No new posts.

We went away most of July for holiday.  I left my wife and daughter with my in-law, and came back before actual work started in August.  It's the first time in the last ten years that I had to cook and do laundry myself.  On top of those I also need to check on the contractors everyday.  I had no time to record the progress.  But I should find time to record my experience soon.

Slow down again

We were quite excited of our plan last week.  The plan was to take down the wall between the bathroom and the toilet.  We went to Selco after our Saturday routine to buy chisel, hammer and big buckets.  We also exam the loft over and over again to be sure that the house won't come down with the wall.  Then we drilled many holes on the wall.  That's when I realised that we might have problems.  It was very difficult to drill through the wall.  Much more difficult than what a builder suggested.  Then I started to use chisel to chip the surface off.  It was then clear that the wall was built with brick and concrete, not the plaster as a builder suggested.  It took us quite a long time to chip off a surface area of about one square inch.  We then have to give up.

You just have to pay the professionals for some certain work.

Planning Permission and Building Regulation

It has come to the point where I cannot ignore the need of applying planning permission if I want to proceed with the project.  But it is so confusing.  I feel I need to sort it out in a good order.

First of all, what is planning permission?  Planning permission or planning consent is the permission required in order to be allowed to build on land, or change the use of land or buildings. In very simple terms, planning officer looks at the aesthetics and the functionality of the plan.  Does the property fits in the area after alternation?  Would it affect the community? There are guidelines that planning officers follow. But it is not prescriptive.  An application can pass while another look-alike application can fail.

Building regulation is totally different.  It's main concern is the structure of the property.  It is engineering.  It is objective rather than subjective.  As long as you put enough in it, your application will pass.

In my case, I plan to convert my garage to a en-suite bedroom.  According to the architect that I spoke to today, it doesn't require planning permission.  However, because I am opening a new door at the entrance hall to enter the new en-suite, the structure of the door will need to be approved by building regulation officer.

The second part of the project is to build a two storey extension.  According to the planning officer, if I was building an one-storey extension, it doesn't require planning permission either.  However, the fact that I want to remove the wall between the existing kitchen and the new extension to make it a large kitchen will require building regulation approval.  Obviously removing part of the exterior wall is a structural change.

In terms of the time needed to get the consents, planning permission will typically need more than two months.  This is to allow my neighbours to submit their objection of my development.  But if I was developing a large area, the application will need to be approved by Planning Permission Committee, and it definately takes much longer than two months.

In some cases it is not clear if a planning permission is required, for example my garage conversion (which affects the look of the house thus in theory planning permission is needed but I was told by planning officer that I don't needed it), I can submit an application for "Certificate of Lawfulness" or "Lawful Development Certificate".  It serves as a proof of my lawful development, which is especially useful when I come to sell the house.  Unfortunately I was told that obtaining the Lawful Development Certificate takes as long as it takes to obtain a full planning permission.

Building regulation approval takes as long as planning permission takes to obtain.  But unlike planning permission, work can actually start without receiving the approval from building regulation officer.  But if the work does start without approval, the owner is at his/her own risk.  Building regulation officer could turn up at the site and reject the alternation that has been done.  In that case, additional cost will incur for the needed rectification.

The architect also mentioned about a way to apply building regulation approval without sending the drawings and structure calculations.  Basically the property owner is 100% at his / her own risk if the plan is not done.  Obviously telling me about this is in conflicts with the architect's interest, because he is basically saying that I don't need his service.  He realised that he started a wrong topic quick quickly, and didn't way to talk about it thereafter.

Manhole

We want to have a down stair loo.  That's the whole reason of garage conversion (to an en-suite).  However, most of the builders couldn't give us a detailed quote because no one knows where the nearest sewerage is.  I know there is a manhole in the sun lounge.  But I couldn't open it until this morning.  The key that I bought yesterday, plus the sticks that I took off from the curtain rail this morning, formed a lever to lift the manhole cover.  It worked perfectly.

Picture taken from (roughly) north to south. The tee join from the stack of my house.

I was told that the cost of building a manhole also depends on the depth of the manhole.  Apparently the deeper, the more expensive.  I measured the depth from the ground level to the top of the sewerage is about 670mm.  Learning from a builder who came yesterday, this is not considered deep.  The builder who came this morning told me the cost will be in hundreds rather than thousands.  If the cost will be a few hundreds, it is acceptable.  But so far, almost every builder wants to charge more than what it costs.  It is annoying.  But it is life.

Wall paper and ceiling tiles - almost done £1,000 saving

In one of the quotes, the cost of ripping off the ceiling tiles and wall paper is £1,000.  This is almost done.  We feel we have made an "virtual" achievement - as if we made £1,000.

The amount of EPS ceiling tiles is amazing.  I know how EPS burns.  It surprises me that UK government even allows (or allowed) this nasty thing to be used at home, especially in kitchen.

EPS fell off from the ceiling

Work in progress

Amount of EPS taken off the kitchen ceiling

She wants to help, but she is not tall enough.

Pushing on the progress

Did two things on this lovely windy Saturday. First, I met two more builders today. One is recommended by my solicitor; and the other is recommended by my new neighbours. Both are very nice persons. But I realised now that builders' quote is not only dependent on what the work involves. It also depends on how much work the builder currently has. If the builder has enough, he may not be as interested as when he doesn't. But one of them turns the quote around very quickly. It's still expensive. But at least it comes to the ball park.

The second thing that we did was pushing the progress forward. My wife has spent many days stripping wall paper. She finishes her part today. And I just started taking off ceiling tiles today. Honestly, it's not as difficult as I thought. But because the ceiling tiles are over my head, I have to raise my hands and keep them high for many hours. It is exhausting. Muscle of my right hand cramped first, so I switched to my left hand - which also cramped an hour later. Luckily Justin and his family came to see our house, so I could take a break.

 I spent the rest of the day tidying up the wall paper, and took three full bin bags of wall paper to the dump. Doing home work before the start of the work certainly pays off. Before I started take off the ceiling tiles, I Googled to learn "how to". The following video is the most useful ceiling tile video. I did exactly the same as it says, and it worked perfectly for me.

In addition to the ceiling tiles, I also took off the coving.  The coving in the entrance hall was the most difficult.  The rest are ok.

Electrician confirmed

When I was on my business trip earlier this week, my wife has been working hard to strip wall paper off.  According to her, all the bed rooms are done.  But the wall paper in the hallway, downstairs in the living room and dinning room is really difficult to strip.  She is not very tall, so tripping off the ceiling tiles is not a job for her.  It is for me.

The biggest progress today is the conversation with Tony the electrician.  He sent me his quote yesterday - £4,000.  It is not the cheapest quote.  But I remember talking to Tony.  He knows what he is doing.  So even though he is not the cheapest, I didn't rule him out.  We spoke on the phone.  I asked for reduction.  He talked to his business partner and agreed on a lower price but not low enough.  So I offered a slightly lower price.  He talked with his partner.  And they agreed.  £3,500.  I think it is a good price.

I need to send the plan to him.  I also need to remove the wall in the bathroom so he can get the electrical done.  I also need to get the plumbers confirmed quick.  I also need to strip the ceiling tiles.  Getting busy...

How to find better contractors

I've met 11 contractors in the last nine days.  It's hard to comment on each of them.  And my comments will be hugely bias anyway.  However, it is worth talking about the best way to find contractors - in my opinion anyway.

So far, contractors came to me three different ways. I found one of them at RatedPeople.  About half of them were found in FMB website, and another half by referral.

People I found from RatePeople gave me the worst impression.  Maybe I wasn't lucky enough.  The guy seems to be working alone.  To be fair, most of them work alone.  But usually the builder would have enough knowledge to make the quote on behalf of electrician and plumber.  But this person has to get the electrician and plumber in for a separate visit to provide a quote.  This is a a problem itself.  The problem is that he exaggerates the complicity of the work too much for me to believe.  Do you need to dig a over one-meter foundation to SEAL a door?  Come on.

FMB registered people are ok.  I consider them as normal builders.  By saying "normal" I mean they are by and large honest.  Of cause they also say some silly things trying to maximise their profit - like any businessmen.  But so far, none of them have gone far off the tracks.

Who gave me the best impression are the contractors recommended by my solicitor.  My solicitor belongs to a business network.  People in his network seem to be decent people.  I especially like Tony from Daton Electrical.  He listens to what I say and gives me practical suggestions.  He also knows his stuff (although he humbly said he's been sitting in office for a few years and needs to be updated).  As long as his quote is in the ball park, I think I will go with him.

However, recommended people are not always good.  The person recommended by my surveyor told me I need to spend 10% to 20% of the house price to bring the house to date.  That is ridiculous.

Overall, I found talking to these people helps a lot.  They often give me some ideas that I didn't think about.  And indeed, many of them are very helpful.  Mark Walden who is recommended by a building regulation officer even told me how to do things to same my cost.  After talking to him, we bought a steamer for £28 which in about three days will save us £1,000 wall-paper stripping job by doing it ourselves.

Keep calm and carry on !!!

I have to admit that I was too naive to have thought the project would be straightforward.  It is not complicated.  But even a very straightforward building renovation and extension project would be complicated to a property novice like me because of it's complex nature. 

At some points, my engineer's instinct kicks in and I couldn't help digging into the technical details of what they told me.  For example, I was told about the Megaflow system only a few days ago.  But I just couldn't resist my temptation of gathering information to understand how it works.  After so many hours on the internet, I am probably an expert among those amateur now.

Another problem is my perfectionist side would force me to worry too much for too little.  This is a home for the foreseeable future so I want it to be perfect.  But it is difficult when time and money are both limited - and even worse - when I don't know what perfect is myself.  So I start to worry about what if things go wrong; how can I prevent things from going wrong; and what if they still go wrong.  I am driving myself nuts.

Fortunately, I do not need to rush.  This is my only consolation.  With the other worries in my life, I should take this project easy.

Cost of whole house renovation and a 10ft by 8ft extension

Received the pricing from Harry the builder.  It's much more expensive than I expected.

One story 10ft by 8ft extension: £15,000
Garage convert to an en-suite room: £10,000
Total rewiring: £4,000
Total re-plumbing, un-vented hot water system and new Vaillant combi boiler.: £4,000
Install new bathroom: £3,000
Remove paper from whole house: £1,000
Replace doors of the whole house: £1,000
Painting and decoration of the house: £3,500
Outside Fascia Board: £1,000
Total £42,500

I guess this doesn't include VAT.  I don't include the kitchen units and bathroom units.  That's means the total project cost will be over £70,000.  And this is only one-storey extension.  This is way over what I want to pay for.

Nice neighbours - how lucky we are !

Went to the house again today because the Wickes kitchen design lady came by, Harry the builder who called me yesterday also came by, and we also promised to visit our next door neighbour today.

The Wickes lady was okay.  She sounds too professional to only be a kitchen designer.  Later we found her husband is actually a builder.  No wonder she has some builders' gadgets such as the ultrasonic distance measure.  She seemed to like our idea of having a peninsula in the middle.  She also told us how expensive it is to move the gas meter.  £2,000 it is.  And it costs even more to move the electrical meter.  Gush - no can afford.

Harry the builder came with a big guy who doesn't speak very fluent English but apparently has much more experience than Harry the builder.  Although Harry the builder was very persuasive on the phone, he was very quiet at the presence of this big guy.  The big guy knows his stuffs.  When we talk about things like a shower, he remembers all the dimensions by head.  He was very decisive about how the en-suite should look like.  It took him no time to draw the relative locations and dimensions on the ground.  He also recommended us to check Megaflow boiler which turned out to be more suitable for us than the popular combi boiler.  I like him.  However, when he told us that he can move the meter for us for £200.  I thought that sounded doggy.

Karen and Clive welcomed us at door.  It was a great visit.  Karen is a super organised person.  She was able to pull out the building plan almost as soon as we started talking about it.  Their house is very neat (although they keep saying it's a mess) and their garden is so beautiful.  It's especially good to see their extension project.  They did similar to what we want to do.  They also gave us the contact information of their builder.  Seeing how their garage was done, I think it's a right decision to convert our garage.  They are very nice people.  We are very pleased to be their neighbours.

The sky cleared out later in the afternoon.  Dave came to our house to show us the antique that his father found in antique market.  I told him about our new neighbours and how we like them.  He was pleased for us and also looked a little sad (to lose us as neighbours I believe).  Oh, don't worry.  even after we move, I won't be absent more often for our Sunday walks than I always have been anyway.

Getting to know another new neighbour

It's rainy today - just like what weather forecast has predicted.  I am glad that I has mowed the lawn yesterday.  But somehow I just want to go back to the house, although there isn't really anything need doing.  So I take Heather and Danna there in the afternoon.  The kids are really excited.  Heather already has seen a lot of snails, so she leads Danna to the garden.  They play together and leave me alone (most of the time).  That's nice.

As I spread some weed-killer on the lawn, Clive from next door come by to say hello.  I have seen his immaculate garden from upstairs.  I wish I could maintain my garden as well as he does.  He is really nice.  He did mowed the lawn of the front yard for me.  He invited us to see his extension tomorrow.  He also will give us information of the builder who did his job.  That's very helpful.

Later in the afternoon, I received another call from a builder called Harry.  He has strong Indian accent, and he is very confident.  He told me all of his builders are in house - that's why he is quick and inexpensive.  I do believe good management makes a difference.  Well, looking forward to see what Harry has to offer.

So tomorrow morning, we are going to see the kitchen guy, Harry the builder and the next door neighbour Clive.  So far, all of the neighbours are really nice.  Even though we haven't moved there yet, I feel we are already accepted.  I made some simple introduction cards which has our names and address.  It will make it easier for them to remember our names, especially mine.

The house is mine

I was in a meeting when the first call came in Friday morning.  I could see the solicitor's number.  The second call followed just one minute after it.  It's the agent.  They both told me the transaction is completed, and the house is mine.

I've arranged a builder to see the house Friday afternoon.  And another one this morning.

The first builder is Alf.  He found me on RatedPeople, and he is a very nice gentleman.  He has been in business for many years.  But I started to feel not so good when he told me that he needs to dig down underneath the garage door to build a foundation, so the garage door can be converted to a  window.  You got to be joking me.  Foundation for a stack of brick of less than one meter high?  He also asked me what kind of sockets I prefer for the power points.  I asked how much difference would it make.  He said, oh massive.  The fancy sockets are much more expensive than the plain white plastic sockets.  My instinct told me it cannot be the case.  So I asked the material price.  He said, white plastic about £12 each.  Fancy ones about £25 each.  So I immediately do my math (not in my mind.  I read it out loud to embarrassed him a bit).  Let's say, 7 rooms, 4 sockets in each room, £13 more each socket --- so we are talking about £400 more cost in a £40,000 project.  Is that significant?  He didn't say anything in response.  But we did carry through to the end.  He said he will send his plumber and electrician around for a quote.  he asked me if I should keep my key with neighbour, or give my key to him.  I don't know.  But surely he cannot expect me to trust someone who I met only once that much.

The builder this morning is Anthony.  He is about mid fifties?  But he is really nice.  I have absolutely no problem with him.  When we talked about how to economise the project, he told me in one of his previous projects, the project owner paid his non-VAT registered builders directly, so it is cash deal between them.  At first I felt that odd.  But that is probably something worth thinking about.  Maybe because he is a FMB member, I think Anthony is someone that I can work with.

After my regular Saturday phone call with dad, I took Heather back to sort the garden out.  Gosh, it is big.  The grass was so long that it jammed the lawn mower every now and then.  But Heather was so happy in the garden.  She played with the snails that she found.  She ran after the dragonflies.  She shrieked at the sight of woodlouse.  She also ran around the house taking pictures --- 78 pictures that she took.  I am delighted to see she enjoys the house.  It's all worth it.

Hazel from 32 came to say hello.  She's been in the neighbourhood for almost as long as Mrs Gathercole.  Very pleasant lady indeed.

The garden is not done yet.  I want to go back to fix the bushes.  But it might start to rain tomorrow.

Stalled ...

OK, contract exchanged last Friday. Completion this Thursday.  I should be excited.  But I am not.  I just feel tired.  How can buying a house take so long? I need to cool down and get my head around the whole thing. Wife and daughter are going away for a couple months.  I need to plan for things before they happen. ...

No, not again !

Got a phone call from Sharon, the solicitor's assistant late afternoon. I was on my way to have a hair cut.  I was almost there.

Sharon: Apparently the seller's solicitor changed his mind again.  He said he can't complete the transaction next week.  He'd like to know when you you want to complete?  Any preference?

Me: Well, let me think.... How about last week?

She laughed.  I didn't.  I told her that I want to complete ASAP.  She should go back to ask the seller's solicitor when he can complete.  So she did.

I parked my car.  As soon as I walked into Clements' barbershop, my phone rang again.

Sharon: It changed again. He said he can complete next week. How about completing on the 1st of June?

Me: Well, that's one day later than the plan yesterday.  But I am okay with that.

So that's it.  The shenanigan is over.  I am not looking forward to another one.  1st of June it is.

Exchange contract tomorrow, finally

Got a phone call from my solicitor 8:30 this morning. He didn't sound happy.  Because vendor's solicitor sent him a fax yesterday in the late afternoon, telling him the lender has released the charges and he needs to complete in a week. Otherwise the vendor will pull out.

They have been holding the transaction back by not arranging the lender to release the charge. Now they threaten us.

Anyway...

He asked for permission to exchange the contract today.

No.  I can't exchange until tomorrow.  Because we need to arrange insurance.  If we do it now, it still won't be effective until midnight tonight.  Also, it is your advice to me that I should view the property again before exchange.

Called the agent, arranged to see the house again in my lunch break.

Honestly, the hall looked smaller than what I remember.  But the living room and dining room looked bigger without the vendor's furniture.  We also measured the kitchen.  Nina found the box behind the cooker is only a box of gas pipes, not the chimney.  Ok, the estate agent's measurement makes sense now.  The garden is a mess.  Need to cut the grass soon.  Otherwise, all good.

Instructed the solicitor to arrange exchange tomorrow.  I also asked him to arrange the legal undertaking for me to borrow the keys on daily basis.  But he doesn't think that's a good idea.

The vendor's solicitor may ask you to pay for the insurance (oh, yes, you already are paying), the bills and probably council tax too.  It's too much a hassle for such short period of time.  Mind you, we are completing the transaction next week anyway.

Yes, he is right.  Simple is good.  I paid for his advice.  I might well take his advice.

Ok, bye-bye the house.  I will see you again when you are mine.

Still waiting ...

It is 20th May. I still don't know when we will complete the transaction.  Last Thursday 17th May the estate agent asked me where we were.  Ha, I thought you are the person who should know it. Anyway, I asked the solicitor who then told me the vendor's bank didn't seem to be interested to release the charge although the mortgage has been repaid long time ago.  Come on, the purchase price was less than £700 for the vendor - about 60 years ago.  How much mortgage are we talking about?

This again proves that everything takes longer than I thought.  Thinking about the huge project, I start to doubt if we can move in by end of this year.

Light at the End of the Tunnel, really !

The solicitor finally told me that he has received the revised mortgage offer. Obviously the most important thing for them is to get my money. So the statement was sent to me immediately. Because sending the money is part of the plan, I didn't think I would have problem sending the money out. But when it ACTUALLY happened, I hesitated. This is probably the single largest investment I've made in my life, and I am not used to handling large amount of money like this. Nina said it would be alright, I am sure she is right.

It's not very straightforward to send money. First of all, I forgot my telephone banking password.  FirstDirect is very vigilant about account security. As soon as they sensed my hesitation, they locked my accounts - both internet account and telephone banking.  It took me quite a while to get my access back.

Now, it's all real.  I have to keep my head clear everyday to make sure the house renovation project goes well.  Not a problem.  I can do that.

How can it take so long?

I told the solicitor of the price reduction on the 2nd of May. Yes, yesterday was a long weekend Monday.  So technically it has been only three working days since then.  But it feels having been so long.  All I want is the bank to revise their mortgage offer.  Is that difficult?

The wait is so taxing that I almost lost my momentum to carry-on at the speed that I did.  I know I have to finish the interior design.  I wanted to write a specification for what we want of the house.  But the energy is nowhere to find.

Just wrote a reminding email to the solicitor.  Fingers crossed for tomorrow.

Light at the end of tunnel

Got a phone call from the estate agent yesterday that the vendor is moving to a nursing home, and the vendor's daughter who has the power of attorney has decided that the transaction should continue without further waiting.  She is going to move her mother's belongings to a storage so we can complete the deal.

I am sorry that Mrs G is moving to a home rather than a proper house near her daughter.  She must feel bad about this.  But if I were her daughter, I would also find the decision difficult to make i guess.

Today, the agent confirmed out telephone discussion with a formal letter.  Solicitor has been informed.  I finally see the end of the tunnel.

I thought I would be excited.  But it only feels natural.  If anything, I do feel apprehensive.  A lot of works need to be done.

Meeting the future neighbours

We went to the the houses near the one we are in process of buying.  The idea is to see any houses that have building extension similar to the way we want, knock at the doors and ask if we can have a look of how they did the extension.  I expected some cold faces and white eyeballs.  But it did quite happen that way.

We first found a house in the "frying pan".  Although the plan is to knock at the door as ask for a look, in reality it took some courage to knock at some stranger's door.  But we did.  A nice lady came to answer the door.  I said "we are in process of buying this house..." I handed over the estate agent's brochure.  She looked and immediately said with some excitement "A-ha, you are buying the house next to my mother-in-law.  My mother-in-law spoke to you last time... you know? Mrs Pxxxr.  You are buying Gxxxxxle's house".

Waa, this is quite a neighborhood.  People know people.  Great.  I love the sense of community.  She asked us to wait while she got her husband from the garden.  They welcomed us in and gave us a wonderful tour in their house.  Oh, I love their garden.  Looks as if it' in Alice in Wonderland.

Then we decided to do it again at the house right at the back of the prospected house because it looks like the way we want ours to be.  We stopped the car in front of the house.  with the previous experience, I am not as shy as last time. 

I pressed the door bell, a nice lady came to answer.  Again, I said "we are in process of buying the house at the back of yours..". 

Before I finish, and certainly before I could pass the agent's brochure to her, she said "Oh, you are buying Gxxxxxxle's house.  How can I help?"

How the hell does she know.  I wondered...

"Does everybody know everybody here"  I said.

"My husband often chat with Mrs Gxxxxxxxle over the fence.  Dxxxd ~~~ you have a visitor~~~".

They also gave us a great tour in their house.

I cannot believe.  We drove on the road, randomly chose two houses that look like what we want.  And the owners of both houses know about the house that I am buying.  They know the people selling it.  They know that she is moving to her daughter.  They know she is in hospital today and will be home in a couple days.

What a neighborhood...