Building stress

They say building or restructuring a house is one of the most stressful activities a person can go through…

Most of my regular followers know that this summer we moved into our newly renovated house. So far so good. I thought that at that stage, the worst was over. The good news is that our house is indeed coming on nicely, but stress was far from over…

We moved in together with a huge team of plumbers, electricians, carpenters, painters… you name a trade and we had it in our house! This meant that during the day, we were prevented from living our house and when everybody had finished in the evening, we had to start cleaning, cooking, housekeeping, driving, grocery shopping etc etc. You’d think after that it is over, but no, the snagging was about to start… or didn’t it?!

We were held on the line for three months… nothing significant happened in the house in the meantime. However, during that period another contractor was busy with the garden, so there at least progress was still visible, but everywhere traces of unfinished jobs were still lingering.

The worst of it all was that we were told people were due to come in, but nobody ever showed up. So we were blocked in the house and no progress… this is so frustrating!

Now snagging is finally resumed in November under a new contract after many attempts to get things going under the previous contract without success. However, I must confess that I am on the edge of my patience. I would like to plan my life again without external interference. I have my little business to run and want to dive in without being held back by one or the other tradesman to come in or not. I’d like my privacy back and my self determination. Moreover Christmas is the busiest period for us crafts people!

I know the guys in the building sector have a lot of work and they do not depend on any of our personal small building projects, whereas for us it is incredibly important to make a place our home. We are talking about a financial and personal huge investment and most of the times it is even a once-in-a-life-time project, but for builders it is just another job in the list of endless jobs they need to do. However, what does it cost them to finish one job before starting another? What does it cost to be a bit more respectful and transparent in their communication? Why do you need to drag things on for so long?

My son recently noted that it had taken the same time to renovate our house as it took to build the empire state building back in the 1930s!!! We are 13 months in and have yet not completely finished.

Just to say, that building plans are taking more energy, patience and time than you would expect. For anybody planning to start works, you are warned… maybe surround yourself with enough chocolate and selfcare to keep going! And hold on tightly to the Contractors that are keeping to their commitments: they are precious!