Hi, Does any one have any experience with the actual decent homes work when kitchens and bathrooms are being done. I,ve seen they want access 8am to 5pm and it takes 8 to 10 weeks. Do they actually expect people to sit in thier houses with all that going on all day every day for weeks on end or can you leave them the keys and stay else where till its finished? Has any one got any experience with this?:confused:

I am really worried about this. My next door neighbour is having their kitchen done end of August, they are saying it will take 4 weeks!!

My mum bought her house same as mine, she had her kitchen knocked through etc and that took 4 weeks. They aren't knocking anything out or having to cement the floor, so 4 weeks seems quite a lot, when they aren't doing a vast majority of what they did on the earlier parts of the scheme!!!

you don't have to stay in for the works, they have a site office with a key safe, so contractors can gain access while you are at work. however please do leave notes for said contractors , as they fitted the wrong kitchen units and wrong colour tiles in my neighbours house, and further along the block painted a kitchen blue where the actual colour they had picked was orchid white ! and further along still , they put white tiles on instead of cream , so they do seem to get it wrong if you are not keeping a careful eye on them !
they will be in your house for over a month while all the different trades come and go ,and you will spend whole days with no power on , but there should be a place on site where you can go to just escape , make tea , do your washing etc , we have one here at gleadless .
it is a hassle , but it is a free makeover , so we can't complain too much , i feel.

Ok thanks thats a realy good tip, I,d hate a blue kitchen. I guess its not a problem then to choose to stay some where else and leave the key permanently at thier site office for the duration, or if any holliday plans fall in that period. That on site key safe is handy to leave the keys for folks who can,t be without power if they need to eat on time or can,t go without water/plumbing etc if they need to go to the loo regularly for eg.

Funny they don,t mention any thing about it on the decent homes page, that implies you have to make sure they have access by leaving the key with some one not that they had a faciility for that purpose. May be they can include that in thier info, unless they have and I missed it.

Ok thanks thats a realy good tip, I,d hate a blue kitchen. I guess its not a problem then to choose to stay some where else and leave the key permanently at thier site office for the duration, or if any holliday plans fall in that period. That on site key safe is handy to leave the keys for folks who can,t be without power if they need to eat on time or can,t go without water/plumbing etc if they need to go to the loo regularly for eg.

Funny they don,t mention any thing about it on the decent homes page, that implies you have to make sure they have access by leaving the key with some one not that they had a faciility for that purpose. May be they can include that in thier info, unless they have and I missed it.

we had project group meetings with Keepmoat who are doing our houses , and we found out all about the laundry, cooking facilities , key safe stuff at these. i presume, the other contractors will be doing similar things , well you'd hope so anyway. good luck !

Thats good I havn,t seen any info any where about an on site key safe, sounded like people were going to be imprisoned for 8 to 10 weeks. Has any one had any experience of Connaught, they,re doing South Sheffield. Thier appointment making skills are a joke, so I was wondering how the rest will go.

Thats good I havn,t seen any info any where about an on site key safe, sounded like people were going to be imprisoned for 8 to 10 weeks. Has any one had any experience of Connaught, they,re doing South Sheffield. Thier appointment making skills are a joke, so I was wondering how the rest will go.


my ex husband lives at lowedges ,and his is being done by connaught, they messed him about 3 times not keeping appointments for the central heating survey, and the lady in the flat above him had the day off work for the heating to be fitted only to be told at midday that they hadn't got the boiler flue , so couldn't fit it , then the day after the spark turned up to wire up the none existant system !!!!!

Yea Tubs, thats about what I expected. From what I,ve heard from my friend connaught have a chaotic way of working and dont, seem able to organise or communicate.

My friend had a letter from connaught headed 'putting you first', anouncing an appointment for the survey on a day of thier choise which could have been from 8.30 till 3pm. My friend changed the appointment to a suitable day but the surveyer still turned up on the day of the cancelled appointment leaving a letter that he,d called and no one was in etc.

On informing about it, the surveyer hadn,t been told the appointment was cancelled and the new appointment which had been made couldn,t go on as the surveyer would be on holliday and to wait till they sent a new appointment and change it if not suitable.

Any how another letter came with another appointment which was then cancelled as my friend would then be on holliday, which was explained. In spite of all that there was a new appointment sent for 1 day after the cancelled appointment, in the holliday period of my friend so this was also cancelled.

The surveyer turned up for that cancelled appointment as well, leaving another letter that he,d called several times and no one was in and to ring them urgently for an appointment to be sure of not missing out on a new kitchen and bathroom.

Any idea where the on site key safe is at low edges, it seems easier for people to just leave the keys being as they are so unreliable?

no idea diplo, but i'll ask the X if he knows anything .i've got a feeling that connaught are not as organised as keepmoat. there is a show maisonette open at certain times , if you ask there you might get your answer, enquire at the resources center.

Thanks tubs, Should really be on the on the sheffield homes site decent homes info page, automatically so people dont, need to ask.

That would be too easy ! they make you in to a detective , this council ,they really do , and don't expect anyone at the area office to know anything , they are in there own bubble , quite seperate from reality.

Yea Tubs you can say that, some of the things I hear from people are unbelieveable and when housing want anything from tenants they start with thier pathetic little letters telling people of thier obligations from which they aparently feel exempt.

Typical!!
Had a letter last week to say that our work on our kitchen and bathroom would start on wednesday. So, today is Tuesday, had our connaught rep round asking if we had cleared our kitchen and bathroom ready for work to start tomorrow, which we have, also told her that we hadn't heard anything about central heating, only to be told by her that usually before the kitchens are done that the central heating has to be done. So I am sat in my home at present, bored, waiting for the central heating guy to come and survey my flat. If that has to be installed then kitchen work won't start till next week!!
What a balls up. I was also told it takes 4 weeks for the kitchen and bathroom work and two of those weeks we will be left with no working electric sockets in our kitchen, added on prolly a week for central heating, thats 5 weeks!!!!
Will report back later when central heating guy has been :(

Over and Out:confused:

well work started here on wednesday 6th, we had no power all wednesday but we had water, on thursday we had power but no water, today we had water but no power, the first fix electrics were done in the kitchen and bathroom so there will be no power in these rooms for at least 2 more weeks till the final fix, plus yesturday we had the bathroom suite removed and a new one re fitted and the kitchen sink moved a foot away from the wall and temp' fixed . as the plumber did all this he had to also move the gas meter, when he went to do this he realised that the whole gas supply to the house was rotting so he has had to re do that, and i now have no heating or hot water till wednesday of next week when the new boiler and heating go in , oh God !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and the dust dont mention the dust!
and i have to warn you guys we had to pee in a bucket all day yesturday as we had no toilet till 5pm ! oh boy it gets very basic!
oh yes i noticed when the electricians had left that there is still no socket anywhere close to where the dryer is going, the closest one being 6 feet across the kitchen , lets hope things get better !
don't expect the exact fittings you asked for either , we asked for a push button flush toilet , we didnt get one and the taps are not the right ones either. but as i said earlier i guess it is all for free so we have to be happy with whats given.

Well I know exactly what your going through. Today is my day off work and I feel extremely sorry for my boyfriend who has to stay at home while the works are being done. Plumbers have not long arrived to put our bathroom suite in. Work started off nicely by them plonking thier crap all over our folded up nice carpet (and one that we paid good money for and would like to keep nice!) I am in the computer room typing this as they work in the bathroom which is literally next door. There is water all over the fecking floor and I just hope it doesn't spread to our bedroom carpet!!
I shall report if anything else goes tits up!!
Thanx for letting me know what happened with you (I am talking bout the guy who just posted before me, I think your name is tubbs :s)
Over and out for now!
/me is angry!!!! lol

they've fitted my central heating in the wrong house this morning !!!!! i've had no hot water since last friday, i'm a woman on the edge !
not enough sockets have been fitted in the kitchen so new plaster just put on has had to be hacked off , oh god i'm sick of this already !

they've fitted my central heating in the wrong house this morning !!!!! i've had no hot water since last friday, i'm a woman on the edge!
You say your a woman on the edge, would that be Lowedges? lol

Sorry, had to make light of the convo as it's starting to **** me off a little and i've only been in my house one day while they have been working, aarrrrgggghhhhhh!!!!!

I started having the modernisation done on my house last September by Lovells. Needless to say, we're now in Sept 2006 and the work is still not completed. I have a gaping hole in my ceiling with the gas meter suspended, waiting for Transco to finally come and move it. I have units that don't match, are badly fitted and a front door that has a no gap at the top corner and an inch gap at the bottom corner. I've had numerous officials down to check this over, send workmen who never turn up or when they do turn up, do half a job and leave you in limbo. Prior to having my kitchen ripped out I'd already had my own installed at a cost of nearly £2000. Wish I'd have left it there to be honest. The upstairs is still a mess where their "plasterers" have attempted to plaster. A child could have done it better. The final date I have given them is the 26th September to get this lot completed, failiing which, watch this space!

I've sent an e-mail to Sheffield Homes as well as a letter to Connaught and refered them to this thread.I'm to have my flat done, not for a long while yet,granted, but I don't want all that avoidable messing about by contractors that you folks have had to put up with.It's absolutely disgusting the way they treat people. It doesn't matter if it's free or not. You're entitled to be treated in a right and proper manner. It may also help others. It'll be interesting to hear what they have to say. I'll let you know what happens if you like. Won't be for a couple of weeks though, I'll be on hols from Saturday 16th Sept.

OMG!!!!!!!!!

you folks are going through hell!!!

I was in a council house in Parson Cross until June this year, I'd just started getting the letters about all the improvements. I had my reservations about all the spectacular promises they make and it seems i was right. I never could go to any of the meetings and show home type thingies they had as i work full time and they were always arranged during the day :loopy: do they not realise people have jobs? I had to take at least 4 days of my annual leave (it seems i got off lightly) to have the house surveyed for various things (they had a habit of not turning up when you had booked them to, wasting a whole day!)
I refused the last two surveys on the grounds that i had already handed in my notice, they weren't too happy about that but tough!!!
I'm so glad i managed to move out after reading all of this...

*hugs* to those of you who still have to go thru it :(

Have just come back to this thread. I'll take a few pics over the weekend and post them here just so that you can see state of the "improvements"

With reference to my last thread. How about some of you folks who've had all the hassle, sending an e-mail or letter to Sheffield Homes and your respective Contractors. I'm not changing my views or anything but to be fair if they don't know about all these cock-ups then they'll continue to happen. The administration only know what they're told, so, if they're told everythings ok by the on-site gaffers, then that's what they work with.It's up to us to let them know different, after all if the Council is spending, then it's our money isn't it? You've gone to the trouble of writing to SF so let Sheffield Homes etc. have it!

You say your a woman on the edge, would that be Lowedges? lol

Sorry, had to make light of the convo as it's starting to **** me off a little and i've only been in my house one day while they have been working, aarrrrgggghhhhhh!!!!!

As DeViL_WoMaN's partner, i'm the one that has to put up with them all day.

Yesterday they started the plastering. The bathroom was done by finish time but the guy doing the kitchen only got about a 3rd done.

This morning the guy doing the kitchen turns up about a hour after all the other contractors, seems to do nothing for about an hour after that.
Then he goes somewhere for about an hour.
When he came back he worked for about 2 hours or so, then went off somewhere again.

By this time the kitchen fitters had turned up with our kitchen units, ready to get started, but couldnt because the plastering wasnt finished.
I then had all the kitchen units sat outside while they tried to find out where the plasterer had gone. Glad it was a nice day or the units could have been ruined.

They eventually find the plasterer, and sack him :thumbsup:
The kitchen fitters appologised for him, even though its not their fault, nice guys. They told me that we would have had the kitchen in now if the plasterer hadnt messed about.

Now we are stuck for another weekend without a kitchen :(

While I appreciate some people who are having their homes modernised are having problems, hopefully its a small minority. There was a letter in last night's Star from a woman thanking Kier for the work they have done in her elderly father's home. Most people who have work done satisfactorily don't bother to comment.

I also wonder if some people are aware just how much disruption is caused by major improvements? My daughter is currently having her bathroom replaced. The amount of dirt as the plaster comes off when the old tiles are removed is unbelievable. The ceiling has also had to come down and the whole room be reboarded and replastered. We had our kitchen refitted last year, had a great builder but we had no electrics or sink or cooker for around a week, and the dust was everywhere, even though he'd tried to contain as much mess as possible. Also when having work done privately, suppliers don't always deliver, builders don't always turn up etc..etc.....

When someone is having a new bathroom, a new kitchen, and/or central heating/windows the level of disruption and mess is bound to be high. If the problems are caused by people not turning up, or really poor work, then what price says is right try sending an e-mail or letter to Sheffield Homes and your respective Contractors. However if its mess and disruption - it goes with this sort of work.

the work that is being done by some of the trades is just plain shoddy, they fitted a lovely double glazed door on my house yesturday, the door is dark mahogany , so why oh why have they sealed the thing with WHITE silicone! and as i was sweeping up and putting the debris in my wheelie bin i found the brass door chain , which was surposed to be on the door , still in it's packet , in the bin ! they just couldn't be a***d to fit it. there are too many faults to list here, all i can say is that Shardlows who fitted the central heating were magic, they did a class job, and were really friendly lads, and they left the house clean and tidy.

Some friends of mine live in an adapted bungalow.

When they were initially visited, to agree thw scedule of works for their house, and have the plans drawn up, the plans were laid down for them to have a wheelchair accessible kitchen.

Fast-forward to about a fortnight ago, and the works are (Supposedly) completed.

the contractors have fitted them a...

wait-for-it!!!

Full-height kitchen (instead of the accessible, low-level one agreed in the plans...) with not enough of a gap between the living-room partition and the kitchen area for the hubby to get through in his wheelchair...

they now have to go through another six weeks of disruption, whilst the contractors rip out the pretty, but completely useless new kitchen, and install a replacement, as per the original plans agreed, one which they can actually use

another friend, in one of the disabled-persons bungalows a few doors away from the first pair of friends above, has had his kitchen replaced.

The contractors have taken away four units off his wall, but only replaced them with one wall-unit.

when my father had his windows replaced, the contractors made a total botch of it. They put in non-matching windows in the front, which looked quite ugly

In the kitchen, they atempted to install a window that was the wrong size, (too wide and too short for the aperture) which cracked the glass in the double glazing unit, it took them eight weeks to get a window the correct size, in the meantime, my father's kitchen window was held up by the wall-tiles they'd taken off around the window.

i think it's been pathetic, and shoddy work on all three of the above counts, and I don't think that the shoddy workmen/ contractors have had enough "breathing down their necks", to ensure an adequate job has been done.

I'm sure that there are tenants across the city (the ones who are paraded out in articles in the council's newspaper, or in the star) who will have had a nice job done, and are happy with it.

However, when it goes wrong, BOY does it go wrong, and causes no little disruption for people like my friends, and my father.

It isn't much good pointing to Mrs Jones, at number 59, and saying to them "Well, SHE had a fantastic job made, of the works at her house!" when my mates have a kitchen that simply isn't useable by the tenant, at the level of disabilities the couple has.

PT

PS, to the above comments..

My housing association, and the social services department have agreed adaptations to my bathroom... I'm getting my bath torn out, and the bathroom turned into a "wet-room" - a flush-to-the-floor shower enclosure, and stuff.

this is all scheduled to be happening next week, and will take a week (*gulp!* lol)

I am dreading the disruption, but am looking forward to having the better, adapted batroom.

I suppose it's like toothache...

lovely, when it's done!!!!

PT

Keepmoat are doing mine and after months of hearing nothing, I got 2 days' notice that they wanted to come and do the big survey. Well in the real world 2 days' notice is insufficient for anyone who works to get time off. And especially working at SHU, enrolment week, no time off allowed to anyone in September .... I rang and told them they couldn't come for at least two weeks, so they said they'd phone me back. Instead I got home on Thursday to find a card to say they'd tried to call. So I rang them on Friday and now they're coming a week tomorrow.

I've read the various threads and intend to keep an open mind about the whole thing, focus on the finished product and appreciate that it's for free. But I am a complainer and I will if I think it's necessary. I'm also going to take before, during and after photos. The surveyor also doesn't know yet that I've got a list of questions (and pointers from these various threads) that he'd better know the answers to when I see him next week ;) I know they're already working in Gleadless somewhere, and I read that letter in The Star the other night, but do we know exactly where in Gleadless they are at the moment?

Keepmoat are doing mine and after months of hearing nothing, I got 2 days' notice that they wanted to come and do the big survey. Well in the real world 2 days' notice is insufficient for anyone who works to get time off. And especially working at SHU, enrolment week, no time off allowed to anyone in September .... I rang and told them they couldn't come for at least two weeks, so they said they'd phone me back. Instead I got home on Thursday to find a card to say they'd tried to call. So I rang them on Friday and now they're coming a week tomorrow.

I've read the various threads and intend to keep an open mind about the whole thing, focus on the finished product and appreciate that it's for free. But I am a complainer and I will if I think it's necessary. I'm also going to take before, during and after photos. The surveyor also doesn't know yet that I've got a list of questions (and pointers from these various threads) that he'd better know the answers to when I see him next week ;) I know they're already working in Gleadless somewhere, and I read that letter in The Star the other night, but do we know exactly where in Gleadless they are at the moment?

they are at my house ! i have them ! they are doing Grindlow and Abney.

Don't get me on one about Keepmoat. They said they'd start my drive on the 11th. I arranged to have my VW Beetle transported to a friends house. They finally started on the drive last Thursday, or at least they pulled up a tree and ripped the fence down. 1 week later they haven't dug out the drive, started the brick posts (I'm not having a wall) and trying to get hold of anyone to sort this out is becoming a joke. So, 2 weeks later, I've had a tree pulled up and am paying storage fees for my car and still no drive, even though I could have left my car where it was until they finally get their act together and start their version of a driveway.

they are at my house ! i have them ! they are doing Grindlow and Abney.

Well I went to a local meeting the other week and Keepmoat came out of it quite well in terms of feedback. Still, we'll have to wait and see ...

I spoke to my friends last night who had had their "accessible" kitchen, in their "Disabled bungalow" wrongly installed.

apparently the Star have been out and taken photos, and are running the story sometime this coming week.

Can anyone who contributes to this thread and has had, or is having work done please name the Contractors. This also applies to any work done at friends/relatives. How many people who've had complaints have actually contacted their Contractors, Decent Homes or the Council? Will I be greeted by a deafening silence? Thanks

I can,t help yet with work done but a relative is having work done due to start in January. I can tell you if there is any thing to complain about it will be to all 3 of the above mentioned. No deafening silence here, I,ll post on the forum if there is any good or bad news.

Okay why should we name the contractors? Most of the work is being undertaken by project leaders such as kier,connaught, keepmoat. They in turn sub contract some works to other companies.

I have had issues with the project managers, the organisation of works and the communication problems with the customer liaison officers and tenants. Other problems include in sufficient surveys, missed appointments and inconsistent appraisals of identical properties.

Anymore for anymore?

Well ours was finally finished on Friday. It took connaught 4 weeks altogether to get the work done, and it was a bit of a nightmare.
In the end though, they have done a good job, and we have now got a home that we love. Just having hot water on demand and a shower have improved our lives a lot. Just got to clean up the dust that is everywhere now :(

Okay why should we name the contractors? Most of the work is being undertaken by project leaders such as kier,connaught, keepmoat. They in turn sub contract some works to other companies.

I have had issues with the project managers, the organisation of works and the communication problems with the customer liaison officers and tenants. Other problems include in sufficient surveys, missed appointments and inconsistent appraisals of identical properties.

Anymore for anymore?
You're right fox20thc it is the project leaders names not the contractors. I stand corrected, I will learn.

Well ours was finally finished on Friday. It took connaught 4 weeks altogether to get the work done, and it was a bit of a nightmare.
In the end though, they have done a good job, and we have now got a home that we love. Just having hot water on demand and a shower have improved our lives a lot. Just got to clean up the dust that is everywhere now :(
Glad to hear that Reebo. Obviously there's going to be disruption for a while. What bothers me is the unneccessarydisruption and hassle caused by rectifying bad workmanship,lack of communication or whatever you care to name that prolongs the agony. Yet it seems to me, reading some of the threads, that Project Leaders are slow to fix these problems,and seem to do nothing about them. By the way, does anyone know when they're starting on Jordanthorpe?

Can anyone who contributes to this thread and has had, or is having work done please name the Contractors. This also applies to any work done at friends/relatives. How many people who've had complaints have actually contacted their Contractors, Decent Homes or the Council? Will I be greeted by a deafening silence? Thanks
Ring your local Housing office to complain about the contractors, giving them all the details. They do get back to you and sort it with the contractors. I know a few who have done this.

Ring your local Housing office to complain about the contractors, giving them all the details. They do get back to you and sort it with the contractors. I know a few who have done this.
Already contacted Connaught and Sheffield Homes. I'm getting assurances that they do everything they can to make sure things don't go belly-up from the first ( well, they would wouldn't they), and haven't heard anything from the second for 3 weeks. But to be fair I've been on hols for 2 weeks and S.Homes know this. I am expecting something to turn up shortly,however I'm not holding my breath. I haven't 'phoned, a 'phone call isn't worth the paper it's written on. I prefer a "hard copy" then nothing can be denied, by either party. I'm sorry to say I find the Lowedges/Jordanthorpe offices a joke so I never bother with them unless physically forced.

I thought I would post to warn you about leaving your keys with Connaught during the improvements.
I was assured that the key was security coded and locked away in a safe overnight and at weekends. Imagine then my shock to notice a large lump under my door mat on Sunday that turned out to be my front door keys, left there since Friday. I would never be so stupid to do this myself so I was furious that they had left them there. When I complained I was told the contractor had told the customer liaison officer that I had told him to leave them there. A total lie. The following weekend I came home from work to find my front door completely unlocked and no sign of any contractors who presumably had left some time previously. Its just not good enough. This is on top of finding my mail still on the floor covered in dirty footprints where they had just walked all over it all day. Smashing a big hole through a cupboard wall, (where i had stored all my shoes and clothes) covering everything in rubble and dust with no effort to move the things or protect them. They just have no respect for my things and treat my house as though no one lives there.
Next week is the sixth week with no electric in my kitchen and a half finished job. Days go by with no one coming, their customer liaison officer keeps telling me just a few more days. I am just sick of it. I have not even had any building work done, only stripping and fitting of a new kitchen and bathroom.
Yes, the kitchen and bathroom are shaping up very nicely, if i dont look too long and hard at the workmanship, but the whole affair is a shambles and if other peoples experience is the same as mine, a scandal.

Has any one contacted Connaught and/or Sheffield Homes, not the site agent or any other incompetent lowlife employed by the council, but Connaught Head Office, which is at Barlborough, or someone with power at Sheff Homes. If so what was there reaction? I'm guessing lots of words but no action.

Does any one have the connaught email adres? Decent homes enquiries doesn,t appear to know what their own refurb plans are apart from work is due to start between the middle of this june and march 2008, efficient enquirie service!

This part of the Sheffield Homes website has links to the contractors including Connaught http://www.sheffieldhomes.org.uk/decent-homes

Does any one have the connaught email adres? Decent homes enquiries doesn,t appear to know what their own refurb plans are apart from work is due to start between the middle of this june and march 2008, efficient enquirie service!

connaught has been sacked from Lowedges, all the rest of the estate will be done by a new contractor

Oh didnt, know that Connaught was sacked by Lowedges, where is the online info over that?

Who the new contracter, what thier email adress?

The only info on the decent homes site about when the refurb is due to start on specific streets etc is extremely vague ie between mid june and march of 2008.

It doesn,t say what work has been done, how far they are, what delays there have been, which end of the street they start eg at the low numbers or high numbers or which end of the area they work from. Its just really general and vague old news from the spring edition magazine from last quarter which we already know.

Oh didnt, know that Connaught was sacked by Lowedges, where is the online info over that?

Who the new contracter, what thier email adress?
.
I've not seen any info about the above contractor being sacked. Why not contact Connaught with your question anyway? There is an online form for contacting them here http://www.connaught.plc.uk/Social-Housing/Social-housing-enquiries

[QUOTE
connaught was sacked for shoddy workmanship, the next phase is to be done by a new contractor i'm not sure who that is , but the housing area office might know. i didn't know they were sacked either, till a friend of mine moved out and was handing in his keys, he told the office that as the house was now vacant they could do the modernising( he'd put it off due to ill health) and it was then that he was told there was to be no more modernising beginning, only outstanding jobs were being completed because connaught were sacked, and since then i've spoken to a connaught worker who confirmed that they were all sacked !

Wou, wat a suprise why don,t they put that lot on the decent home info site I wonder. It would explain why work planed to start in january to be finished by april, never happened.

Does any one know who the area liason advisors for lowedges is and the email adres?

I've just had my home done by Keepmoat, the majority of it was all done in 3weeks. My lad was here to house sit as he was on his summer break from uni. Lots of dust and workmen in and out constantly but just as I was beginning to get tired of coming home from work to it all it was over. There were some glitches but I reckon this is to be expected on such a big project.
Now it's just last minute repairs/replacements over the next few weeks but I'm loving it.
All good lads too.

Oh forgot, apparently (so I'm told by a neighbour) there's a cleaning allowance you can claim which I couldn't find on the Sheffield Homes site. If you're in rent arrears you get a portion of the allowance credited to your rent account but if you're up to date you can get this in cash or vouchers.

hi i am currently having decent homes work done. its doing my head in they've broken my cooker and are refusing to pay for it because i signed a sheet of paper saying they could move the things left in my kitchen. yet they told me because im a single mom that i could leave my cooker and washer in my kitchen as i couldnt move it myself and had noone to move it for me. i have told them i have no money to buy a new cooker myself and they more or less laughed and told me i had signed a disclaimer saying it wouldn't be their fault if things got broke so theyre basically not paying for the damage! any ideas on what to do about this?

also my cooker was not protected by dust sheets when it was supposed to be, so could i get round the disclaimer this way?