Get on your Horse

In Decemeber of 2004 we choose an independent planning advisor http://www.planman.co.uk to draw up the plans and submit the necessary documentation to the local planning authority http://www.rochford.gov.uk . Planman visited the property in December and we discussed all our ideas for the extension with him. He took photographs and measurements and told us that because of Christmas there would be a delay and that the drawings would be ready for submission to the planning authority sometime in mid January and that he'd arrange it all for us. We duly paid him about £350 for his services.

After we returned from holiday in early January 2005 we were unfortunate to suffer a shed fire which destroyed some fence panels and our greenhouse as well.
One day I was clearing the mess into a skip in our driveway when the cowboy builder was passing and stopped to ask what was going on. I told him what had happened and he offered to help put down a new concrete base for the replacement shed and replace the close board fence panels. I asked him what it would cost and he told me about £1000 to £1500. I told him he'd got the job as it was covered by insurance and replacement had already been approved by the claims loss assessor.

The cowboy and a team of workers duly arrived over two weekends in mid January and did a satisfactory job. Whilst the cowboy was there I told him I'd believed our planning application for the extension should be in and when I got the plans I'd get him round to quote. We discussed in finer detail our extension requirements and he again told me it would take around six weeks to complete a job of that nature. I asked him what the fire damage work was going to cost and could he give me an invoice. He said not to worry as we could 'square up later'.

Around the end of the second week of February I got a call from Planman saying that the plan drawings were on their way to us and the necessary paperwork had been submitted to the council. He apologised for the delay as he'd been ill for a month with pneumonia. The drawings duly arrived. There were some mistakes on the drawings with windows omitted so we sent them back for correction. A couple of days later the corrected drawings were returned.

Around the beginning of March I tried to contact the cowboy by phone on at least four occasions as I was being pressed by the claims company for the final receipts and I wanted to settle up with him. When I finally spoke with him he told me that his computer was broken. I offered him the use one of mine and he came over later that day left me two sheets of headed paper and told me to type myself two invoices for him for £692 including VAT for the fences and £850 including VAT for the concrete base. He told me to number them 01641 and 01642 and I duly paid him.
I typed the invoice on one sheet of paper and sent it to the claims company, and kept the remaining one in my office. (I later handed this bit of headed paper over to my solicitor as proof of my honesty - after all I could have written out a quote for the extension myself on it!! - the solicitor failed to produce this in court for some reason that he has yet to explain to me.)

Getting a quote.
On the second Saturday in March I met the brother of the builder who had died in our road, and he informed me they were busy until August at the earliest. While I was there he phoned another building firm in Great Wakering, who unfortunately were also busy throughout the summer.

On the following Monday I met the cowboy's wife at the school gate and told her I’d like the cowboy to come over as soon as possible and give us a quote. She excitedly told me he was working away on a job in Malden but she’d let him know and it would best to call him that night to discuss it.

On the evening of 14th March 2005 I telephoned the cowboy and invited him to come over and give us a quote. (I know this from our telephone records which our solicitor also failed to produce in court for some reason even though they'd asked us to produce them!).

I phoned the cowboy and we spoke for half an hour and discussed timescales and the full extent of the work, and I expressed that we would definitely like work to start sometime in April to allow time for completion before our baby was born.
The Cowboy arranged to call over the next day 15th March.
He duly arrived late the following afternoon with a clipboard, tape measure and some photos and aerial photos of the property he said he was currently working on in Maldon.
I gave the Cowboy our only copy of the plan and we walked around the house discussing our requirements. Throughout the conversation I referred to my list of tasks I'd compiled which I’d previously used with the dead builder and Planman when discussing the requirements. I offered the Cowboy a copy but he told me he preferred to make his own notes. The cowboy made some notes on both his clipboard and the plan drawing as we walked around and took measurements of his own.
We also discussed in detail Planmans notes on the plan regarding building constraints and requirements.
As we walked around the property we spoke in detail about the layout of the kitchen, number and position of electrical sockets, appliances, plumbing, spot lighting, Velux roof windows and ceiling recesses. I took the Cowboy into my office (garage conversion) and showed him the Velux windows, ceiling recesses and spotlights and told him I wanted the same in the kitchen. To which he replied ‘no problem’. The cowboy pointed out that the drawing referred to a new rsj over the old external wall connecting to the new extension . He suggested that we conceal it in the wall so as to give the appearance of a continuous ceiling from the old dining room to the new kitchen extension. He said we'd have to replace the ceiling in the old dining room to allow for the spotlights and the walls would need replastering as the consisted of the old 1930's plaster which was rotten.
Whilst outside the Cowboy suggested that the main sewers might have to be moved to the side of the house to allow the doorway to fit and he’d include it in his pricing.
My wife was in the old kitchen when the majority of these requirements were discussed with the Cowboy. When we entered the old kitchen we discussed plumbing, as this is where the water mains is located and new pipes to the new kitchen would have to run from. The cowboy suggested that we might as well replaster and board to hide the pipework. Whilst in the old kitchen, my wife expressly asked the Cowboy for a washing machine to be temporarily connected to the mains supply in the old dining room. He replied ‘no problem, seeing as we’ve got to replaster we’ll just bash a hole through the wall and run a pipe off the mains supply’. During this time we also discussed raising the floor, bringing the outside toilet inside and blocking up the back door and replacing with a window as per the plan.
The Cowboy left the property with what I believe was a complete picture of all the works required. Before he left I asked him when I could expect a quote from him. To which he replied ‘Leave it with me, I’ve got to do me costings’ I thanked him for his time and asked him to provide a firm quote with no hidden costs or extras as we had a limited budget to work with. The Cowboy left the property with our only copy of the plan on which he had made notes and said he needed it for his costings.

Next - "The Quote"