Specialists have a place!

Those of you who know me are aware that for the last year my husband and I made the worse mistake of our personal life. We decided to have an extension built - we are currently in week 42 of a 15-week build.

There have been many trials and tribulations along the way, including the builder walking off site for 8 weeks towards the end of 2022 and not being present since Easter, citing “Busy with other jobs.”

However, I have now reached the hysteria stage where although I am frustrated, I am no longer angry, more a case of finding relief in laughing. Hysteria set in at the weekend, when the builder after 12 weeks of him being conspicuous by his absence, 8 weeks since we saw one of his contractors and a list of snags that need to be dealt with, he decided to visit on Thursday to examine some damage caused by one of his contractors to a brand new solid wood kitchen worksurface. He assured us he would send a ‘specialist’ to repair the damage at the weekend.

The weekend arrived, two contractors - the “specialists” - were due between 8am and 830am on Saturday morning. They finally arrived at 0900 and were welcomed. We asked them about their experience with wood - their response “We’re actually painters and decorators, not wood specialists at all.” They looked at the damage and told us what we already knew - they did not know how far the damage had penetrated the wood and would not know until they started sanding it and probably damaging the wood beyond any repair. Needless to say we respectfully asked them to leave.

The moral of the story… other than never ever build an extension, is employ specialists who know their stuff. I am a professional Executive Coach and CV Writer with over 15 years’ experience working with Executives and C-suite clients - reviews and referral can be seen on my LinkedIn profile.