Wednesday 5 December 2012

The Waiting Game.


We've almost lost the will to live!

About two years ago we asked our local 'specialist' builder to lay a 'perfectly smooth concrete floor' in our newly acquired barn. He quoted a phenomenally high price, we reluctantly agreed, then waited.... Nothing.

Eventually some men arrived and they levelled the floor with several lorry-loads of crushed stone. They also covered it with plastic sheeting.... Then nothing.

Several months later, different men arrived and laid down some reinforcing metalwork for the concrete.... Since then, nothing.

Soon it will be Christmas, then the New Year, then Easter, then the Summer Holidays, etc, etc. 

We've now given up even thinking about them. Maybe one day they will turn up, maybe not.  Frankly, we don't really care any more! 

Some time in 2013 would be fine!


25 comments:

  1. Well I just hope you haven't paid them for this work yet.

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    1. No we haven't; not even a part of it. Maybe that's why he never comes!

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    2. I forgot to say WELCOME. Do you really live in Alaska?

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  2. Perhaps your builder is waiting for sedimentation to do the work for him? Maybe you could acquire and lay down a few plastic dinosaurs in there, just to give the hint of authenticity.

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  3. My goodness even over here they are faster than that....I do hope when they come they do a wonderful job for you,

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  4. Puts the traditional complaints about British workers into the shade!

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  5. My heart bleeds for you Cro. Not even the tiniest hint of sarcasm there, I assure you. I sold my house and moved to the restaurant site on the assurance the job would be finished six weeks later. That was back in January. Sadly, I DID pay the builder.

    They recently finished the entrance to my property, a wall topped with mesh fencing and painted 'Cro Magnon Orange'. The neighbor was so impressed, he asked me if I could get the same team in to do his boundary wall and fencing (he liked Cro Magnon Orange too). Scenting fresh money, the bastard contractor of mine has just sent, within four days of me telling him about a potential job, a team of eight men and all the gear and supplies and they are... WORKING!!! What about my bloody site? To add insult to injury, he has housed them in my as yet to be completed new house.

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    1. My man is also contracted to do some work on another nearby tobacco barn. If he even considered turning up to start on hers (before finishing mine), I'd reach for my gun.

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  6. You have a GUN!!!

    The only chance I have to get my money back in the form of a completed house and restaurant is to keep arranging more contracts like this to keep the sodding contractor afloat. Killing him, however attractive an idea, is not an option at the moment.

    'Cro Magnon Orange' exists now. I know you do not like it but when I saw your post about your neighbor's property I thought it would be ideal for my restaurant. There is only one company in Angola, Tintas de Angola, that can mix colours. When I printed your photos, they came out all wrong so I took my laptop down there, opened up your photos and said, 'That's what I want'. Now my neighbour wants the same colour so we have had to order more. Because it now has a name, I could ring them up and say, 'I need another two hundred litres of Cro Magnon Orange'.

    Are you going to sue me like the seventh Monty Python?

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    1. On the contrary; I am flattered that Cro Magnon Orange is now an Angolan norm. Perhaps a complete range of Cro Magnon Colours could be established?

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  7. Think a 'nice' solicitors letter may do the trick.

    Or you can try 'mithering' (Northern English colloquialism) for pestering. Try phoning the builder every day until they arrive. Women are excellent at this. We built an house in Ireland and it worked for us. It only took 6 months to get some roof trusses delivered. Good luck!

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    Replies
    1. We have done so much 'mithering' that we have become 'mithered' in turn.

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  8. Wow, I'm not believing how patient you are! Maybe it's time for you to start applying a little bit of pressure. Patience is a virtue and all that, but enough is enough!

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  9. Down here in West Country England they even have a word for it.
    If someone says they'll do something 'dreckly'... you might just as well forget about it.

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    Replies
    1. Sounds like Mañana.... we've had plenty of those (in French).

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  10. Wonder what his reaction would be if you finished it off yourself and never said anything..just let him come to do some work and find it all done. Be sure to pay him on the same time frame he did the work lol.

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  11. I was thinking along the same line as mybabyjohn/Delores. Is there a way for you to rent the equipment you need and do it yourself?

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    1. That's a lovely idea. Unfortunately the finish I'm after is (I think) beyond my capability.

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    2. This from the builder of towers, painter of pictures?????

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  12. have they been paid already? If no, I could bear this, if yes, I'd been steamin' mad!

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  13. This reminds me that I forgot to post my "barn of the month" photo. Dont suppose you would be so kind? ;o/

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  14. Hmmm, not sure what to tell you. Unfortunately, you may not see this finished until spring because concrete can't cure in wet or cold times, right? I'd be unhappy too!

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  15. Until I found out that they had not been paid a penny, I couldn't believe how slow they were, maybe a little incentive pay would speed it up. Looks like they have a lot of their own money into it.

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