2 golden rules: update on my little apartment renovation in Montenegro

Property renovation rule #1.  It always takes longer.

Work on my apartment started in September 2019 and completion was originally planned for Christmas that same year.   Giving 15 weeks for the refurbishment.  Generous and realistic, considering the apartment is a mere 47m2 and there were to be no walls being knocked down.  That deadline was now three months ago.  I now have to get my binoculars out to spot that target date, which is now fading ever more into the distance.  And yes, Coronavirus has swept the world and caused delays and disruption to my plans – and to many others’ around the world.  But to be honest things were already going a little bit awry with the renovation schedule before then.

Yet more delays with my Montenegro apartment renovation

First of all, there were the normal delays. Well, I say normal. Normal for property renovations.  

Things like our project manager, Goran, somehow missing the fact that I’d specified new wooden windows for the whole apartment in my project brief. He apparently thought we only wanted new windows at the front of the apartment. So, we had to wait for 2 new wooden windows to be custom made for the bathroom and bedroom.  Turns out that didn’t mean a couple of weeks’ wait, but a few months’.

Then, the kitchen company had to order a new end panel for the breakfast bar as the original measurement had changed when the floor had been retiled.  The panel had to come from Germany and took (a ridiculous) 11 weeks to arrive.  To be fair the need for a new panel wasn’t the kitchen company’s fault, because the project manager had had to change the level where the old wood parquet in the lounge joined with the new terrazzo tiles in the kitchen.  This then in turn affected the height of the kitchen base units. So, it wasn’t really the project manager’s fault either.   Although I suppose he could have pointed that out to us, I decided to let this go and be pragmatic. Pay the €250 and swallow it.  Figuratively, that is, not literally.

Knock-on effect of delays in my Montenegro apartment renovation

With any property renovation a delay in one area has a knock-on effect on other things. So, ordering a new panel meant that the worktop couldn’t be fitted. And as a result of this, the kitchen splashback couldn’t be tiled.  Then, the under-cupboard lighting couldn’t be installed.  And because the back window hadn’t arrived, the plastering couldn’t be completed.  By that time, I wonder if the workmen just threw their hands up in the air with exasperation and decided they may as well just down tools and come back in a month…

One thing always leads to another.

An unexpected turn with my Montenegro apartment renovation

However, I couldn’t have planned for the next unfolding of the story.  The project manager had a heart attack after Christmas. I did not see that coming. Nor, did he I expect.  Thankfully he survived but – understandably – work ground to a halt in the New Year, as he recovered.  A little work seemed to be done, but now wasn’t the time to pester the poor man about progress.  People above projects.

Thankfully after a slow two months Goran got back into circulation and things now continue.

Slowly.

And there hasn’t been any pictures for a while and I’m not sure when it will be finished.  (Thanks, Coronavirus).   But I can’t really beat my fist on the table in frustration when Montenegro itself is in lockdown.  And the world situation at the moment kind of puts it all in perspective anyway.

Fortunately, at the planning stage I made allowances for delays (my trusted two golden rules of property renovation).   I’d set the original target of Christmas 2019 knowing that it didn’t really need to be completely finished until the following March.  Therefore, giving myself 3-months’ grace.

But even so, the apartment won’t be ready by then.   Even despite my golden rule, I hadn’t quite planned for the effects of a global virus.