The Merry Month – Robert Merry
In the beginning, in the first flush of a new relationship, promises of completion, promises of co-operation and togetherness, in harmony, towards a common goal – the completion of the project. A date set. Sacrosanct. Immoveable.
We signed up, prepared programmes, set out the contractual stall, butterflies in the stomach at the prospect of it all. Phone calls to suppliers, installers, draughtsman, contract managers. Putting a team together. Cashflows, valuations, plans, design meetings, drawings, renders, additional cost control, management, variations. Signing the contract, the collateral warranty. Method statements, risk assessments. Time, effort, energy and stress.
This month, June 2018, it will be 12 months since the original completion date. A year late. We are still unable to measure some areas because they are not built. Why am I still there?
The builder’s original plan was to survey the existing house and provide the survey to all the sub-contractors so each could produce drawings and build off-site before the new configuration of the building was complete. When it was built, it would seamlessly fit together. Simples ya?
Well, no. Because they completed eight revisions of the survey and only issued us with five of them. Not so simples.
Eventually, after becoming extremely frustrated because we couldn’t trust any information, the builder emailed to say: “Well, we’ve almost built the rooms now, so you might as well survey these yourselves.” This was October last year.
ALMOST?! The windows came out at least twice in each room after this email because they had forgotten the dpm around the frames. There was a mistake over boxing out. Rogue drawings by the architect, showing setting out of niches, were never issued to anyone but the dry liners, who then built everything in the wrong place. Howls of protest from the design team when we produced drawings from our site survey showing joint lines missing critical junctions.
The builder was – and still is – financially unstable. The original construction management team left in dribs and drabs from December through to February because they weren’t being paid. Sub-contractors pulled off site.
A new construction team arrived, though it still changed throughout January and February. A new date for completion was set. July 2018. Sacrosanct. Immoveable.
Oh, and I forgot to mention the original designer who had signed off all the stone had left the project as well, though the company that employed her is still there.
Why the mess? Why the long drawn out contract?
In my humble opinion the client and their building advisors must take responsibility for much of the turmoil.
The contractor started work before for the contract was agreed and entered into a hybrid design & build contract by default, seemingly taking on packages of design that had not been costed. Negotiations continued. The refurbishment continued. The costs rose.
It then became apparent the contractor was looking to blame the architect for a lack of information. Nothing new there. The architect took a defensive position. They had only been paid for one set of drawings and these had been issued.
The contractor’s overseas parent company slowed funding to its UK arm. Payments dried up. M&E pulled off site. Skips were not emptied. Staff turnover was high. Moral was low.
Its slightly better now. The client is more or less on site every day checking the work and trampling all over the contract between contractor and sub-contractor.
The client’s actions have been a major factor in the problems. Not agreeing the contract with the builder; cutting costs with the architect; interfering with what others were employed to do.
And to cap it all I had a letter from HMRC saying I would have to work until I’m 67 before I can draw my state pension.
Let’s hope we finish this story before then.