What To Do When Things Don't Go To Plan

 Hi Arsh 

I read your articles and I like the way you say it. Everyone seems to be on the ‘Lucky Streak’, well everyone but ME. Things aren’t exactly going to plan so far this year. What would you do to get yourself back on track.  

Can you help point me in the right direction? 

 Mr G – Cheltenham 

Thanks for getting in touch Mr G, you’ve come to the right person as I am the king of correction. I find things go wrong all the time and like yourself, sometimes feel deflated and question whether it is me and what I am doing that is the issue. 

Let me put something in simple terms – No one is perfect, mistakes happen, and mistakes also cost time and money! You have to ensure that you do not continue to make the same mistakes. I will try to elaborate in a practical example shortly.   

You may have read previously that I am currently part way through a small development of 6 x 1 Bedroom apartments. I have been in property approx. 19 years and have done loads of developments, from HMOs, to large scale housing developments, so in theory, this development should be a breeze….WRONG! 

The building I purchased is a Grade 2 Listed building in a conservation area. I know a fair few things about conserving historic features. The building in question had quite a few issues ie, all the windows, mainly UPVC were beyond repair and as a result, I was led to believe that we could replace on a like by like basis. The building also had concrete tiles, but the whole roof had collapsed (which had happened prior to purchase). Again, I thought we could replace like for like. 

I ordered brand new windows and after confirming the design and placing the order, I was called to site by the builders, informing me that the conservation officer had ‘popped by’ to say hello.  

At the point of visit, the roof had already been ripped off the entire roof and replaced with new concrete tiles, again assuming that like for like was acceptable. Little did I know was that the conservation officer wanted the property to return to its natural heritage look. When I enquired what he expected, he went on to state that an original Victorian building in the area would have been ‘Natural Welsh Slate Tiles’.  

I spent the next few days back and forth with him on email sharing pictures of what was on the building prior to purchase. His response was simple ‘As you are refurbishing the property it is with the Grade 2 Listing that it has to return to its natural heritage look’ which meant Welsh Slate tiles. He also stated that he would not accepted artificial slate, nor Spanish slate. I started researching the required tile to find that the Natural Welsh Slate starts from £7 per tile and I need approximately 5000 tiles, which meant this minor mistake could actually be a large mistake costing me in excess of £35,000. Please note that I had already purchased the concrete tiles which costs circa £5,000 plus labour.  

To add further insult to the injury the conservation officer starting looking at the windows and asked my intentions. I showed the design and order of the windows, and again he instantly responded with “I WILL NOT ACCEPT ANY FORM OF UPVC IN THE PROPERTY”.  

My heart sank as this could potentially cost another £20,000. My mistake or should I say my naivety has cost me circa £60,000 which will be a massive dent in profits and possibly make the project unviable.   

The project came to a standstill whilst we resolved this issue. It felt like everything was going wrong, but I knew there had to be a solution.  

I looked at the project and understood what the conservation officer wanted:  

He wanted to an old building to retain as an old building in good repair…therefore I must find old items to fit the old building…where would I find such items????  

I started searching the internet for Reclamation yards nationwide initially for Welsh Slate Tiles and there were loads of companies who I could purchase Original Welsh Slate Tiles for approx. £1.80 per tile. This was a massive saving from the original £35,000 and coming in at £9,000, but I still felt that it was expensive. I spoke to quite a few companies to see if we could get them any cheaper without success.   

I eventually started looking on eBay and I found a listing for a job lot of Welsh Slate Tiles, which were left over from a job. I enquired and he wanted £1.20 a tile, and I thought this is perfect but still kept searching. I kept looking for 1 week and the original listing contacted me saying that he needed to get rid of them and was now open to offers on them. After a day of going back and forth I managed to ‘Steal’ them at £0.68 per tile, on the basis that they were collected within 24 hours and that I paid cash on collection to avoid eBay and PayPal charges.  

Before I confirmed I checked with the conservation officer that these would satisfy his requirements. It ticked all the boxes!!! 

I rounded up a few drivers and 3 long based transit vans and we collected that evening. We drove up to Nottingham and loaded on a frosty and freezing Friday evening. I was over the moon with the fact that I have just salvaged one part of the project. In actual fact, I managed to sell the concrete tiles to my builder who is doing another job so the roof actually came back in on budget.   

My next challenge was the issue with the windows. I have just agreed an order of £15,000 of upvc windows. I arranged a meeting with the conservation officer again at my officer to see how we could salvage my window order. I always find it is best to speak face to face rather than over the phone. I again showed the officer that properties either side of mine all have upvc windows and that anything different would make mine stand out and out of character. Almost 2 hours after, we explored all options of wooden, upvc wooden grain etc etc and eventually we came up with a compromise which I was kind of happy with.  

He agreed to allow the back wing of the property to have wood grain upvc windows (which had been ordered) but the 3 large windows of the main building, he still wanted wooden sash box windows.   

Having looked at the quote from the window company, I would still lose approximately £5,000 but I believe this was a battle that I wouldn’t win. We agreed on the basis that I kept him in the loop with future materials and so far the project is now back on track. 

So as you can see Mr G – things do not always go to plan, but the strong willed and the one who is prepared to react and respond will always survive.  

You need to be willing to also accept blame where required (as I did with the roof and windows) and find the root of the issue in order to find a solution. In the scenario above I understood that the Old Building Needs Old Items and that was the key bit of information. My challenge was to find Old Bits at the Right Price. 

This project could have very easily gotten out of hand and potentially has lost money if I did not react in the manner that I did. My business partner at one point told me to just ‘Order the bloody new tiles’ which could have cost us £35,000, but part of being a problem solver is being resilient to negativity especially when you are already feeling down! 

On this project in particular, I seemed to be the issue, I proceeded without consulting anyone which cost me money and time, but I managed to limit the damages by taking some time out to find suitable solutions.  

Top Tips On What To Do – When Things Don’t Go To Plan: 

• DON’T PANIC – Breathe and take a step back 
• Understand the root of the issue 
• Understand WHY it is happening 
• Explore all options – it is far too easy to just go for the 1st solution  
• Speak to people who may be able to help  

I could go through loads of different scenarios where the s**t has hit the fan on many projects, yet I am still here to tell the tale.  

Tomorrow is another day. At the time it feels as though everything is falling in on you, but believe me…THERE IS ALWAYS A SOLUTION. 

I really hope this article helps you and any of my loyal YPN readers along their property journey.  

If you still have a question which you would like answered in next months article, please feel free to email me : [email protected] and I’ll aim to answer as many as I can over the following months.   

As always, you can connect with me on my social feeds by finding me on:  

Mailing List – www.arshellahi.com/deals  
Facebook Profile - https://www.facebook.com/arsh.ellahi.1 
Facebook Page - https://www.facebook.com/ArshEllahi123/ 
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/arshellahi/ 
Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/c/ArshEllahi 
Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/arshellahi/ 
Twitter - https://twitter.com/arshellahi 

Finally, to get access to all my updates and whereabouts, please sign up to my weekly newsletter at www.arshellahi.com