Hi. We also had some walls coming down. We had total 3 steel beams inserted. One - in line with joists,which easly could be 40 cm higher- and hidden, second - in opposite direction to joists which needed to be much lover , and third on external wall for French door. All 3 of them are connected and linked together - to be able to link them all 3 have to be on correct hight -under first floor joists. We have specified bolting not welding- purely for exposure. All 3 beams are visible ( yes, we have building control prrecision). If you box around them and whole celings are same coulor after a while you will stop noticing "beam drop". Our Whole kitchen walls and ceilings is white -black steel beams stand out even more. It may not be to everyone taste. But we love our steel.

Congratulations on your baby boy! Lovely news! I’m not quite sure what the company insurance is covering? Is the builder saying that if your doors stop working smoothly in a few years time that the company insurance will pay for a new set of doors? In which case why don’t he just put it through his insurance now? What if the company ceases to trade? You will be out of pocket as you will have to get a new set of doors or get it fixed. Sorry not helping with more questions than answers I know. I think you should just say you want the doors replaced with the correct size and say no more. This is a mistake on their side. The builder won’t be making a loss from your project, just less profit. Sometime this happens to them on projects, if they break something they need to rectify it etc. My builder told me they didn’t make any money on one of their loft projects because they slightly went over the party wall line after the tiles went on the side wall and they had to take the whole side of the loft back to behind the party wall line and pay for neighbour’s additional party wall surveyor fees as the client refused to pay the extra fees, it was the builder’s fault - I don’t think he will be making that mistake again!

I would go back to the friend who recommended them- I would want them to give me some tips based on their working relationship….. for instance it might be that phoning at 8am is the trick to catching him and getting things done. I would also want the friend to have a word along the lines of - I have recommended you, you are now making me look bad, sort it out. I would also try to better Understand why the builder refers to your house as a nightmare. Is it that there is a complication that is beyond his skill set, is it that he is now letting down future clients because of delays on yours or is it his own stress and unrelated to your house. I think it’s best to understand the issue to know what to do. Then you have to be firm where necessary and pragmatic about other things- so he is not your friend he is an employee and you expect him to turn up to work- but pragmatically you would rather hang on for skilled Labour understanding that although the wait is inconvenient the finish and cost will be better than pressuring him to take on jobs that are not his forte….. I had a situation in a previous house- I missed the booked slot with the tiler, after some pressure from me the builder reluctantly took it on but took lots longer than a tiler would have done, it diverted him from jobs he could do quickly and I paid more because it took a long time plus the finish could have been done better.

For me, recommendations are the most important first step. If someone I know has used a person/company and been happy with their work, then that is very reassuring. I’ve just had air conditioning installed and the person was referred to me by two family members who had used him. Communication was great and he was a clean and tidy worker and easily explained how to operate it. Recommendations don’t always work out, but in my experience they have done.