It all came to a head this weekend. Hence the lack of blogging. It all could of turned out so horribly. But. It didn't. It went SURPRISINGLY well.
(For those that don't know the backstory you can read all about our house journey here and then the subsequent drama here.) A month ago Mr. T took over all negotiations. I had previously been leading these but my legalistic approach was not producing results and the further I got along in the pregnancy the less I needed the stress of talking to our delusional builders. Mr. T's approach was different. He spelt it out to them that if they didn't fix the house in time or pay us back the money they owed, then not only would he go to the police, he would also destroy their reputations. He bought their names on the internet, taped all their phone conversations, spoke to all their clients and employees and collected all the evidence he needed to put online and was even considering paying for adverts in local media publications. So about a month ago he met with them and showed them everything he had. It was pretty damning stuff. They were silent. He then offered them a chance to finish the house to a deadline that they could set. They said they needed 3 weeks. We agreed with the proviso that if the house was not finished in 3 weeks they would pay us any money they owed us. Hands were shook. The deal was made. 3 weeks went by and next to nothing was done. They asked for one more week. Mr. T said if one more week is all you need to catch up with over 12,ooo Euros worth of work which you haven't done, than I can give you one more week. One more week passed and still nothing changed. On the extended deadline Mr. T informed the builders they were no longer allowed on the land without him being present and that they had 5 days to pay us the total amount owed. They did not reply. Instead they tried to force their way on to the land and threatened the old man who guards the site for us. Mr. T turned up with the police but by that time they had left. The builders wouldn't take his calls. They wrote to us that night and said that they didn't agree with the figures we sent them and they requested a meeting on the site to confirm who was owed what.
Mr. T and I agreed it was best if I didn't go. This was so hard for me as I am usually involved in everything we do and I am very proactive about it all, but I had to think of Pebbles and such a high stress and potentially volatile situation would not be good for her or me. So I reluctantly let Mr. T go without me, but insisted he take some reliable (and well-built) friends with him. The builders turned up with an official from the court. This was fantastic for us and not so good for them. They started off by saying they only owed us 2000 Euros. Mr. T told them they were
crazy. So they went through everything point by point - apparently the shock on their faces was a sight to behold as it became clear they owed us 12,000 Euros. And all in front of the court official. There was no denying it. They had to sign a paper recognizing what they owed us, which was signed by the official. Then they had to sign a paper agreeing to pay us 5% on the Monday (which we received in cash! Cha-ching!) and the remaining 95% within 20 days. Neither of us could believe it had gone so smoothly in the end. It had been resolved. Resolved. Okay we still have to get the remaining 95% and we know nothing is certain until we have this but. A huge momentous step forward to getting it all resolved has been taken.
Mr. T and I have been cautiously celebrating. Things can move on now. We can actually get this house finished. And in time for Pebbles' arrival. So we have new builders - they have already done our stone floors, our chimneys and the bricks around the front door. The quality of their workmanship and their honesty with us has been great. They don't take advances. We only pay when they have finished particular stages. Now we have got rid of the other builders, our new builders have 6-8 weeks to finish everything that's left. We finally feel in control once again. As they say in Morocco, Al Hamdulilah (Thanks be to God). Life is really looking U-P.
Here are a few photos of the progress that's been made since last photo update:
Front of house (October time)
Front of a house a few months later with stone patio laid. This will be our outdoor dining area.
Staircase leading to roof terrace. Now with laid stone. And one furbaby having a breather.
Tiled roof terrace.
View from roof terrace.
Brick work around the front door. White filling to be added as shown at the bottom right.
Stone floor laid inside the house. This is taken from the living room, looking down the hall and into our bedroom at the end. Unfortunately all the plaster needs to come off as it was done so badly. Our new builders have shown us a different and much higher quality plaster finish that they will do soon.
Stone fireplace completed in living room!
Bath and taps in! Stone floor in bathroom done and tadelakt finished on the walls. Tadelakt is a Moroccan lime polish for walls. However this also needs to be redone as the quality is not acceptable and will not last. So another job for the new builders.
And here is one of our curious neighbours checking to see how the work is coming along....
