I am so annoyed

[rossyl]

Sorry for the rant

I'm so flipping annoyed. Our building project was meant to be completed by the end of November. This then slipped 2 weeks without much apology from the builder. We told our project manager who told the builder that we must be in by the end of the second week of December.

I told the project manager today that I thought it would not be done in time. He agreed, but said the Builder maintains it will be but for a few items. But neither I nor the project manager think the majority of work will be complete by the year end. The project manager is applying as much pressure as he can on the builder to speed things up.

There are no penalties for late delivery.

We face our first Christmas as a married couple not in our home, and our second Christmas out of the house.

The other half is upset and I'm just sick of the whole thing.

If anyone has any ideas how to speed up the builders, please let me know.

Other than that, sorry for the rant.

 

[dem maser]

See it a lot with investors....builders dont do what they say....my suggestion is too late for you

Get builders who give a guarantee time of completion....every day thats late they pay you comp....they expensive but good

 

[Maser Sod]

When people don't do what I want them to as above, then I threaten them with legal action. I never know whether I am in the right or the wrong, but I usually do it and see what the response is. Normally the outcome is good.

 

[Gixerboy]

For what is worth, do a bit of digging to find out what the blockages are?

Incomplete Design information?
Procurement issue?
Change of Scope?
Scope gaps
Labour Resource?

I would wager your PM may not be giving you the full picture.

With answers to the above your PM eill know your serious,you should then be able to detail out a completion programme solution with time scales & penalties if required if further delays are encountered,

Good luck !

 

[Chrisbassett]

As above, try and get the full story and agree a plan to completion.

Is your contract with the builder direct or through the project manager? That tells you who to get more formal with if things slip again after that. It may also be worth having the contract looked at by a solicitor to see if there is some grounds for penalties / withholding payment until completion. This assumes you have a contract.

If no contract and no binding plan to completion that you trust can be agreed, shop,around for someone who will give you that.

 

[dem maser]

Your in the game Ross go for it....if you need anything from my Mrs let me know

 

[rossyl]

I think threatening legal action will destroy the relationship with the builder. That will lead to him claiming further cost increases due to "unforeseens" or walking off the job. It will take a while to find a decent replacement builder.

I will definitely try and get the whole picture.

Any other thoughts, please let me know.

Thanks

 

[CatmanV2]

I think threatening legal action will destroy the relationship with the builder. That will lead to him claiming further cost increases due to "unforeseens" or walking off the job.

Thanks

That is a chance, but if he's not playing ball already, is there that much to lose? Only you can make that call. Don't forget *he* wants paying.

C

 

[zagatoes30]

Surely it is the PMs job to manage that contractors stick to and achieve targets. It sounds like you PM has not got enough grip on the team doing the work, or the extent of the delay. I would be challenging the PM to get control and do his job.

 

[MAF260]

Kick your PM up the @ss hard! He's not doing his job. Any decent PM should know how to manage both client and suppliers - this guy is doing neither. Threaten to withold his payment and see how far that gets you. If you like the builder's work then try not to fall out with him. Finding a builder to finish somebody else's job to your satisfaction will be both expensive and time consuming - you may struggle to be in by next Easter if you have to change builder. You can fall out with the PM and have him walk off the job without too much pain IMO.

 

[rossyl]

As above, try and get the full story and agree a plan to completion.

Is your contract with the builder direct or through the project manager? That tells you who to get more formal with if things slip again after that. It may also be worth having the contract looked at by a solicitor to see if there is some grounds for penalties / withholding payment until completion. This assumes you have a contract.

If no contract and no binding plan to completion that you trust can be agreed, shop,around for someone who will give you that.

Thanks Chris

Separate contracts with both builder and PM.

 

[TridentTested]

I've been in the construction business for thirty years. I've learned not to trust anything told to me until I've checked it. The number of times I've been told 'the van broke down' or 'what you specified isn't available for twelve weeks' and all the other stories I could fill a book. When someone tells me something is not available a quick phone call usually discovers someone hasn't paid their account, or has forgotten to order it.

Builders in turn get messed around by clients not making decisions, inclement weather, suppliers dragging their heels, labour bu44ering off to do another job. As a result most builders will take on more than they can handle and will hope to juggle. Your job is to get them to take your project more seriously than their others.

I don't do it now but when I ran site meetings my agenda was:-

(1) Completion date - get the contractor to confirm it at every meeting. Make it item one to discuss every week.
(2) Progress on site - record what's happened since your last visit.
(3) Labour on site - record this at every meeting, it focusses attention as everyone now knows if it comes to legal fisticuffs there is a record of how few people were on site.
(4) Client originated variation orders - any changes made by the client. It's good if you can record "none" week after week.
(5) Contractor originated variation orders - any changes brought about by the Contractor, for example failure to order something on time.
(6) Any other business.
(7) Date of next meeting.

Your Project Manager should be doing this. If he is not just take control and do it yourself - you can argue with him later about his non-performance when it comes to settling his fees.

You need to to this at least once a week. As you get nearer the deadline you should do it more often. You also need to make regular visits - when the cat is away the mice will play is a truism.

The good news is I've seen countless sites a couple of weeks off handover which looked like there wasn't a snowball's in **** of finishing but provided the materials are on hand it's amazing what can be achieved once a concerted effort is made.

Finally. There are very very few projects which don't go over programme and over budget. It's frustrating and no one sets out with this result in mind but it happens. Just remember, it will probably be late, you will be annoyed. Don't let it eat you up, this time next year, and hopefully for a long long time after that you will be enjoying your new house and you will be able to laugh at this.

 

[rossyl]

Thanks very much Michael

I wonder if you can offer any ideas/solutions of how to give the builder a kick and get things moving?

He is over a month behind schedule on a 6 month build. There were periods where little work was done on my build, I guess that this is because he had concentrated his men on other projects. This is the major reason for the delay.
We have always paid on time, but luckily on advice from the PM reduced the amount that we were scheduled to pay the Builder dependent on the amount of work done. The PM has always checked the builders work and advised us how much to pay, which has kept us ahead in terms of work done vs. money paid.

I now want to try and make the Builder prioritise our build over others and get our build finished. I have considered not paying till he catches up with where he is meant to be. I doubt that will go down too well and instead will lead to arguments.

Have you any ideas?

Thanks

 

[drewf]

Offer a bonus payment for every day he beats the scheduled completion date, and a larger penalty for every day they miss it...

 

[TridentTested]

I wonder if you can offer any ideas/solutions of how to give the builder a kick and get things moving?

Like most problems in life, getting together and talking about the best way to work together is usually better than shouting at each other, or firing off aggressive emails. If you and your Project Manager are at each other's throats the Contractor probably picks up on this and is disinclined to help because he probably fears it will all go pear-shaped if you fire your Project Manager. Once the three of you start fighting each other the Contractor has divided loyalties: he is contracted with you now but his future work might come from the Project Manager. Likewise the Project Manager has divided loyalties for the same reasons, he might have worked with these guys before and expects them to recommend him in future. It's a small world.

The three of you need to sit down and talk. Ultimately everyone does actually want to finish the job. No one sets out to be an ar5ehole. You've got to get the three of you pulling together again.

Once you get the dialogue going then simply asking the Contractor, for example, how many electricians he has on site. Whatever his answer is just counter it politely with 'gosh, I would have thought you'd need twice that'. Keep this pressure on him. Be there every day.



I like Drew's idea of introducing an incentive too. Money talks - although it will cost you more.

 

[rossyl]

Thanks I've no intention of souring the relationship with either the Builder or Project Manager, like you say it rarely leads to much positive gain.

I'll take your suggestions on board and hopefully we can move forwards and quickly.