How’s that dripping?

Thought our building situation couldn’t get any worse? Well, it did.

So, we have had issues finding someone to take on the roof. No one would touch it and we looked at a LOT of roofers and builders. They simply would shake their heads and walk away.

Then someone said they would have a go.

“We’ll fix it for you,” they said. Miles and Lewis, an uncle and nephew in a shiny white Hilux pickup, SH22LLD. We umm-ed and ahh-ed. They hit the hard sell and dropped a price. It was reasonable – and they were willing to do it.

I think it is fear that makes a lot of people do things out of characteristics and this is no exception. We sort of knew what needed doing but we were guessing. These guys seemed to know what they were talking about. “So…” we said, “send us an email with your company details, a work plan and guarantee, – and we will let you give it a go.”

We waited but nothing arrived. Like anyone normal, we figured that they were just like the last guys and wouldn’t touch the roof.

Monday morning, a couple of weeks ago, we were lying in bed when there was a weird vibration and some bangs and such. R jumped up and ran to the spare room. Next thing I hear is yelling: “What the jolly heck are you doing on my roof!”, – or words to that effect. The builders were here, and they had subcontracted in a landscaping company from Llanelli who were tearing out the skylights.

“Dropping them down so they are flush with the roof,” one explained. “Will look better.”

We both looked at the mess and shrugged. Truly, how much worse could they make it? We had buckets everywhere and the roof needed doing.

I was scared that it would never get done.

So… they dropped the two skylights flush, sealing them in and though it was messy, the roof looked better. They wrapped the upstands on the flat roof in metal they had stripped off our spare roof panel. I didn’t like it. The lines weren’t straight and now it was messy.

“We’ve put a pressure washer over and it’s fixed”, they said.

I believed them and after R had gone toe-to-toe with the scary Hilux guy in the street, we transferred the money. I know what you are saying, I can hear you from here. Why did you pay them? Well, we simply had no one else to believe, so we trusted them.

We were wrong.

The guys got in their pickup in order to “get plaster board” and we saw dust. Of course this is where it gets a little more interesting. You see we had the subcontractors inside, wondering how to clad the inside of the tunnels on the flat roof skylights. “I’ve never done plasterboard. I’m a landscaper”. Without the materials, we discussed children and fish. Then it was an hour later. The subcontractors waited out in their van, getting no answer from pickup guy’s phone and finally left.

They rang R later and asked if the others had come back. “No” he said, and that is when we realised that the subcontractors had not been paid. Now, they were good and said that we had nothing we had to do. They would take the hit, find the two gents and get the money. In the next breath he said he would be back at the weekend to fix the problems.

I guess part of me wanted the subcontractors to turn up, but they didn’t. Instead, the rain came in and we found that all the skylights are leaking, some worse than others, but it wasn’t until today that we realised there was another major issue. HUGE. The two skylights that sit flush were sealed shut with mastic, we couldn’t open them. R went outside and looked at the sealant. It was wrong, I’m not sure how but he took a lot of the hard bumpy grey stuff off and we finally got it open. It is then that it became obvious that the skylight was meant to sit slightly above the roof surface, not flush with it.

We have all of the skylights uncovered and the light is fantastic, but it is a mess inside and out. We may have to lift the two flush skylights and the others need to be reclad and sealed. But we have a plan.

“Self-build?” I asked R.

“It has to be.” R said. “Can we trust anyone, now?”

…and there it is. Can we trust anyone? Even those who say they are there to help, aren’t. So for the time being we will cope with the drips but we will find a solution. We have to.

Just in case you were wondering about Simon Landry and Mumbles Construction… Well, the company had been dissolved via companies house as he never submitted his accounts and the man himself seems to have disappeared.

Written by R and Kate