After we left our Vorabnahme, Kay immediately started addressing the bathroom problem. We could ignore all the other mistakes, but the grout problem and uneven thresholds could be the ruin of our carefully planned moving weekend. See… we have, in fact, cheekily scheduled a handover of our old flat the weekend after we get the keys, so if just one thing goes wrong and we have to wait… we will be homeless.

We emailed and called in the days after our visit and our contractor said he was working on it, but two weeks after our Vorabnahme, we were still waiting for our contractor to procure the piece of paper that said which colour of grout we ordered.

How long can it take to get a little piece of paper?

After 2.5 weeks the contractor finally confirmed that yes, the grout really was the wrong color. Then they wrote that since “we” are running short on time and this really requires a lot of work to fix, they wanted to know if we would accept the defects for a price reduction.

…and we’re supposed to agree to this without knowing how much that is?

I was frustrated that instead of offering us a quote when they are short on time for repairs, they were mainly asking if they could get out of fixing their mistakes. I could live with the problems for a certain price, but I wasn’t going to accept the defects just because the contractor messed up and didn’t think the flat would be ready on time.

After three weeks we finally received a quote… and it stunned us. Bathroom renovations start around 15-25k PER bathroom here. So I was actually pretty angry to find out that they offered us a whopping 400CHF.

Um. No. A few hundred francs is not how much it would cost to fix this. If WE would get someone in there for a quote to take down all the tiles and remove the grout (or replace the tiles entirely) and then to re-do all the walls and floor to be flat without breaking any of the other hardware or furniture in the bathroom, it would probably cost us 10,000-15,000 CHF per bathroom. Because labor is just that expensive in Switzerland.

We said “no thanks” of course and the next day the tiler “reevaluated” his quote and offered us  600CHF. Whoo.

Yeah, if it’s such a cheap (for Switzerland) fix, those guys are going to fix it the way we wanted it. And they are going to do it on time, or they’ll be paying for our hotel. We didn’t expect a crazy 10-20k quote, but I had hoped they would offer us something that was reasonably fair considering how much money it will cost them to fix it themselves. But instead they just tried to shave corners and chance saving money on their errors.

So four weeks after our Vorabnahme and four weeks before we move, Kay was in Mexico and I had to call the contractor and clarify if they are taking all the tiles down or just removing the grout. Calling people in German is nerve-wracking enough anyway, but our contractor has a very thick Swiss German and to me it sounds like he has marbles in his mouth. On his cell phone reception, I barely understood anything he said.

He *could* have said that yes, they are taking all the tiles down first as we prefer. But he also could have said no, they are taking down some of the tiles and others they will just take the grout out. I’m really not sure. He said a lot of “Oh it will be done on time according to the protocol.” Very assuring. Not.

I asked him if he could confirm everything in an email “so that my husband can read it in Mexico”. Cough cough. And because I could read the email and figure out what the heck he said!!

Anyway, understanding everything or not… it was clear that he said the place will be ready on time, according to the damn protocol. And you can bet your ass we are going to have a third party surveyor with us to make sure the “protocol” is up to standard before we sign off on our home!

Want to catch up?

• Nobody buys a home in Switzerland
• How to rent a flat in Switzerland
• Dreaming the impossible
• How to buy a house in Switzerland
• Shopping for houses
• The World of Neubau
• Flat A vs Flat B: Location vs. Cost
• Paying for Sunshine
• We (I) make a decision
• Our future home: Part I
• How we found our giant terrace
• No Mortgages for Americans? Signing the Contract
• Neubau Progress: I
• Neubau Progress: II
• Neubau Progress: Shower vs. Bathtub
• Neubau Progress: Changing the Electric
• Neubau Progress: Bathroom
• We have a mortgage!
• Neubau Progress: III
• Neubau Progress: IV
• Neubau Progress: V
• Neubau Progress: VI
• Neubau Progress: Kitchen
• Neubau Progress: VII
• Neubau Progress: Walls, Woodwork and Everything Else
• Neubau Progress: VIII
• Vorabnahme : Pre-acceptance Visit