Bruce and Rachaels Blog
Welcome to the adventures of Bruce and Rachael
4th January 2009 - Loft Conversion Update
I thought I'd give an update as to where we are with Truss Loft Ltd. Nowhere. After a lot of rowing, they've agreed that they shouldn't have charged us extra for the items we didn't ask for. They've since sent us an amended bill - with the original fee that we should have got. However, this doesn't take in to account the items that they agreed to deliver and have not. It also doesn't cover the damage.
4th November 2008 - Loft Conversion Update
The final bill for the loft conversion has arrived.
Read all about why we are not at all happy about it... under day 77.
30th October 2008 - Loft Conversion Update
The bathroom lights have now been fitted. Read all about it under day 74.
25th October 2008 - Search Engine Optimisation
I have been doing a little more optimisation of Rachaels
wedding cake website.
We originally got it on to the first page of google for
"wedding cake wynyard" (number 1),
"wedding cake billingham" (number 7), and
"wedding cake stockton" (local business results).
But, I now wanted to have a go at the phrases "wedding cake" and "wedding cakes".
Oh dear, we are currently on page 15 for "wedding cake" and page nine for "wedding cakes".
I guess that leaves a lot of room for improvement. If you want to have a look at some of
Rachaels work, have a look at some of her
wedding cakes or wedding cake website homepage.
21st October 2008 - Loft Conversion Update
The bathroom windows are now fitted and the walls have been plastered. Read all about it under day 67.
12th October 2008 - The Teesside Seals
I went to see the seals last week, and took Rachael to see them today. Take a look at the seals.
10th October 2008 - Loft Conversion - Day 60 - All done except for the bathrooms
We've also added more photo's from day 60 of our loft conversion.
9th October 2008 - Loft Conversion - Day 59 - Trussloft have scratched the floor
Trussloft came back to fit the skirting boards today, and they've managed to scratch our new floor. They deny liability.
We've also added more photo's from day 59 of our loft conversion.
5th September 2008 - Loft Conversion - Day 35
We've add more photo's from day 35 of our loft conversion.
26th August 2008 - Our trip to Madrid
We've add some photo's from our trip to Madrid.
26th August 2008 - Loft Conversion - Day 26
We've add more photo's from day 26 of our loft conversion.
21st August 2008 - Loft Conversion - Day 23
We've add more photo's from day 23 of our loft conversion.
Well, I've completed the development of another website. Angela from Wynyard School of Music got in touch and told me all the great things that Mark from Almark had to say and how that she'd like to develop a site for her. So, a few days later, I launch the new website for Wynyard School of Music.
15th August 2008 - I wish we hadn't bothered
What really anoys me is being lied to. I remember before the work started on our loft conversion that I had to come home from work and meet up with Andrew Emsley, Contracts Director for Truss Loft. I had the chance to express my concerns about the lack of bathroom windows on the north side of or house.
Andrew went on to explain that the plans that he had in his hands were not the final drawings. They were not the plans that had been submitted to the council. He told me that the plans that had gone in to the council had two small Velux C02's on.
On Thursday, we still had big concerns about the windows that were going in. On Friday 15th August 2008, I had a phonecall from 'John', another chap from Truss Loft. He told me that he had a conversation with Stockton Borough Council's planning department and that they had confirmed that we had planning permission for these two bathroom windows. We've already got 8 Velux windows on the south side installed. John told me that there was permission for all 10 Velux to be installed - which included the 2 on the north side of the house.
To be honest, I felt like I was being fobbed off. I really felt I was being lied to. Stockton's planning office is a 10 minute walk from my office, so I decided to go and pay them a visit. The planning department did confirm that they'd been in conversation that morning with out agent, but they also confirmed that there is no permission for the two windows on the north side of our house.
Oh dear. I looks like someone has been caught out!
Stockton Borough Council told me that the planning officer who dealt with our case was away and would return on Monday. Once she was back she could help us and let us know how things would plan out
Afterwards I had another call from John and he told me that the planning officer would not be back until Tuesday. That's odd, I'd been told that she'd be back on Monday. Is there a problem with trust developing here? Isn't it funny how John had changed his story after he'd heard that I'd been to the council to check up on him?
We've always known that our neighbours would want to retain their privacy. We used to live on th ehouse on the far side. That house overlooks both their front and rear gardens. But, I knew that they'd had conversations with a potential buyer of our bungalow - and that guy had expressed his desire to convert the loft immediately, and have dorma windows overlooking his garden. I know this because my neighbour had told me. But the sale fell through and we bought the bungalow instead.
Truss Loft have marked out the windows on the inside of the roof felt. It looks like they could be positioned an extra eight inches higher, but they've said they're marked as high as they can go. I'd like them to go higher.
Why have Truss Loft supplied clear glass for our two on suite bathrooms? Sure Velux supply frosted glass.
Stockton Borough Council have asked me to email the planning department. I'm going to do that, and I'm going to email them the link to this web page. Watch this space!!
Piccies of how or loft looks now can be found here.
I was going to title this entry as 'liar liar, pants on fire', but I do need Truss Loft to finish the job.
14th August 2008 - Planning Permission
We've got potential planning permission issues and the wrong windows have been marked out to go in the roof. Luckily we've spotted the problem before they go too far. Read more about todays issues.
11th August 2008 - We have windows!
The first set of windows went in today. We're delighted. Read more about todays progress.
6th August 2008 - 9am - Problems Solved!!
It’s all looking good today. We had a chat with the engineer and he said the A frames can be altered – we’re going to have some extensions made up, and they’ll lift the A frame by about 12 inches. They should be getting made today, and possibly fitted tomorrow. He also agreed about the location of the stairs. We’re going to move them over by about 8 inches. This means removing a large structure of woodwork that’s holding up the roof. They’re going to arrange for a new piece of steel to be delivered, and a new structure put in place to hold the roof. So, we’re going to get the stairs put back in the right place, and we’ll have enough room for our two on-suites. Hurrah!
5th August 2008 - This is turning into a farse!
This is tuning in to a bloody farce! The damned windows didn't arrive today and the plumber didn't turn up. The windows won't be coming until Monday, and the plumber should be here on Friday. The joiners have done all the can until the windows/plumber gets here!
2nd August 2008 - SEO
Well, I started work on the site and got it completed. Actually, I'd forgotten that I'd created a seperate black site, with images from a holiday in Dubai. I put it together to do a demo. It looked great, so I thought I'd use it as the new company site. Why not? It wasn't difficult at all, the architecture of the site really lends itself to creating new sites really quickly. I'm really pleased the results. I haven't done SEO tuning on it yet. I did wonder about all the old page links and wether I should put in 301 redirects. mmm. For top SEO, I should do it. But, I think I'll not bother and see if I can do something with Google to remove all the missing pages from its indexes later.
Yesterday I mentioned that I'd discovered that Rach's site comes top in Google for some unusual phrases. Well, I discovered that we appear on the first page of Google for the phrase 'chopstick master'. It's funny. We did a site for Amoy. We spent ages putting together a site that would be very easy to tune for SEO and they didn't bother doing any SEO. So, the copy of their old site that now lives within ours ranks higher than theirs. I must try and remember to nag them about SEO again! Bruce
1st August 2008 - SEO
I've been doing some more SEO (search engine optimisation) on my wifes website. We've achieved what we set out to do - get on the first two pages of Google for 'wedding cakes wynyard' and 'wedding cakes billingham'. The amazing thing is that we've managed to come in at number one for the first key phrase. Great! We've also discovered that we're number one for some other odd phrases - like 'wedding strawberries'. It's about time I pulled my finger out and sort out my own company website. Maybe I'll start it tomorrow. Bruce
31st July 2008 - The Fat Duck
We went to Heston Blumenthal's The Fat Duck for Bruce's Birthday. Read all about our amazing visit here. Rachael
31st July 2008 - The Motorshow
We went to the London Motorshow today. We were staying in a little village west of London, a little place on the Thames called Bray. The hotel was a bit like Faulty Towers. To be fair, it was a lovely spot on the river, on an island called 'Monkey Island'. It was couple of listed buildings, but they were in desparate need for a bit of TLC. The wallpaper was peeling off the walls, the paintwork was all cracked, but it had some wonderful charm about the place.
The journey to the show was an utter nightmare. It was a hot humid day. We started our journey on on the train from Maidenhead to Paddington, then it was a combination of tube lines (Bakerloo, Central and two DLR trains). The closer we got, the busier the trains became. We were stood with our noses in other peoples arm pits. There were pushchairs and babies crying. It was really cramped, really hot, and really smelly. Rach thought she was going to pass out at one point. We eventually got to the show and took some pictures. Bruce
28th July 2008 - Loft Conversion Starts
Our loft conversion started today. The guys are going to be here for six weeks. We're going to take plenty of photo's and track the progress. There's a loft conversion sub site here. As we're doing this, we thought we'd set up this little blog that we can post pictures to every now any then. Bruce