Mike and Andrea’s house is growing but I regret to say not every day. We had a spurt of framing and then nothing. Now the roof rafters have gone on but the builders seem to only work every alternate day.

The roofers were due on site last week and now they’ve had to go and do another job as it looks like the builders are going to take another week to get the final purlins in place.

Framing and roofing is a critical time in a build. You need to get the lid on top at the earliest opportunity. Whether it’s rain or sun the effects can be equally devastating to timber that can swell, warp and generally misbehave in ways that home builders don’t want to happen.

As I look out of the window of domestic executive HQ I can see the top of the roof and chimney which in some ways is a comforting sight and not too intrusive. Let’s hope the builders get their fingers out otherwise the handover date in May will certainly be a challenge.