Of Mice and Men

I visited the for the first time in well over a week today. I really have underestimated how much work this is for Marianna. I mean no great disrespect to our building team but most of them are remarkably disorganised and persistently lacking in common sense. The plasterers are the exception and are a brilliant team of three and seem very efficient. They keep Marianna informed of what they’re doing and how they intend to go about it and make sure they understand her wishes before going ahead. Their work has certainly transformed the house and it looks increasingly finished. We had a lengthy discussion with Max who wants the radiators fitted so that the heating can be switched on which will help the plaster dry. Then he wants to work from the top floor down adding skirting, architraves and doors. He’s eager to get it all finished.


Then we had a major row with John the plumbing partner of Pete the Plumber. There’s more than a slight hint of a George and Lennie element to their partnership and it’s much easier to deal with Pete. They’re not so much ‘& Son’ as ‘& Dad’. John had noticed that the shower we bought for the top floor will deposit the water slightly outside of the tray and yet had begun fitting it. We questioned why on earth he would begin to do so rather than call us. It wasn’t his job he told us. We bought it and he was there to fit it. We discussed swapping the second floor shower fittings with the first floor shower but unfortunately the pipes for these were different and were hidden by plaster and tiles. Taking the shower back to the suppliers may seem an obvious solution but Dave had opened the box and spread it out flat like a beach towel to kneel on. Somehow he had also managed to scratch part of the shower. Marianna also noticed marks on a sink and a toilet he had fitted. John doesn’t do discussion or negotiation or acceptance of responsibility but seems to do stropping and then walking out. The damage on the basin and toilet wasn’t his responsibility. They were ours. They weren’t marked when they were delivered we said. But that still wasn’t his responsibility; “I’m not like you, I don’t go over things with a fine toothed comb when I buy them”. Mmm, and that’s why it isn’t ‘& Son’ mate. So I rang Pete who is a sweet and lovely man. He said that if toilets and basins were damaged they’d be replaced. If the shower was damaged he’d try to use it with another customer for us. And if we wanted to remove the tiles and plaster and swap the two showers we could. But obviously we won’t, we’ll buy a shower that fits the tray.

There has also been some drama with the bi-fold doors which were fitted two weeks ago. The fitters were due to arrive at eight. They didn’t arrive and didn’t make contact until 10.40 when they said they wouldn’t be able to make it that day but would come the next. Marianna met with them in the morning, gave them her number and asked that they would call when they thought they were half an hour from finishing so she could go to the house from work for an inspection and instruction on how they opened, closed and locked. When she returned at 4.20 they had gone. We now have a bent set of keys, damaged by one of the builders because, it turns out, once you’ve unlocked the door you have to remove the keys before trying to open the doors. We’ve also noticed thirty two different marks, scratches and blemishes on them. Perhaps that’s why they didn’t hang around at the end of their day. We’ve only paid 50% of the cost at present. That may be all we end up paying.

On a similar subject of daftness after the Velux windows were fitted the roofers passed tiles and equipment through them when they were still working on the roof. So the white frames of the windows have some nice marks and scratches.

These are the frustrations that Marianna is experiencing on a daily basis and she’s really tiring of how dismissive a lot of Max’s team can be. She tells them how she would like something done, they laugh and say it’s not possible and she has to produce the magazine or brochure where she saw that design or idea. It’s true that she thinks almost every word used in this country is derived from the Greek language and that the ancient Greeks invented everything worthwhile except for Wii and those cushioned trays that help you eat and watch tv but she’d hadn’t previously believed herself to be a huge intellect. And yet our builders are forcing this belief upon her. She walks around the house with the electrician/plumber/carpenter telling them what she wants and where she wants it and returns the next day to find that the wrong type has been fitted or it’s in the wrong place. They always acknowledge the error but make her seem unreasonably fussy when she wants it altered. It’s also unreasonable that she refuses to pay for the alteration. Recently, despite there being pipes coming from the wall, the shape of a radiator drawn on the wall and the word ‘Radiator’ written in the shape the electrician still tried to fit a wall socket there. It just defies belief. It’s like those people who press the button at the pedestrian crossing even though there are already a dozen people standing and waiting for the flashing green man to tell them to cross; “Thank God you came along mate. We’ve all been standing here for hours. It didn’t occur to us to press the button”. What can I say? Some people get to sit on the intellectual carnival float and others, flag in hand, watch it go by.