Meet and greet

This weekend was a crucial meeting in the house as Kaddiri the architect came round followed by Abdelloui and Baccali from the building firm Tourate Fes plus Ben and myself. The main topics were where is the next cheque plus some minor problems regarding the work and the procedure from here on in. I dated the cheque for two weeks time to allow ample time for funds to flow in from abroad, and was assured by Ben this is a very Morroccan thing to do.

The minor problems relate to Ben and I casting critical eyes over the work and estimates but this was resolved I believe to everyones satisfaction its good to run a happy ship after all. I find the longer I am involved the more I am learning of course regarding estimates for work and prices per sq m and the good workmen stand out especially the plumbers and electricians we have here. Of course I am paying a commission on each of them to Tourate Fes which is to be expected but armed with this knowledge I am sure on another project I could successfully manage myself with a strong right hand man.

Today went out and met some old and new faces, a young girl Jenny who is looking to buy a house here as an investment so gave her the benefit of my experience, next time i saw here she was chatting to Sandy from View from Fes who was giving her the benefit of his considerable experience. She had the expression of someone who was now slightly confused and maybe intimadated with all this knowledge, ideas, opinions rules etc involved in the buying process. As we all know in Fes it, i mean general proceedings dont necessarily follow a straight path but you seem to get there in the end even if you are still not quite sure exactly how it happened ie getting planning permission.

Arranged to meet Jenny later to see how her house hunting had gone and then bumped into John and Jenny just back from England and recently featured on Channel 5 property programme about the renovation of their Dar here just up the road from mine. They have been following my blog so had a quick chat about our different experiences as they did their renovation themselves hiring workers as and when needed. I didnt feel I had the necessary experience at the time to do this as I wanted the comfort of an architect, engineer and building firm so well done to them for a brave move it could have had nasty pitfalls but in their case I think it went smoothly.

With the third installment cheque paid it puts me in the driving seat now as there will be no more money paid until the job is finished which could be 2-3 months as per arrangement where 75 per cent of the money is paid halfway through the work. I think this is an agreable arrangement as long as the estimate is adhered to as close as possible. I am always querying the work in the estimate and if not in the spec I will source other suppliers eg spiral staircase because it was not in the original plan. At the end of the job I anticipate some lively discussion over the prices which is to be expected hope it doesnt get too heated but of course this is Morocco and they do like to let off steam quite spectactularly before coming back down to Earth.

This evening was supposed to be a neighbour meeting as I was going to take Fred, Thierry and Isobel from the Riad LaRoussa next to me and introduce them to Steven and his very cool house still on the market for a very cool 300,000 euros. Fred was busy with their first clients after a two year renovation so we rescheduled for tomorrow, should be an interesting meet up Habitat designer meets Casablanca playboy, sorry Fred didnt mean it!!