The good, the bad and the ugly...

The good news is that in the past couple of weeks is that we went back to see Welsh Oak Frames and saw our finished 3D house - it's going to be gorgeous! In our minds we can see the finished kitchen, the log burner, the bend in the stairs, the utility room and the lovely music room.

The bad news is that we have met an idiot builder - which in turn led to the ugly.

We were given the name of a local builder who turned out to be the only one who would actually quote for the greenhouse base. The greenhouse was delivered in pieces a week ago when we didn't have a base at all. Dan* turned up on Wednesday, said what he was going to do, and said he'd be back on Friday. To be fair, he did turn up on Friday, but that was where the good bit ended. Having a chat before he started, he found out that we have a major build coming up and he offered to quote. On that basis, and given that he was actually about to do a job for us, you would think the day would go something like this:

1.  He builds a fabulous base.
2.  He says it's taken less time than he thought and knocks something off the bill.
3.  He takes away the rubbish.

Yes, that would be sensible wouldn't it? Instead we got this:

1.  He has got the wrong size shuttering, but decides he'll make do.
2.  He has more aggregate and sand than he needs.
3.  We discuss the measurements and he tells me I've got it wrong. Turns out he has mm and cm confused.
4.  He builds shuttering but doesn't bother to level it.
5.  Because it's too tall, he doesn't have enough concrete to fill it.  He has plenty of aggregate but has run out of cement, but doesn't get any more.
6.  He fills the shuttering to an inch lower than it should be. Well, that's one side - it's an inch and a half on the other side.

He comes to tell us he's finished and we all go and have a look. Words fail us.

The concrete clearly isn't level, it's swimming in water, the shuttering is over an inch higher than the concrete and he says it's going to stay in situ to keep the ground from falling away underneath. Eh? We will trip over it every time we leave the greenhouse. He seems surprised that we weren't expecting the lip of the shuttering and says that the excess water will run off if we drill a hole in the shuttering. He is coming back on Monday morning, at our request, to remove the shuttering. Then, presumably, the whole thing will fall over.

Good grief.

* The name has been changed to protect the stupid.