Builder back on the job

I was beginning to worry that the builder would be unable to complete the house by the end of this month but my fears were partially allayed today when the sound of large vehicles heralded the arrival of the earth-moving team for the final time. I was planning to continue working on the kitchen but before I’d started, while we were talking, a large tipper truck arrived and deposited a load of stone.

After the tipper had left the two men who remained got cracking ‘terrassing’ the ground all around the house to get the slopes and levels right before laying the stone to make a flat area on the top of the slope at the rear of the house, a level pathway all around it and a much more even drive-in. I’d hoped that the stone used would be the crushed white kind that I had at my old house but unfortunately they used more of the ‘blue’ stone that they’d used right at the start of work to create the drive-in.

This how the place looked after they’d finished and left for the last time. They’d had to move all the rubbish that had previously been in front of the house to one side and that will be picked up later, possibly tomorrow, by one of the builder’s trucks with a grab.

It all looks much more presentable but to be honest they only did the bare minimum that they could get away with. The stone around the house has not been well tamped down and the ‘terrace’ area will not be able to take the weight of my outdoor furniture and chairs. I think I’ll have to lay stone slabs there and on the pathway around the house to make the areas stronger and more stable as I’ll be unable to build a ‘proper’ terrace area this year given the amount I have to do myself inside.

But anyway, we’re getting there. They connected up the water supply while they were here so the main is now buried and my standpipe has gone, so my caravan is now connected to the rear outdoor tap. But the bathroom is still problematic. The shower tiles have arrived but there’s now a problem with the tiler. I’m hardly surprised given the mess he made of the main wall in the bathroom and it’s now up to the builder to find a way out as he came recommended by them 😕