I'm thinking of re-branding « Chez le Baron » ...

We put together a list of questions/concerns & points we wished to raise with the gentlemen we are going to meet for the project manager rôle; I never realised what "Sans Soucis" as a house name meant! Now I'm hoping to be in a position to re-name « Chez le Baron » to « Sans Soucis »!

I always thought the 'amusing' house names weren't particularly funny, and the more tortured the pun, the less hilarious I found them, but now I'm starting to see the charm! We didn't name the house « Chez le Baron » - that's what all the neighbours call it; M. Thaelle (I think that's his name; I must check) was known as « le Baron », so of course his house was « Chez le Baron »! It doesn't seem to matter that he's been dead for over 20 years; it seems he was such a character that the name will live on as long as any of the children who used to visit him are still alive. Of course in this time of heightened paranoia, no-one in their right minds would let their children go off to visit a strange man who lives on his own who likes children!! A sad loss, I think. But then I belong to a generation who walked to and from primary school either alone or with a friend...

Sorry, that's all a diversion from where I started! We compiled 3 pages (and it was only 3 because I made the margins really small!) of 'issues'. That includes the most minor, and points that we have verbally agreed with the builder, but are not written down. I do hope the gentlemen do not think we are massively nit-picky; we wanted to get the balance right with giving them all the information they might need, but we shall find out when we meet them...

I think the relief of having our trip all prepared for (and enough time to think of any points we may have forgotten, rather than rushing to take a list with us that we did just before leaving - like homework!), has left me bereft of stress; I've been sleeping much better! So much so that I'm frightened I might be turning into a dormouse!

A letter from another project manager...

Saturday's post brought a surprise - a written response from one of the maîtres d'œuvre also saying he would be willing to inspect the house/oversea the project. Both he and "Mr Asterix" are partnered with another maître d'œuvre in the area, so that means we've had 80% success from the SYNAAMOB (SYndicat National des Architectes, des Agrées et des Maîtres d'Œuvre en Bâtiment) website!

David has contacted the two latest candidates and we are seeing M. Beauvineau (I'm sorry, nothing springs to mind as a 'nickname'!) when we go to France, and "Mr Asterix" can't make it then, but our neighbour kindly agreed to let him into the house to inspect some time before we go, so we'll still be able to get an opinion from him.

We spent several hours (over six, I think) over the weekend writing a comprehensive list of things we're not happy with/concern us, which we'll send out tomorrow or Wednesday. Now we have to wait till we go to France before we can go any further.

It will sound ironic, I suppose, if I say that I hope the builder doesn't do any more work before we get there! I never took any photos of the holes in the concrete - I can't think why not, as I've taken photos of everything else! I'm hoping that he hasn't patched up the concrete, so that the project managers can see how badly it's cracked...

Would you like to buy a (somewhat) second-hand gixxer?

If so,

Another contender joins the race...

Usually I switch off the ringer on the phone & turn the volume right down on the answermachine, but last night (for some reason) decided not to, in case anyone wanted to contact us. [Normally late night calls are drunken wrong numbers & early morning calls are weird wrong numbers; why are morning wrong numbers always weird?] The phone rang just before 6.45, and as I was awake, I got up to answer it (and possibly deliver a pithy lecture on the desirability of dialling carefully before 8am!). The caller started to leave a message in French (you don't know how heartening it is to actually receive a call from a French speaker, rather than just being successful in calling them!), and I realised it was another maître d'œuvre so I called David & got him to the phone in time to speak with candidate number 3 for the position of saviour of our project.

David was chatting away for about quarter of an hour & laughed throatily several times, so I guessed the chap had a sense of humour. He doesn't think he can visit when we are out there later this month, but maybe M. Lorin would be kind enough to let him in? [That's top of David's to-do list today; nicely ask our kind neighbour for a favour.] He gave David his mobile number and his website address, and said we would recognise him by his moustache. I asked David whether he would be Asterix or Obelix. After a quick look at the website, he's "Mr Asterix" - check it out if you don't believe me!

I (very often, anyway) believe in 'third time lucky' - that's not to say we will go with "Mr Asterix", but getting three opinions will give us a majority decision. I foresee a couple of alternatives: either Dominique D's work is OK (in which case we will happily accept that that is just the French way and go with it), or it is not OK (then we need to decide whether to try to get Dominique to put it right, or engage another builder), and: the maître d'œuvre will with either be willing to oversee the work to (successful!) completion or he won't. The fact that the three gentlemen are willing to have a look seems to indicate a willingness to undertake the project management rôle... So the main question is going to be: is Dominique's work OK?

Either way, please keep your fingers crossed for us that we get to a successful conclusion in a timely manner ( I won't say 'quickly', as I have a nasty suspicion that the bits Dominique has done that I'm not happy with were done 'quickly!).

Chrysanthemum

Part of what keeps my spirits up is “House Doctor Make Believe” – imagining what the house will look like when it’s finished… The kitchen (with units, and a floor, oh but without a shower!) with our big round table set up in the corner, and the dresser with Mrs Smith’s china on it. A couple of sofas in front of the insert, and maybe another table that I can do baking at. It’s all real; it’s just not happened yet, but it’s real to me…

I plan to clean up the old iron bedstead we bought from M. Lorin (might even paint it Wild Sage?) and use it as a day bed in the entrance hall. Most of that room will have exposed stonework, but I might paint the exterior wall a buttermilk/golden sandy colour. I think that a light colour will go with the green of the windows & door. I’ve also chosen the fabric for the curtains (in winter when we’ve stayed at the gîte the cold gets noticeably fiercer as you open the curtains, so heavy lined curtains for winter are a must!). William Morris has long been a favourite – I was a child in the seventies, and it was popular to have huge prints as soft furnishings, I guess it just rubbed off, so I was trawling through my books, and wanted a large flower print in shades of green and gold/cream/beige.

Chrysanthemum it is then! Now that’s not something I ever thought I would do – voluntarily choose a chrysanthemum!

Not that things can’t change…

Maître d'œuvre

We have enough queries about the way Dominique is working, and the quality of work (I know that things are done differently in France; we don't have a problem with that, & wouldn't expect things to be done in an English way, but cracks in the concrete floor already?) that we want to get a second opinion as to whether he is doing things properly. The doubts, coupled with the (phenomenally!) slow rate of progress, have led us to look for a maître d'œuvre (project manager).

Hands up! We have done things completely the wrong way - we should have had a signed contract stating exactly how long the job is to take, and probably also displayed a declaration of travaux (when we asked the Maire whether we needed planning permission, he told us that we could do what we liked to the inside of the house; that is up to us, the Mairie only gets involved if we change the outside - we never thought to ask if we need a declaration; didn't even know such a thing existed 2 years ago!). Most of the problem stems from dealing with builders like my dad and Bob (yes, our English builder is called Bob!) - we're just used to doing things on an informal business!

We have sent out letters, emails and clicked on the "contact" button on a couple of websites to contact project managers, maîtres d'œuvre and architects who will project manage, and have had responses from 2 maîtres d'œuvre. We plan to meet with both of them (and possibly someone else if anyone else responds - there are still another 9 potential respondees out there!), later this month. In my mind I have labelled the 2 who have contacted us "Mr Efficient" and "Mr Laid-back" - one responded promptly with a (long) list of questions and a detailed fee schedule for a visit and report (negotiable if we engage him as project manager); the other promptly replied that he'd be willing to work on the project and he hoped to hear from us to arrange a meeting soon!

We want to meet them both, because I know that hyper-efficiency can be great at running projects (but can also be counterproductive if too control-freaky & alienates workers! I know that from personal experience - hi Julia!). I also believe that a Zen approach can produce the best results (although not necessarily what one wanted; what you need may not be the same as what you [think you] want... I know that from personal experience, too - hi David!).

I'm working on trusting that we make the right decision!

Will keep it posted when we've decided between M. Boyer & M. Jacquard...