Was that cryptic?

_________________
Phil
Advise rhymes with rise. Advice rhymes with rice.

No !!!!!

Just saying very labour intensive job

ok, you're going to have to help me a bit more please. What does "dressing white lias" mean?

_________________
Phil
Advise rhymes with rise. Advice rhymes with rice.

You taking the mike

White lias is a type of natural stone, see you pic of a post.

Dressing it is cutting the edges to shape.

Aha!
I'm afraid I haven't come across white lias before. I tend to source my stone from local quarries and salvage yards.

I've learned something new today.

_________________
Phil
Advise rhymes with rise. Advice rhymes with rice.

I've got a delivery from the same builders merchants due out tomorrow to the same address. I've also had an email to say that the loss adjusters will be on site in the next 48 hours. What are the chances that they both turn up at the same time?

_________________
Phil
Advise rhymes with rise. Advice rhymes with rice.

Oh what fun! The loss adjustor finally made an appearance today. Not only had he been ringing a phone number for me that he found on the net (and which hasn't been in use for months) but his paperwork had me down as the owner of the house,

He looked at the pillars, asked me for measurements (because he didn't have a tape measure), took photos, looked at his paperwork and then asked me if I would take an £800 drop in price. I laughed in his face.

He asked why I had put down materials in the quote if I was going to use the same stone. I explained that I would need to replace the mortar in the pillars because you can't reuse the stuff that has set.

His next question stumped me. "Has that ivy always been there?"

"No, that was planted last week and it grew really fast."

He went back to the price. "Are the owners of the house happy with the price?"

"They aren't going to be paying it so that's not really relevant, is it?"

"Don't you think £2800 is a bit steep?"

"No. If I did then I wouldn't have put that price on my quote."

"What about £2500 then?"

"What about £4800 instead?"

"What's £4800?"

"It's £2000 more than £2800."

"Ok, can you do it for £2600."

"No, can you? If you can then you're welcome to the job."

"Let me get back to you tomorrow. I'll put in a recommendation that we accept your quote."

"In that case, I'll give you the right phone number."

Quite honestly I'm not fussed about getting the job now. I can already foresee the hassles I would have with the administration and I'm not keen on having to chase payment with a company that is as disorganised as this.

_________________
Phil
Advise rhymes with rise. Advice rhymes with rice.

Update. Well, the insurance company coughed up and I agreed to do the work. I've finally managed to get round to doing it and progress has been swift. The pillars needed to be dismantled completely so I've made the entrance a bit wider by moving them to a safer position.

Here's the progress to date ...

_________________
Phil
Advise rhymes with rise. Advice rhymes with rice.

Lookin good

_________________
Sciatica is a pain in the Ar5e ............ and leg

The wall............. I mean

_________________
Sciatica is a pain in the Ar5e ............ and leg

I bet that there are not many people that could rebuild a wall like that!

Great work

_________________
Check out our nominated charity

I had a problem with a builders merhant ages ago, i had just made and installed some metal gates, nothing special.
They delivered 2 ton of gravel, but backed into the gate, bending one out of shape. I took it off and dropped it into them, to sort out. They bought it down to my work to get straightened

Your gateway there doesn't look very tight though

Nice job on the rebuild though :)

_________________
Why isn't the number 11 pronounced onety one?

Ta

The gateway isn't very tight but the problem is that the drive is steep and turns almost immediately beyond the entrance. It was a nightmare for lorry drivers if they didn't get it right first time, especially with a load on. Add to that the pressure of coming off or onto a trunk road about 40 yards from a fast blind corner and the stakes were much higher than they look from photos.
I've set that pillar back three feet from its original position and the other one is going back another 6". This gives three and a half feet of extra clearance on the pillars BUT (and this is the clever bit) the kerb will only be moved on one side and only by two and a half feet. That results in vehicles being guided well clear of the pillars by the kerbs.

I'm so confident that the pillars won't get hit now that I'm putting a bottle of whisky in each of them.

_________________
Phil
Advise rhymes with rise. Advice rhymes with rice.

The client ask if you could put a bell in the post Geewizz not Bells.

Topped out the first pillar today. A wee bottle of Monkey Shoulder encased in the bellend (technical term) to refresh whoever finds it in a few hundred years from now.

_________________
Phil
Advise rhymes with rise. Advice rhymes with rice.