation, to support not just walkers and bikes and minicars, but large saloons and delivery vans.
All sorts of heavy vehicles arrived, I noticed:
Window Cleaners.
The gas board.
The garden shed delivery van.
Postal van delivering parcels if no room in the road outside.
Grocery delivery van.
All large, heavy vehicles.
More recently I had another experience with prices inceasing, caused by what was hidden underneath, they claimed.
Carpet Laying
Next I called in carpet layers to install a new carpet. John Lewis was charging a lot. I went for a cheaper option.
After I had paid and waited for the order, I got another bill for over five hundred pounds to lay the carpet. Too late to change now. I had waited a month. I had paid for the carpet.
The carpet layers arrive. They want extra for moving furniture.
But we had already paid for moving furniture. I call the company. They say I must pay the carpet layers, and the carpet suppliers will give me a refund. But they won't call me and ask for my bank details - because of data protection - I have to call them to ask for the refund.
Next, the carpet layers go to remove the unerlaying carpet. It makes a huge sut all over the newly painted walls and the rolls of new carpet and the curtains and sofas.
It will cost me over two hundred pounds to clean the entire flat.
Next, the carpet layer says my underlay has been stuck down to the concrete floor with araldite or some strong glue.
He wants to go off and rent a huge heavy machine to remove the carpet and re-level the concrete. this will take another day as the machine cannot be delivered until tomorrow and he has another job. But the tenants are due to move in tomorrow - and the cleaners are booked for today.
The price for the carpet laying is now doubled. I do not like the idea of a big machine. It could damage the buildings doorways landing me with another bill. The carpet layer will take time off work from the strain of lifting it up the steps of the building.
I am not happy. He wants to drive off and do a tour of companies which might stock the machine.
I suspect I won't see him for hours, days. I have just spent two weeks hanging around whilst plumbers go off looking for the nuts and pipes they needed, they said, for fixing new taps. That was a job I thought would take an afternoon. However, it took two weeks. The cost of parts and labour kept escalating. Supervising the work and just opening and shutting and locking up the doors kept me on the site waiting from 9 am until they turned up at four pm and finally left at 10 pm.
I told the carpet layer, no. Just lay the new carpet on top. I want the old underlay underneath to deaden sound, which is one of the requirements for the leaseholders.
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer. Please share links to your favourite posts.
The first time I met extra charges from builders was when I had the driveway re-laid. It was a lovely red tarmac but grass was peering through.
I didn't want brick. But this seems to be the modern thing. The advantage is that if you need to lift the driveway (we did for the gas board after we smelled a leak), the bricks can be lifted from one area of the drive and re-laid, no change in colour from newer tarmac.
I got a couple of quotations for relaying the drive with bricks, took the cheapest, and told him that I had a small budget and could not go over budget?
Were there any extra costs, VAT, anything else?
The assured me that was a fixed price. He would lay down a brick surface.
I assumed it would go on top. No. He insisted on digging up my lovely undulating red tarmac to lay the bricks on a new even cement surface.
Then he told me he had to dig up the existing cement underlay.
Then he said it was unusually deep, three feet instead of one foot. (Not sure of the exact figures.) He needed special digging equipment at vast expense. It would take a few days longer.
Since I was going overseas, but didn't want him to know that, I was not pleased at the longer time. And definitely not pleased about the extra cost. I refused to pay. I did not have the budget for it.
He agreed to finish the job, with or without the digging machine. He wanted cash.
However, I did not want to run around with that amount of cash. No guarantee that I could prove I had paid.
I insisted he came with me to the bank. They counted out the cash. I handed it straight to him under the bank cameras. He could not say I had removed any of the money. He knew the bank had just counted it.
I had a new drive. the gaps between the bricks were not sealed, just loose sand. Plants pushed their way through.
A few months later I found the driveway was sinking under the weight of a large car and delivery vehicles, such as a gardener's van and all sorts of heavy vehicles. Now I knew why the builder of the house had laid an extra deep foundation, to support not just walkers and bikes and minicars, but large saloons and delivery vans.
All sorts of heavy vehicles arrived, I noticed:
Window Cleaners.
The gas board.
The garden shed delivery van.
Postal van delivering parcels if no room in the road outside.
Grocery delivery van.
All large, heavy vehicles.
More recently I had another experience with prices inceasing, caused by what was hidden underneath, they claimed.
Carpet Laying
Next I called in carpet layers to install a new carpet. John Lewis was charging a lot. I went for a cheaper option.
After I had paid and waited for the order, I got another bill for over five hundred pounds to lay the carpet. Too late to change now. I had waited a month. I had paid for the carpet.
The carpet layers arrive. They want extra for moving furniture.
But we had already paid for moving furniture. I call the company. They say I must pay the carpet layers, and the carpet suppliers will give me a refund. But they won't call me and ask for my bank details - because of data protection - I have to call them to ask for the refund.
Next, the carpet layers go to remove the unerlaying carpet. It makes a huge sut all over the newly painted walls and the rolls of new carpet and the curtains and sofas.
It will cost me over two hundred pounds to clean the entire flat.
Next, the carpet layer says my underlay has been stuck down to the concrete floor with araldite or some strong glue.
He wants to go off and rent a huge heavy machine to remove the carpet and re-level the concrete. this will take another day as the machine cannot be delivered until tomorrow and he has another job. But the tenants are due to move in tomorrow - and the cleaners are booked for today.
The price for the carpet laying is now doubled. I do not like the idea of a big machine. It could damage the buildings doorways landing me with another bill. The carpet layer will take time off work from the strain of lifting it up the steps of the building.
I am not happy. He wants to drive off and do a tour of companies which might stock the machine.
I suspect I won't see him for hours, days. I have just spent two weeks hanging around whilst plumbers go off looking for the nuts and pipes they needed, they said, for fixing new taps. That was a job I thought would take an afternoon. However, it took two weeks. The cost of parts and labour kept escalating. Supervising the work and just opening and shutting and locking up the doors kept me on the site waiting from 9 am until they turned up at four pm and finally left at 10 pm.
I told the carpet layer, no. Just lay the new carpet on top. I want the old underlay underneath to deaden sound, which is one of the requirements for the leaseholders.
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer. Please share links to your favourite posts.
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