Episode 37 - The Snag List

Jenny and Kate discuss what happens as you near the end of your renovation. How much retention can you expect, what should you look for in your final walkthrough, and our tips for handling difficult conversations when something inevitably goes wrong. A huge thank you to everyone who signed up for our early bird list - look out for an email from us soon, including Kate's snag list as a welcome gift! Email us at ripitupearlybird@gmail.com to sign up.

Transcript

Renovation snag list

 [00:00:00] 

Podcast Intro

Jen: Welcome to Rip It Up, the renovations podcast. I'm Jenny. I'm Kate. And between us, we've renovated a lot of houses and it hasn't scared us off. In fact, we loved it so much that we can't stop talking about it. So in this podcast, we will give you all the tools and info that you need to tackle your own renovation like a pro.

 welcome back to the podcast. Welcome back from holidays, 

Kate: Kate. Thank you. Hi, Jen. How? Yeah, it was great. It was, it was good. It was hot. Yeah, it was about as 

Jen: hot as it was here when I arrived back. Actually, I'm not saying I don't like the hot weather, but I, it was nice to have a good night's sleep last night with the rain, so.

Do, you know, give my Dyson fan a break. Yeah, my seat scores back in the nineties. Okay. While you're gone, I want to give, give a shout out anyone who, uh, listened to my quick update last week and who signed up as an early bird. Thank you so much. If you didn't hear, um, Kate and I are working on creating better renovation tools and resources for anyone who is going through [00:01:00] renovation or doing up a part of their house.

Um, so we would love to hear your input if you're planning a renovation. If you are in the middle of a renovation, if you've just been through a renovation and you're, you want to vent and give your input, just call me directly. Yeah, yeah, just, just call. We've got a helpline. Um, we'd love to hear from you.

Email us at rip it Up earlyBird@gmail.com. I'll pop that email in the show notes for anyone who signed up or for anyone who signs up. This week we've got a welcome gift for you. Mm-hmm. Off the basis of today's topic. Yeah. Which is gonna be your walkthrough, your checklist, your snag list, what to look for, and what we're talking about today.

Because this is hot off the press for Kate's personal experience. It's 

Kate: not off. It's still on the press. Still hot 

Jen: on the press. Very much so on the press. I'm in the thick of it. So what we're talking about today is when you're approaching the end of your renovation. What do you need to think about? How do you operate with a retention to hold back some money in case your builder or your trades person has done not the right job?

What do you [00:02:00] do? How do you manage those conversations if something has been done not the way you want it? Mm-hmm. And. How do you do the final walkthrough? What is a snag list? How do you come back and make sure all of that happens? Yeah, yeah. 

Kate: That's where we are today. That's where we are today. And can I say one thing?

Right? So toward the end of a build, things crop up, right? Yeah. It's when systems are tested and everything has to join up and come together. So like you will find things wrong. And I suppose the main thing is don't panic. Yeah. I know my husband, if my husband listen to this, he'd be like, well, you should take your own advice because I have been panicking over the last few weeks.

It's hard not to, I suppose in it's your own. Your own house. Yeah. But don't think it's outta the ordinary for things to crop up. Like it's fairly typical as soon as plumbing system and electrical systems all have to be tested and run and whatever and connected that you'll find little things. Yeah. You know, some, hopefully not two major things, but like you will find little things and I think taking a really structured approach here.

Will help you get your head around it. Yeah. And as much as I know you're a lists an organization person, I'm probably not so much my [00:03:00] husband's a list person. I dunno how many Google keeps he sends me. This is something you need a list for. Yeah. Because things will get missed. And we spoke about this on one of our previous episodes.

I'm trying to remember what episode it was. And we spoke about some builders are really good at like documents and like following plans. Some builders are not so much, they're very visual and they just walk around and they'll kind of remember. I personally think it's just good to send them the list that you went through.

Yeah. After every meeting your notes if they're, even if they're not that person, 'cause you have it down then in paper, what you discussed on that day. Um, and it's just something that, you know, will give you a bit of respite, get it off your mind. Yeah. Get it on paper or into a doc somewhere. Um, but yeah, I think just taking the structured approach, room by room, trade by trade.

Yeah. You know, finish by finish will. Help alleviate some of the stress because, and you 

Jen: forget because there's so many little decisions, so many and so many things get said. Like if you're doing one walk around through a house, of course, like in the moment, like, oh, put that there and this here, and like, yeah.

But there might be something that you're [00:04:00] not sure exactly where it goes and you decide it goes here, but maybe you said it went. They're the last time. Yeah. So just like write it all down. Yeah. And I do, I just use Apple Notes, like whatever's on your iPhone. Yeah. Or Google Keep if, if you have an Android and just like literally bullet by bullet, just keep a list of everything and then text it or email it to the, to the builder.

I used to do it every Friday. That was like my structure. Uh, I was really lucky. I had a very organized builder, so it wasn't difficult, but every Friday I would come in. Like towards the end of the day, we would sit down, we would go, I would like be keeping things that popped into my head. During the week, we would do it all in one conversation.

We would do one walk around and then we would send each other like the notes of what we captured and then we would the same thing that happened next week and it just kept things on track. But I did have a very organized builder who was really on top of it. So like it made it easier. It's different for every build.

Kate: It's different for every builder and like our, I love our builder this time, but he's much more a kind of a. Goes around visually, kind of remembers everything. One time I remember he came with a notebook. He's like, I'm gonna take notes of all this. And he took about two notes. [00:05:00] And then my husband was there with him and he just took, he was on the second note I'd say, and he just fucked the notebook on the floor and kept going because it's just not him.

And he probably wouldn't look at the notebook, but just, we have a WhatsApp with him that like, afterwards we're like, here's the list of stuff we went through. Yeah. And then he mightn't write a checklist, but we'll have written a checklist. Yeah. So at least it's there. We can all share it. We can go back on it if, you know, there's some slight disagreements as to how things were meant to be finished or how they're meant to be repaired or whatever.

So I think like, yeah, an organized as possible approach here will really, really 

Jen: help you. 

Kate: Yeah. And 

Jen: this is all well and good when like you do have a good relationship with your builder and you trust them and you have good tradespeople. If that's gold dust in Ireland these days, like it's really hard to find like people that you tr like it's hard to find anyone not to find like great ones, even though they're out there for sure.

It's awesome. But um. It just, if you are, if it's a bit contentious or the relationship isn't that warm, or maybe they're not maybe taking as much pride in their work as you would hope, yeah, then just having everything written down to cover [00:06:00] yourself is really important. So yeah, we gonna talk about, yes. 

Kate: We talked about this in an earlier episode as well, where we were talking about like the level of detail you need in drawings.

Mm-hmm. And some people will have gone through an architect and they'll have fully detailed construction drawings. They'll have a full de, fully detailed lighting plan and down to the millimeter and e plan, down to the millimeter heights, everything. But things crop up. There might be a reason they couldn't put it at that height or that, you know, spacing from the wall or whatever.

Or sometimes. In my instance, like a shower tray was put in, but then a, a kind of a, an insulated stud was built out, so the shower head was off center as a result of that. Oh. So annoying. It's annoying, but it's, it's not necessarily the plumber's fault, you know? It's kind of, yeah. It, it fell between two, two stools a little bit.

And you have to kind of be understanding in those, don't go straight for the nuclear button on one of the trades thinking that they've. Messed it up because it might not be their fault. So I think, you know, approach it with this is an honest mistake for the most part. But then if it's not rectified to the way you agreed with the trade, or they've [00:07:00] tried to do a subpar, yeah, your rectification of whatever was wrong, that's when you can kind of start getting angry, I guess.

Yeah. But I think. Assume everyone has good intentions and they're working to whatever level of drawings they had 

Jen: Yeah. 

Kate: To begin with. Yeah. And then most things can be fixed. 

Jen: Yeah. You're so right. Like try to take emotion outta it, even though it is because it is a very emotional. Thing, right? Mm-hmm. Like it is, it's your house.

It's your home. You have a dream for it. You have a vision for how you want it to be, and you, you don't know. Like if I knew how to install the shower, I would do it myself, but you need someone to do it for you, and you kind of trust that they will do what's in your head. 

Kate: Yeah. 

Jen: But they don't know what's in your head.

They don't know if you wanted a certain place for a certain reason. Like they probably have a few jobs on the go, and so. You have to just be really clear and really communicative and try to take the emotion out and just be like, this is where it goes, and how do we get it there? Yeah. You 

Kate: know? And if you don't have all those fully detailed drawings, like we mentioned, one of the things that I use this time that actually worked really well with the electrician, so [00:08:00] when you saw all the bloody lights, I pulled up my Instagram, like there's so many different light fittings in my house.

So I'd say. In total, there might have been 40 throughout the house. Yeah. In terms of pendants, wall lights, outdoor lights, everything. And I did a little, just like a piece of paper in the box for every light fitting Amazing. Where it was going at, at whatever height in millimeters and so much from the wall.

So at least they couldn't be too far off. Yeah. And that was in the box with every individual light fitting. So I thought. That was a way that you could be sure, even if they didn't look at the drawings, that there was something that they had to pull out and see before they fit that light. Um, so some of those little kind of notes or printouts on walls for bathrooms and stuff, you've used something specific in your head as to, I want my vanity at this height or my taps at this height.

And you know, usually there's a, a kind of a standard for where a toilet should go or where tap height should be. But if you want those kind of off standard, maybe. That's where you need to, um, have a little note or yeah, have a proper chat with whatever the trade is. Like my 

Jen: tiles, I have those, I never get this word right, but those Zel tiles, [00:09:00] whatever behind and they go, they're unusual spacing.

They're really right up against each other. Yeah. Some people don't even put grout in them. You, if you do, it's minimal grout. So don't assume that your tile will know that. Like, leave instructions and say that that's what it needs to look like. Leave a photo if it needs to be, if you think that's the right thing to do.

One thing I think. We mentioned this in our, one of our first episodes around choosing a contractor and what is the right, like how do you know if you've got somebody good? Mm. And we, we keep saying like it all, a lot of it comes back to communication and communication style. And I think that's so important here because it's, if you are somebody who's, who maybe feels nervous about being upfront about this stuff or is just not used to having these conversations, then there's kind of a practice like ramp in this for you.

Yeah. Because. It's not always that easy to be like up against people who are experts who know a lot more than you. Yeah. And who maybe are not that welcoming to your input or something. So like if you're listening and that's you, you're not, you know, you're not alone. There's a lot of people like that. So.

You kind of have to get used to like, don't be over apologetic, [00:10:00] don't over explain. Don't write like an essay saying, I'm sorry, but can we do this? Can we do that? I think just try to be as direct and as clear as you possibly can and like give the information and give the instruction as early as you possibly can to your builder.

Just say, this is the way it needs to be. This is how I want it. Like friendly. Don't be like, oh, and could, would it be okay if, and do you mind if like, it's so Irish a little bit to be like, yeah. A, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, but can you install this for me please? Like, oh, you, I'm sorry, but you put my toilet in upside down.

Geez, I, yeah, yeah. I'm so sorry. I wanted it the other way. And we have such a tendency to be like over explain and apologize for everything. And not everyone is like that, but it's just an Irish, like it's an Irish way, and this is an area where you just have to get used to saying, this needs to go here, this needs to go there.

This is. You know, needs to be moved. A lynch to the left. Yeah. How long might that take? And of course they please and thank you. But just everybody appreciates directness and early communication like that is, it's really key. As 

Kate: early as you can, as early as you can, you do everyone a favor you're doing Yeah.

And don't think you're being awkward [00:11:00] Yeah. At the start when you know, some, some builders love to just get the pipe work in. Yeah. And we'll deal with kind of repercussions and moving things a little bit or a little bit later. It's always better to get it in early. So if you have a preference, just put that note up when they're doing the first fix.

Yeah. Just say, I want my toilet here, I want the taps here. This is the size of my vanity or whatever. I pick bathrooms a lot because bathrooms are a very technical one where a lot of things have to come together, you know, like you've waste traps and you've tiled a shower trays and you've, you know, tanking and ceiling and you're spacing for toilets.

So like they are one of the more complicated rooms to get right? I think So The more information you can give them early on, the better. Yeah. And even for your kitchen, I think that's something you should get. Kind of nailed as soon as you can. Yeah. As in, get your kind of kitchen layout and design and get the, um, drawings or the, the electrical layouts and the, the mechanical electrical layouts for the kitchen as required.

Yeah. So at least they're not shifting things then the week before the kitchen comes in, or, yeah. Um, they can kind of notice if something is slightly off versus what's on the drawing. Yeah. If a wall had to be built [00:12:00] out or a wall had to be knocked or whatever. So I think yeah, as early as you can, the better 

Jen: and like have it in your head that like every day that you hesitate to like bring something up, it's gonna cost you like twice as much.

Three times as much. 'cause if you don't move that pipe and then the plaster board goes up. Then you don't say it again and then the plaster goes over it and then you don't say it again. And then the painter is in, it's costing you four times more to move that pipe to where it needs to be. Yeah. Than if you had just said it early on.

Yeah. So just rip off the plaster. Be brave, like be really clear, really concise and say this is where you need to go. 

Kate: Can I just say something as well, we've, we've said this as well, use chat, GPT, use chat gt, oh my God. Like for everything. If you're not sure and you're like, this looks a bit weird, or there seems to be not enough pipes going to the boiler or to your heat recovery system, or your heat pump, or whatever.

Take a picture of it and ask chat GBT what, what's does this look like? What's missing? It's amazing what it'll give you back. 

Jen: Yeah. It'll be like, that 

Kate: looks blah, blah, blah, but that piping is a little bit old now. This only has a U value of whatever you could actually upgrade to this type of piping or be more [00:13:00] insulated and you know, like just ask that and kind of.

Uh, educate yourself before you go talking to them. Yeah, you'll feel a bit more confident then questioning things when you have a bit more background knowledge yourself. Chat, 

Jen: GPT is brilliant. Um, perplexity, okay. perplexity.ai is another model. Same thing as chat GT. Um, but it's, it pulls from multiple LLMs.

Not to get too techy, but you can choose which one it pulls from. I find it better at searching the web and bringing back more accurate UpToDate information. So I love it for those things because it just has the latest and greatest. And does it have a little bit 

Kate: of free use like Tivity? Yeah, it has. It has free use.

Yeah. It does enough that you won't need to pay for it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. Okay. No, I think that's a great one, because even just, we had some issues with some of the piper coming from our boiler that were meant to go across to the manifold, which is across from the other side of the house, and the pipes weren't there when they were pouring the concrete.

Oh my gosh. And like, gosh, sure. If the concrete's poured, the concrete's poured, like where does it go? Then like you can't channel that out 'cause the under floor is in and everything. So like. The repercussions of that being wrong would've [00:14:00] been absolutely enormous. 

Jen: Yeah. And that's why it's worth site visits.

I remember coming here and like my poor, my, like I had such a great experience with my contractor. I don't have any negative feedback, but one thing, I called down one day and they were about to install radiators. And I was like, there's no radiators going into this house. It's all under floor heating. And he was like, what?

And I was like, yeah, it's under floor heating. And he was like, right, thank God. Because like radiators would've gone in, floor, would've gone down and I dunno where the gap was, but Yeah, don't assume check, don't assume, just. You know, be fair to your, your trade people. 

Kate: Yeah. Yeah. And remember, this isn't their house.

They're probably working on five or 10 houses at the one time. So like, don't expect them to know every. Single detail about your house. Yeah. Like you know it because you'll know it inside out. 'cause it's your one and only and you know, it's what you're living, breathing, sleeping, thinking about all the time.

So I think yeah, assume that if it's not on a drawing, it's not gonna get done that 

Jen: way. And even if it is, just make sure and just double check because maybe they've 10 things in their head and that one thing fell out and just 

Kate: Yeah. 

Jen: You know, be fair to them. Yeah. So one thing to think about, [00:15:00] we're talking about at the end of the renovation.

Yeah. One thing you need to think about early on when you're getting your pricing and your quotes and you're like agreeing and going into a contract with your builder. And tradespeople is retention. 

Kate: Yeah. 

Jen: So retention is a portion of the overall fee that you're paying to them that you hold back until everything is done perfectly.

Kate: Yeah. 

Jen: Somewhere in the region of five to 10%, 10% percent even is pretty high. But So 

Kate: negotiation at the start, right? Yeah. Like for. You as the renovator, as high as you can get it, the better. Yeah. Some builders want it as low as you know, two and a half percent. I would say no. Some builders want 5%. Some builders, if they give you 10%, great, take it.

But then there's also a timing element. So how long do they hold it back for? Do they hold it back six months after the handover? Do they hold it back a year after the handover? And I think that's a good telling sign if a builder really. Trust their work. Yeah. If they can do 10% in a year, like, like that's incredible.

That's amazing. 

Jen: That means they'll come back in that year and whatever goes wrong or isn't Yeah. You know, according to spec, they will fix it. Yeah. And they don't get their last 10% and it's really worth it because some [00:16:00] builders. Not to shame, but like there are some people who will just write off that who will, yeah, two and a half, 5%, whatever it might be.

'cause they're onto the next job and they just don't care and it's not worth their while coming back and we don't have strong enough. 

Kate: Yeah. So it depends on your, the size of your project. So your project is small, you want to higher attention for the chances of them coming back. If you're at a three thou, 300 Euro, 300,000 Euro renovation, that 30 grand might be worth it to them to come back over the course of a year.

But if there was a major thing wrong. It mightn't. Yeah, they might edit it off. Yeah. So get that as high as you can early on. Negotiate it with your, your contractor. Um, and then that's your kind of, I guess, stronghold as you work through the snag list. Yeah. Okay. So the snag list. Snag list. So like I have a snag list that I'm using at the moment.

Right. And we can make this available maybe to our Yeah. Anyone who has signed off at 

Jen: rip it up earlyBird@gmail.com. Yeah. Thank you so much again. Uh, we were gonna. We're gonna send you the SAG list as a, a thing to have for the end of your renovation 'cause it's so useful. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 

Kate: So usually I try and [00:17:00] group them.

So like general kind of something that will cover all rooms. Then maybe certain things like that might be in a living room, like a fireplace, TV points, all that kind of stuff. Like might be room specific. Then into your kitchens, uh, your bathrooms en suites. That's obviously a very plumbing. You know. Yeah.

Centered, but it can also bring in tiles. It can also bring in lighting if that's not working right or mm-hmm. You know, heated mirrors, all that kinda stuff. And then work through the different, the bedrooms have less stuff. Yeah. Like for example, like we're living in the house now, our bedrooms are done.

Mm-hmm. There's nothing for anyone to do because they're very simple flooring windows lighting. Yeah, exactly. Paint done. Um, and then your structural exterior, not so pretty stuff. You know, your rainwater guttering. Ideally you'd love a heavy rain shower before you move back in and pay that retention or, you know, like, or.

Get the snags done because that tells a lot. Yeah. That you know, a heavy rain shower in Ireland will tell you a lot. Yeah. For rain guttering. And if it's right and you can hear it smacking off the ground outside birds drip. Oh my god. I remember 

Jen: one of the first rain showers after I moved into this house after renovation and there was just this incessant drip.

Yeah. [00:18:00] The morning after a heavy shower. Again, luckily I had an amazing builder. He was fantastic. He came straight back. He found it, he fixed it. I was like, it's outside somewhere. I don't know where it's, but like, I'm being tortured here. 

Kate: Yeah. Uh, and then your mechanical, electrical, that's a big one. Mm-hmm.

So we talked about your m and e plan, so all your plumbing, all your, like pipe work, all that. And then your electrical, so your trip boards, all your lighting, all that. And making sure your system, whether it's a, you know, your heating system has all been. Pressure tested, all the rads have been filled, all that kinda stuff.

It's like you'd never do a handover and not, I, we're in the middle of somewhere now, so I don't need my rads on, but I need them filled. Yeah. Because I need to know if there's gonna be leaks on when I turn them on. Yeah. So, uh, we have found a little leak in our landing one. So stuff like that, you have to fill the rads, they have to be filled for a while.

You have to have the heating system running, you have to have the under floor running. And that's a lot of an ask in the given the week that we've just had here in Ireland. Yeah. But I know you gotta do it, but you, but you have to. So things in mechanical, electrical, let's start there. 'cause it's kind of technical.

Yeah. And then maybe we'll go into bathrooms. Yeah. And then the more general decorative kind of kind of obvious [00:19:00] stuff. Yeah. Scoff, skirting, all that kind of stuff. So mechanical, electrical, your fuse boards. Yeah. Making sure they're all 

Jen: labeled safe or, so your fuse board will have a bunch of trip switches on, it's just trip them, turn them on, turn them off, check the light switch.

Does that trip switch work? Does not easy. 

Kate: Uh, everything kind of tested. Turn on every single light in the house. Make sure things aren't tripping. You know, make sure the switches are working. If you have kind of, um. Multi area switches for the same lights or whatever. So make, check the dimers, turn them on 

Jen: together, plug things 

Kate: in.

Jen: Have a hair 

Kate: dryer going if you can. Yeah, yeah. Um, so heating zones, timers, thermostats, if you have all those that they're all working and they're all talking to each other. Like I said, the plumbing joints leak free. Yeah. Run water. Absolute. Run the showers. 

Jen: Make sure the shower drain is working. Yeah. Okay.

Like keep that shower running. Like, I'm sorry. I know we're talking about wasting water and electricity here, but it's not much. Yeah, keep it running. Make sure it doesn't overfill. Make sure you know that there isn't any spillage or that there's any leaks in the. Floor under. Underneath. Yeah. So if you have an upstairs shower, go, go downstairs, keep the shower running for like a good few minutes [00:20:00] and just make sure there isn't anything appearing like any watermarks, anything coming through the, the roof.

Yeah. You just never know. 

Kate: Yeah. No, it's happened in my last house and it actually happened this morning in this house. Mm-hmm. Great. But, uh, in the last house we had a tanked bathroom with a bath. Um, but then there was a floor mounted. Bath top fitted after the fact and they drilled through the tanking. Oh God.

Yeah. I wasn't so happy. So I was showering in that bath at the start. 'cause our other en suite or whatever wasn't ready and I didn't have a shower curtain, so I expected, you know, the splash over to be fine. Yeah. It wasn't, it came through where they had drilled through that tap, so it had to be sealed around that.

But just things like that. You'll have to kind of problem solve. It might seem like, oh my God, this is the biggest problem ever at the time. Yeah. Because you have water coming down through your ceiling. I'm gonna have to pull off my ceiling. Not necessarily, there's ways and means of troubleshooting it, like filling the shower tray, filling the bath.

So then you can kind of decipher if it's the waste or it's crack grout or it's bad tanking or it's, you know, like, so you can, you can find out depending on how you feel and how you check. That's a great point 

Jen: [00:21:00] about the waist. So the waist is like the little overflow hole at the top of your bath or the top of your sink or whatever it might be.

Um, and I had an issue with my waist. In my bath that I only realized when I was in the bath one day and like filled it up again, wasn't connected and the waste, and then heard like a weird watery dripping noise. And it came downstairs and the, there was an issue with the waste. It wasn't connected properly.

Okay. And just water was like pouring through my seat downstairs. Like the main waste were the kind of overflow wastes. The overflow wastes the. Same happened. One of our basins 

Kate: actually, 

Jen: so like the hole at the top of your bath where like water spills out if you wanna fill it. And again, amazing builder came straight back, fix it.

Not, not a problem since. But like, 

Kate: but these things happen. Tech before they go, these things happen. 'cause some, some basins or some um, sinks have like an overflow, but then the waste trap they might have used might have that overflow connection. Yeah. So like it's key. They're the kind of little issues that you'll find once you kind of start pulling this stuff together.

Jen: Yeah. 

Kate: So yeah, water pressure tested your whole system on floor heating. Tested, make sure you don't have any maybe cold spots. It's hard to tell obviously at this time of year. Yeah. And the floors are warmer and stuff. Um, all your smoke [00:22:00] alarms and all that. Yeah. Carbon monoxide alarms are, you know, working, testing, connected.

Um, and if you have any ventilation systems, stuff like that. Yeah. 

Jen: And plugs, plug things in, whatever, like a phone charger or something. And the. You check all the plugs and make sure everything's working? Absolutely. Yeah. 

Kate: The plugs, plugs and the switches on the plugs. If you have any like, uh, USB plugs, any of those, try every little bit.

Yeah. Because some 

Jen: of them, um, and under every sink, like just leave your kitchen sink running for a while. Yeah. And just put, I dunno, a cloth or something underneath and just see is there any water at all coming through or is it okay? Yeah. 

Kate: And one thing that we got actually. We had it temporarily when we didn't have a kitchen in the last place.

And we have it in our ons suite because we had this slim water trap that goes down the back of the vanity in order not to encroach inside the vanity, if you know what I mean, so you don't have to cut out the vanity. But really those waste need to have a U bend. And the purpose of that U bend is stop smells going back up.

And this one was straight and I said, this needs a you bend 'cause I can smell. The pipe smells coming back up, so that's why you see these kind of u bends. So things like that, that's another kind of plumbing one that you might encounter. [00:23:00] It's pretty easy fix, but just don't panic. Yeah. If you get that smell in your bathroom for some reason it's just probably the wrong waste installed.

Um, in terms of like the leaks. You know, there's a bit of troubleshooting, I suppose, in them. If it's your shower, like we said, you might need to fill the shower to see if it's like grout tanking. Is it the waste, uh, below the shower tray that's leaking? Um, and then rads, like it could just be the connections to the rad.

Yeah, hopefully. Usually that's where it is if you're seeing it at ground level or you know, above ground level. And then if it's coming down through the ceiling, you might need to lift forward or something. Yeah. Test this, test this, test this before and seal you put a new carpet or anything, or for the floors, seals can happen 

Jen: as well.

So especially in a bath, because when you fill a bath and you get into a bath, yes. You're adding a lot of weight onto that bath. Yeah. And the seals might have been installed fine around the edge of it, you know, just the silicone, whatever. Um. Or on the edge of it. But when you get into it, that could settle a bit more than expected.

So run a bath and get into the bath and just make sure [00:24:00] that it's okay. And then you don't have any cracks appearing around the, the edges. 

Kate: And a lot of good, um, kind of astic people are those sealant people that are doing that work will fill the bath and then do the ceiling. So at least that extra weight's been pulled down while they're doing it.

Yeah. But yeah. Water's not your friend at the end of these renovations. That's the number one check. 

Jen: The plumbing is just so important. 

Kate: Absolutely. It's absolutely. So then like, let's talk about more general stuff. Mm-hmm. So I'm going through this the moment like walls, like, I mean, that's fairly straightforward.

Do your, if you have decorators and stuff and you're not doing all the painting yourself, just make sure they're kind of all finished smoothly. See if you're starting to see hairline cracks mm-hmm. Because you will a lot in like first classroom, you'll, and this is the 

Jen: thing, like a few months after a few weeks even, or a few months after moving into your house, you're gonna see.

A few little cracks. They just houses settle. Yeah. There isn't really a way, I don't know, anyway of avoiding that. There's gonna be a couple little cracks. 

Kate: Yeah, there will be. But just have a look and especially looking kind of ceiling cracks and stuff like that in case any of them are kind of structural when people are walking up there and now it's.

Damage beyond kind of a filling, you know, a few months later, [00:25:00] skirting board is another one like that. They're finished. Well, you know, the corners are mitered or whatever. Finish that. You're happy with the finish. Yeah. Just do a kind of a walk around the perimeter of every room and make sure it looks tidy and happy with this and like just looking, 

Jen: eyeballing like along the edge of the skirting board where it meets the floor.

Where it meets the wall. Yeah. And then the top of the ceiling where the ceiling and the wall meet each other. Yeah. Does that look straight? Or like, is there a way? 'cause sometimes it can be just not, and then everything beyond that just 

Kate: it's rarely straight in really old houses. Yeah. And know you can, you can live with it sometimes.

Character. Yeah. 

Jen: And it's sometimes, and that's fine. That's just like, but like, yeah, just if you're, if you're planning to like put something up against that wall or like, I use one wall as a projector. I have projector that I watch movies on. Um, and if that's not straight, that can be really annoying. 

Kate: Yeah.

Jen: But maybe it's fine. 

Kate: Door handles, locks, latches. Yeah. Make sure all the doors are closed. There's not a rattle in it when it's closed. Yeah. So like, usually the way to tighten doors is that the, the strike plate or the bit that's in the door frame that holds a little latch, maybe it needs to be pushed forward or pushed back.

Mm-hmm. So it tightens or loosens when you're closing the door. And unfortunately [00:26:00] 

Jen: that can just be a time thing because like depending on the type of door you. Uh, they can kind of swell or settle a little bit, depending if it's hot or if it's wet or whatever. With temperature changes in particular. So it could be a few weeks, but just keep, just keep an eye on that.

Yeah. And just notice like if it's getting sticky or if it's, if it's just not locking properly or it's catching somewhere that's not terrible. Like that can be fixed. Yeah. You know, it's normal, but just keep an eye on that it 

Kate: Yeah, for sure. Um, as well as door latches and locks. Window latches and locks.

Mm-hmm. So you may have had your windows put in. Months ago. Yeah. Like, because usually it's to make the house kind of watertight and then they can work inside, but then there's a lot of work happening in the house. Yeah. They get damage or grit and, you know, dust, whatever it can get in the runners if they're kind of, you know, uh, sliding doors and windows and stuff like that.

So make sure every door and window is opening mm-hmm. Smoothly. The latches, the locks are working. You can lock the doors fully. Our French doors are quite stiff at the moment. The locks. 

Jen: Yeah. 

Kate: Just because like, I think. There was grit and crap, and they probably weren't greaser. If they were greased, the kind of building dust has gotten [00:27:00] into them.

So it's, it might be a call out to get all the locks and latches and all that. Mm-hmm. Serviced on your windows if you've got a windows placed. Um. Light switches and sockets. Not necessarily functional functionality from an electrical perspective, but just how they're finished around them. 

Jen: Yeah. Are they like, are they even, yeah.

Are they in the right amount from the edge of the wall? Yeah. Is there a straight line on the top of them? Is there any gaps around the edges? Put in a tight plug and pull it out as 

Kate: well, because sometimes it can pull the back box a little bit and just watch around. A lot of, you know, the real fancy face plates for like.

You know, the metal or whatever, like the kinda more decorative Yeah. Plug sockets and switches. They're not forgiving. Yeah. Like they really need those edges tidied up. And that might be a job for a decorator or maybe the electrician needs to kind of reset some of those. Yeah. So that's something to watch.

Just the, the switches sockets and everything. 'cause that finish can kind of look messy if it's not really done properly. Yeah. Um, just paint splashes. Stain window, like, I mean, it's very straightforward. There's gonna be probably a couple 

Jen: of splatters, maybe on windows, maybe on like floor, [00:28:00] potentially. Like I I, one thing as well, it depends, like sometimes your cleaner will clean or your cleaner, your builder will clean for you.

Yeah. They leave a really clean house. Sometimes they might not. And like there is so much dust that comes with construction. It's just inevitable. Yeah. So check with them if they're gonna do that. And if not, it's really worth hiring a specialist, like end of renovation cleaner. You might be paying something like 200 quid.

If you know somebody who's going through a renovation, that's a great present. If you're like, it's a great present, unreal present. It's such a sound thing to do. Maybe it's a family club together or 

Kate: something. Oh, really? Like upwards of a thousand for some of them for a full house. Oh wow. So like, it depends, I suppose, the level they have to do This house is so tiny, they're like, it's fine.

Yeah. But like a, there's a lot of places, it depends on how tight your builder is too, right? Yeah. Some builders have literally plaster all over the bloody frames and the glass and everything, which requires much deeper clean, I suppose. So like, yeah, they can be really expensive. It's a hard 

Jen: job though, like it's, it is, it's getting dust, like really fine dust out of every single corner, especially if you've got carpets and your furniture is there and everything.

[00:29:00] It's hard, like it's not easy. So it's worth it and, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um. 

Kate: A bit more specific, but like decorative plaster work then as well. Mm-hmm. So like for us, we had someone come in and repair all the decorative plaster work. So if you have an old house with cornicing, sometimes services and wires and whatever could have come through that.

They might need to fill those holes. And like things have, if there's box out that. Things have been boxed out properly and finished properly. Yeah. And they're not in the way of the cornering. The ceiling rose is still intact and you know, not broken or whatever. So all those kind of decorative plaster work, it's a bit more specific but like, you know, something to watch out for anyway.

Yeah. Um, and then another thing in finishes. That is a big deal. It's a big deal for me. Is transitions for floors? Yes. From like bathroom into or hallway or tile, anything. Yeah, 

Jen: that's a big one. And that's one to check early on before the stuff goes down. Like is there a height difference and if so, is that going to be leveled out by the types of materials that are going down, or is it gonna be a height diff, like just a millimeter or two?

You're stubborn, your toe on that thing every day. Yeah. It's gonna drive even sane. 

Kate: Yeah. 

Jen: [00:30:00] So that's a tricky one to get. 

Kate: Right. And it's something our builder asked us very early on. He was like, I don't care what kind of tiles you're putting down, just show me the millimeter thickness and you know how they're been.

Yeah. You 

Jen: know, I know that if you change your tiles and there's a different thickness, then you might, you might encounter that. 

Kate: Yeah. That's really 

Jen: frustrating. 

Kate: So getting all those transitions right and the thresholds right is a tricky one. Yeah. Um, and the more information you have on that, early on, the better.

'cause it's a hard one to fix after the fact 

Jen: flooring as well, tiles. So just make sure they're like, check all the tiles and make sure there isn't any chips. 

Kate: Yes. And 

Jen: the other thing is. Just make sure you have excess. So whenever you're buying floor flooring, you're gonna have 10% or something like that of excess and just keep that stored somewhere because you're gonna need, you're gonna chip a plank, you're gonna chip it, something's gonna happen.

So just make sure you know where it is and you have access to it. Same with paint. Like just have a tin of like the right paint 'cause. You might think you can go back and get the same color and it'll be fine, but you can't, 'cause different batches have tiny variations in them For sure. Yeah. Often. And so we just might not end up with the same.

Kate: Yeah, and same with with tiles, especially Natural Stone, you're like, yeah, they might look different. One batch might look different to the next. [00:31:00] So yeah, it's definitely worth keeping at least a few, a very tile or floor plank or whatever you need. Yeah. Um, what else? What were we talking about there before you said that We're talking about the thresholds?

Flooring. Oh, the tile. Sorry. You were saying like just make sure the tile finishes right. But when you're looking at the skirting, look at the tile finishes or the wood floor finishes around that perimeter as well. Yeah, it's a good kind of double check. So you're looking, you, you said you're looking at the skirting and the transition to the floor, but typically that's where you'll see cutoffs of tiles.

Yeah. And cutoffs of plank and make sure there's not this tiny little bit that's gonna be jiggly in a few weeks or because it will peel 

Jen: up and it will just, any gap at all will cause other things to shift around. So you just, you don't want that. Yeah. And it's very 

Kate: easy to fill it with. Grout or mast or something like that.

Mm-hmm. But you don't want that all over your house. Yeah. So like while the tile is still in the building, like try and be getting those little yeah. Bits filled in and properly done. Also, 

Jen: check with them about like when you're buying the tile and then when the til is still there, check with them about, have they put sealant down?

So if you're putting tiles in your bathroom. Usually what they do is they'll pour a sealant [00:32:00] over it. It's a liquid. It just goes on with a kind of a sponge. You let it soak in and it's kind of a once and done thing. Yeah. You don't necessarily need to redo it over the course of the lifetime of the tiles usually.

So have they done that? Is that auto, like, is that in, or do you need to do that and then. How do those tiles need to be cleaned? Because lots of different types of tiles will have different cleaners. Usually something like a pH neutral gentle soap yes. Will do the job and that's fine, but just like, can you get more abrasive with it if it's really dirty or not.

So just make sure you've got that before you throw away the box that your tiles and stuff came in. 

Kate: Yeah. So will we go to the, the big one? Well, I think it's the big one. Um, bathrooms and en suites. Yeah. Where the big problems happen. toilet flush working no leaks fixed firmly to the floor and walls.

Sometimes if walls are a bit off, your cistern can be out, and if things aren't level, they'll stop working properly, or you'll have a big gap down the back of your cistern, which is not what you want either. Yeah, your sink taps working. No leaks around your waist traps all. Sealed around the base basin, like you said.

So someone has come and done that silicone or mast stick or whatever. Yeah. 

Jen: And this is one, again, this [00:33:00] is why it's worth having a retention that is maybe six months or a year down the line because sometimes you won't see those leaks until black star spots start appearing a few months down the line where water is getting stuck and mold is growing.

So that is something that might need to be fixed. Now that could be as simple as throwing a bit of extra silicon on it or something. Yeah. But just keep an eye for it. 

Kate: Um, your tiling finishes, I suppose, in the bathroom that they're kind of. Grout, there's no gaps in grout. Yeah, stuff like that. There's no broken edges.

Something to mention on tiles, it's not necessarily on the snags, but like specifying a little early on is how you want edges finished. Yeah. So some want tile, trim, some don't, someone white. You need to kind of verify that with the tiler. 'cause a lot of tilers will take for granted that tile trim is okay, especially if you're, 

Jen: like, if you're tiling, if you're putting in, um, an alcove or a recess in your shower, like are you okay with the trim around the edge of that?

Are you okay with naked tile edges around the edge of that? Yeah, I like that for my cement tile. That look kind of nice. Or do you want them measured so that they're added? An angle and they meet each other perfectly. Yeah. And there's no seam at all. Almost. 

Kate: I personally hate tile trims, so I specified [00:34:00] early on that I wanted no tile trim.

Yeah. 

Jen: And 

Kate: Tyler was okay with that, but some tilers mightn't be. So it's just a watch out 

Jen: and just go back and check. Yeah. Did they forget? Is that, you know, do they have something else on that day just to ask? Yeah. One thing is I think is really important as well, if you've got more than one shower especially, or an upstairs and downstairs showers, whatever.

Run all showers at the same time for a while. Maybe have the radiators going too, and then go back and double check your pump. Okay. So if you have a water pump or whatever, it can be boiler, something like that, uh, things can happen that make the water pressure drop below a certain bar and then your pump can kind of seize up and freak out.

Yeah. And you have to refill it. And if that happens. Okay. Sometimes it just happens and it's not the end of the world. And maybe like if it wraps up once a year, whatever, just learn how to redo it. Yeah. Um, and that brings me actually to, another thing is, we'll come back to it, but just have a list like from your builder on how to work your house, like how to do these things.

But yeah, run everything and just make sure that the pump and that the boiler are able to deal with it and that it doesn't drop the water pressure too low. And if that [00:35:00] does happen, either go out and figure out what's going on, get it fixed. You need a better pump. Or if, uh. Ask your builder, how do you, how do you refill it?

In the case of that might happen in, I dunno, the case of like a big freeze or something like that. 

Kate: Yeah, that's a really good point though. You mean just asking how? Like a manual for your house. A manual for your house. So important. A lot of trades kind of open the box. They're so used to seeing this or fitting this, that they go manual just.

Goes somewhere, they just throw it, whatever, like they don't use it, but it's useful for you down the line. Yeah. If they can save all that, or at least the models of things. You're not trying to decipher the models and you need the models 

Jen: because a lot of times it's worth, it's very much worth your while.

Go round with everything that you have. Your pump, your boiler, your fridge, your. Dishwasher, everything that's like electronic at all. Uh, or any big item like that and register it. Yeah. 'cause a lot of times the warranty doesn't kick in until you register online. So, and you might get an extended warranty of like three years as opposed to one or something like that.

But just go and do that and have a note of that everywhere. 

Kate: Yeah. And one thing that's kind of coming up more and more now is commissioning kind of things that are [00:36:00] installed. So for example, if you're putting an EV charger, some of these EV chargers now. You need, um, like a an RFID card or you need to connect your phone, but if the installer doesn't hand that over properly to the new owner.

It can't be done down the line. So we have a car charger just gone in, but we don't have the cards anywhere and our electricians on holidays at the moment. So we're like, we can't use it. Oh my gosh. So that handover, just making sure that that doesn't go out in the bin too. Yeah. And they can do that handover properly or whatever.

So there's some, you know, as as devices are getting smarter Yeah. In your home. There's a little bit more of that. Accounts handover, setups and 

Jen: stuff like that. The thermostat. Smart. Anything like, just to make sure, actually another one that's really interesting one to take a note of that you might not think of is your front door lock.

So what type of front door do you have and what type of lock is installed in it? Because you will get locked out or you will, something will break. It's so helpful if you're calling an emergency locksmith to know same for your back door or whatever. Yeah. What type of door is it? What type of lock is it?

Just write that down somewhere. Yeah, with that list. 

Kate: Um, and then the more minor things in bathrooms, like, oh sorry. [00:37:00] One slightly major one in the bathroom is under floor heating. If you have a dead mat, just make sure that's working. Mm-hmm. And it's actually heating up. Um, 'cause it's hard to do one, the tile's gone and you might need to lift a tile if it's not working or whatever.

Then the more minor things, toilet roll holders, towel racks, whatever, stuff like that. Again, if you have a specific point you want it, yeah, say it. Yeah. Or mark it in pencil or chalk or whatever on the wall. Like just say exactly where you want it. Yeah. So those kind of things, making sure they're all in the right place.

Jen: Yeah. And that's something you need to agree with your contractor early as well, is like to what level are they finishing everything? Yeah. Are they installing or to like They will typically, right? Yeah. That's usually the level of like. If you have stuff bought, they'll hang. Like they'll hang a mirror for you.

They'll put your toilet, they'll hold up for you. Like that's, you know, like most of these people want to do a good job and want to leave a house that they're proud of. So like that's where you get to. But yeah, tell them. Tell them where. Tell them where it is. Just be really clear. They don't know. Yeah, they don't know where you want it.

You want it in a certain place. 'cause that's where your favorite hotel has it. Like tell them know. Yeah, yeah, 

Kate: yeah. And extract your fans in a bathroom as well. Yeah. Yeah. Making [00:38:00] sure they're installed. And that's something actually that I specified early on. 'cause I just hate the look of extractor fans.

Jen: Yeah. 

Kate: They're really ugly and they're always really loud and like. Standard like, like electricians will just put in the standard ones. Yeah. Unless you specify otherwise. And you can get nicer ones with kind of more slicker. Mm-hmm. Maybe paintable face plates and stuff like that, so they're much more subtle.

So it's just something to just watch out for early. Yeah. If you have, if you hate look an extractor fan or you want a really quiet one that doesn't wake people up when it's switched on or whatever. Um, maybe specify that. Yeah. And you might have to pay a little bit extra for it, but I think it's worth it.

Jen: Another one that I just thought of that is good to ask about is in every kitchen there's a bank of switches that will switch off the main appliances. Yeah. If they're built in appliances. Is that really clear? And is that labeled? Yeah. So if your fridge is defrosting or something, or your oven is broken or something, you need to be able to.

To switch that off. Yeah, because it's gonna be plugged in, you know, at a place that you can't access it. It's like behind the fridge, like unless you're strong enough to pull your fridge out and plug it out. Yeah. So just check where that is. Check that it's clearly labeled and that they're working and that you're, you know, we're there [00:39:00] for future.

Kate: Yeah. 

Jen: Okay. So then a really simple one. Bedrooms. Yeah. Easy. There's not much here. The windows. Okay. Are the lights working? Are the plugs working? Exactly. Just always early as well. Again, early. Like just know where your bed is going and make sure that the plugs are in the right place. Yes. For that bed.

'cause your contractor may not know if you're planning to buy a double or a, you might be like, of course I'm buying a king. Why would I not buy a king? Yeah, they don't know that. So just make sure that you're like, the bed is going here, it's going to be this size. Mm-hmm. Therefore, the plugs need to be here.

Yeah. So that you can plug in your phone when you're in bed or whatever, and you're not blocking it with. Headboard or whatever else. Yeah. I asked for the plugs or are you getting a wider headboard? Yeah. Do you want the plugs higher or, or on the headboard? Or On the headboard? Yeah. Do you or are they, do you want them down by the floor, like on the ground?

Like it's different for every house and they won't know. Be clear. 

Kate: I put the wall lights pretty low because our bed is really low. We have like a really low bed frame. Um, he couldn't believe how low I was, but I was like, that's just our bed frame. So just I, I was really specific with the electrician. I just stepped through it and the spacing for the sockets and he was like, what about the wall light switches?

And I was like, can we [00:40:00] put them down besides the socket? And he was like, but then it's kind of a little bit hidden. And I was like, I kind of want it hidden 'cause I didn't want it on my lovely wallpaper. Yeah. I didn't want it visible. So everything is kind of below my side table. Okay. I can reach there even.

Yeah. 

Jen: But that's easy when you're lying 

Kate: in bed, it's still easy 

Jen: to reach it, it's much easier to reach it. Yeah. But it's not visible 

Kate: on my, so if you, if you're specific on stuff like that. Yeah. Just, 

Jen: um, and it's always worth as well, 'cause you're like, well, where'd the light switches go? Like if you ha it's really good to have light switches maybe by your main doors, but when you're coming into your bedroom, you can turn them on.

Yeah. And then beside your bed so that when you're in bed you can turn it all off. 

Kate: Yeah. If you're getting 'em to install curtain rails. 

Jen: Yeah. Um, 

Kate: and you have curtains. So specific. So specific. How, how long are the curtains exactly? Millimeters from the floor. Are they 250? Are 260? Yeah. Like how, how 

Jen: long are they?

Don't just 

Kate: say, I want a curtain rail above that window. 

Jen: Yeah. 

Kate: If you curtains already made. 

Jen: Yeah. It means something different to everybody. Tell them exactly and like, yeah. If in doubt you want it higher. Yeah. You always want, you don't want it to be like, you always want it, whatever, 10 centimeters further or all the way up the roof if you can.

That's [00:41:00] if you're not sure. Yeah. But tell them that. Tell they don't 

Kate: know exactly. We had a taper, we have a tapered ceiling in our, um, a vault ceiling in our, in our master now. So taper very narrow at the top. Mm-hmm. So I had to kind of say 10 centimeters above. The window frame or the window orator or whatever.

So I did it there because I wanted the curtains wider, and if I'd gone to the ceiling, it would've been too narrow. It would've been in front of the window, if that makes sense. The drop we now, we installed 'em ourselves, but like I was specified to my husband being like, here, here we're holding the curtains, and we measured it.

I know how many times. Yeah. We held the curtains up again and did it again. You know? It's something that can go so wrong if it's wrong. Yeah. And then you're drilling more holes in your wall and you especially don't wanna drill holes if like the wall's already finished and all that. So that's just something to watch out for.

And then if you have wardrobe's installed that they're all leaving fine. The doors are fine. If there's lights in there, the lights are working. Mm-hmm. And if you sockets inside in the wardrobe for like appliances and stuff, yeah. Make sure that they're working because you can't get in behind the wardrobe.

Again, it might be hard to, um, so stuff [00:42:00] like that, um, stuff like that for the bedrooms I think is kind of what, what I, what I have on my list anyway. 

Jen: And that's it. Bedrooms are pretty easy. Is the flooring okay? It's fine. 

Kate: Flooring. It's a great one though. It's a great one. Is it, is it creaky? It's key. And do you know why it's key?

Because a lot of people carpet their bedrooms and once cap goes down, you can't fix a creaky floor. Yeah. You cannot fix a creaky floor. So. We have a kind of apply base screwed down there, ready for carpet in our master bedroom. Um, and it was squeaking this morning and I was like jumping on and I was like, the spot, we have to fix it before the carpet guy gets here so, yeah, squeaky floorboards will drive you insane. Our rental had squeaky floors everywhere 'cause they put in new carpet and I'd say nothing was done before they put in the new carpet.

Yeah. So everywhere you walked you got up. If someone got off to go to the toilet in the middle of the night, it was like creak, creak, creak. It will drive you insane. So do a bit of a jump test or walk around anywhere carpets are getting installed or any floorboards and your stairs. Don't forget your stairs.

Go up and down 

Jen: your stairs in the middle. Go on either side, do whatever. And just 'cause it's, it's not a hard fix, it's just a little loose. Plank or whatever, like you can, you know, seal it or nail it or something. Yeah. Um, but [00:43:00] just check it because that could Oh, 

Kate: could be, yeah. And ideally the biggest and heaviest person in your household.

Yeah. Rather than sending your toddlers around. They won't creep the floorboards anyway. Yeah. Yeah. So, um, yeah, so that's it. Bedrooms are fairly straightforward, I'd say. Yeah. One thing that's not super straightforward, unless you're familiar with it, is the structure and interior. Like, so if you've brickwork done that, that's all done.

If you sills to be cleaned, if they're granite and stuff like that, that's all been done. Yeah. Um. Any kind of downpipes, rain, guttering, all that kind of stuff. They're connected and working Right. Hope for a good rain shower. Yeah. Before anything is done. Roof tiles and slates. No gaps. Yeah. Gaps in roof.

Tiles Is flashing done around your the chimney. 

Jen: Double check for that. 'cause that's one that often gets just missed. 

Kate: Chimneys capped if they're not used. Yeah. And cap properly because you can get water leakage back in. Yeah. So have a like just a visual look at like all your chimneys from the ground up and see that they all look.

Correct. And they're repointed if you're doing any brick work or any of that. Like, so any missing mortar in between the, the bricks and all that. Yeah. Gutters, downpipes, um, doors and windows from outside that there's no [00:44:00] draft. They're all ceiling. Right. Yeah. You know, draft exclosures, all that. Just put your hand around 

Jen: it even and just see again, this is gonna be hard in summertime.

It's gonna be easier in wintertime. 'cause you'll easily check when there's a cold spot. Yeah. But just, yeah. Run your hand around. Is there any bit of a breeze or any bit of a. Coldness my time is good. Time to 

Kate: check. And same for tiles outside. So if you have any kind of tiling, patios Yeah. You know, slabs, whatever, that they're all level even.

There's no broken ones, no trip hazards. Yeah. You know, your path, all that kinda stuff. 

Jen: Um, your drainage outside. So again, if you're, if you've got a heavy rain shower, is there any water pooling anywhere or is it all running off? Is everything okay? Yeah. Um, if you've an outdoor tap installed. Yeah. Which you should.

Yeah. Um, oh, is really useful. Is that draining? Okay. Is that working? Okay. Pressure on that. Fine. Um, and save for any outdoor lights or anything like that. 

Kate: And the taps. Put 'em in. I feel like they're like sockets. You won't regret an extra one. Oh, 

Jen: always an outdoor tap and an outdoor socket. Yeah. Even if you 

Kate: think you're never gonna use it, just put it in handy.

We have one so handy front and back. Yeah. And it's so, it's something you kind of forget in the front, but it's so handy if you clean the car, if you wanna hose down your garden path front, whatever. Um, I [00:45:00] think it's totally worth having one front the back. Totally. Totally. Um. That's kind of my major ones, I suppose.

And the, the last is kind of like handover. Yeah. Unless you wanna go through any, so you do, 

Jen: you do a final walkthrough typically on the last day with your, with your contractor. Like I know. Okay. We're talking here for 45 minutes. Oh my gosh. Clearly. And if you're listening, you probably, if you're still listening, well done, well done.

And it sounds overwhelming. These aren't massive things. These are all small little things and only take a couple of minutes each, but just like have your list, which we will send to you, have your list, and. And have it ready to go. And like it's, it's overwhelming. But if you're prepared and you've had those conversations early and you keep that list Yeah.

Then you're gonna end up with the perfect house and no problems and everything's gonna be fine. 

Kate: Yeah. And like, like you said, they're all tiny things, but this is why lists are so important. 'cause there's a million little things just keep and you won't be able to, to keep track of them unless you keeping, you know, good lists.

Yeah. Um, and don't try not to panic. Yeah. Even though I'm panicking for the last two weeks, constantly 

Jen: things will go wrong. [00:46:00] Things worse, they will, and it's not, it's not even wrong. It's just things will turn out different to what you expected. Yeah. There will be miscommunications. It's not the end of the world.

Keep the emotion out of it. Be super direct. Be as early as you possibly can with your, like what you want and your feedback. 

Kate: Yeah. And you be as specific as you can early on, and don't imagine that all the trades are in your head like you are. Exactly. You know? Um, but in terms of handover then, like, like we mentioned, the manuals, appliance docs handover your NPN, your G prn, so you.

Jen: May not know that if it's a new house, your, your, uh, auctioneer should have sent it to you and you're able, just make sure that you have it and you know it's written down somewhere. That's your gas number and your, uh, electricity number. If you have gas and 

Kate: you were, um, certificates, does any kind of, oh, your certificates, electrical, sign off your gas safety, sign off your gas 

Jen: and just ask your builders.

So, like I didn't know, like when I moved into my house, there's some things that you as a first time home homeowner might not know. Like you have to get your boiler serviced every year. Does everybody know that? Like, I know there's ads about it, but if you have, if you have a gas boiler, even if you have a [00:47:00] heat pump, you still have to get them serviced Yeah.

Every year. And that is really important for your home insurance and your safety and your wellbeing, you know, so things like that, like just make sure, make sure you know how to change. Like what happens if you're, um, smoke alarm or your carbon monoxide detector start beeping. Do you know how to take that off and how to change that?

Yeah. Don't be afraid to ask for, for all of that stuff. Yeah. Like, you know, they, no, like, they're not gonna. Uh, they're not gonna not show you. Yeah. But just make sure you know how to use that. Do you know where your water cutoff switches? Mm. So if you're, if you have a leak anywhere, the first thing you need to do is cut off your water.

Yeah. Do you know where that valve is? The cutoff valve? Yeah. Um, again, the trip switches at your fuse board. Do you know how to, how to turn those off? Something goes wrong. Um, yeah. What else am I wanna. Handover list. Yeah. That's kind of it. Obviously not that hard, I 

Kate: suppose. Yeah. And if you're, when you're doing your list, if your builder is very visual or it's hard to write a concise note about exactly what you're talking about.

Yeah. Take a little photo of it as well. Or video, even a folder. Yeah. Um, if there's something really specific that you wanna share Yeah. And they're not there to see [00:48:00] it. Um, but yeah. Let's see your friend get through it. Yeah. List. List list. Thank you for 

Jen: listening. 

Kate: Thank you for listening. 

Jen: And thank you again to anyone who signed up.

We will be in touch soon at Rip it Up earlyBird@gmail.com. Yeah. And we are gonna, we'll send through your snag checklist. Your snag checklist for anyone who signed up. Thank you. Yeah, 

Kate: thank you. Bye. See you in two 

Jen: weeks.

Outro

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