The Honeywood Files (7 page)

BRASH TO SPINLOVE

Dear Mr. Spinlove, 23.8.24.

Lady Brash and myself have been considering the plans and have decided, after mature reflection, that we desire the drawing-room inverted the other way round—that is, turned at an angle of 90 deg. to its present orientation. There is still time to make the emendation, and as the dimensions will remain the same there will be no inflation in the expenditure. The alteration would permit the loggia to extend the whole extent of the length of the apartment instead of across its width, and it would then be possible for my daughter to play ping-pong there on wet afternoons.

Will you please instruct the builder accordingly.

Yours sincerely,

The foregoing letter evidently crossed the following one from Spinlove, as the dates are the same.

SPINLOVE TO BRASH

Dear Sir Leslie Brash, 23.8.24.

I think I ought to warn you of extras. Everything necessary for the completion of the building, with fittings and decorations, is included in the contract, and I can promise that there shall be no extras so far as I am concerned; but if you make changes in the work it will be impossible for me to avoid them creeping in.

Another matter I ought to mention is the importance of your making any request through me and never on any occasion saying anything to the builder’s people that can be interpreted as an order; otherwise it will be impossible for me to keep control and extras are sure to arise.

I mention these matters because I am most anxious to avoid extras, and I can only do so with your co-operation.

Yours faithfully,

All Spinlove says is perfectly true, and he might have drawn a harrowing picture of the confusion, disasters, cross-purposes, and ill-temper that interferences by the owner produce. At the same time it is most unusual for the architect to give the matter the weight of a formal warning that has almost the character of a threat. Spinlove might with better diplomacy have explained the point in conversation and perhaps confirmed in a brief sentence when writing. The hint is usually welcomed by the client, and observed. The letter which follows is one such as Spinlove ought to have written, but apparently did not.

SPINLOVE TO GRIGBLAY

(
Supposititious
)

Dear Sir, 23.8.24.

I write to remind you that the contract lays down that no claim for any extras shall rank unless that claim is made at the time the work is ordered and acknowledged by me as an extra.

I, on my part, agree to notify you of any omissions as the work proceeds.

Yours faithfully,

The object of this letter would be to make the builder understand that the stipulation in the contract as to extras must be observed. There are always some variations, and it is understood that omissions are set against extras unless the contrary is recorded at the time; and if the builder is to notify the architect of extras for which he claims payment it is only fair that the architect should similarly notify the builder of omissions in respect of which he claims credits.

Builders are shy of claiming extras while the work is in progress; to do so has an appearance of refractoriness. If, however, work is done which the architect knows to have been an extra, he is bound in honour to allow it to rank in the final statement of account, and the fact that that extra was not claimed and acknowledged at the time it was ordered, and that it has, nevertheless, been allowed, makes the architect a party to the irregularity and opens the door for the builder to claim other unrecorded extras.

As the architect has acquiesced in the one case it is very difficult for him to refuse to consider other claims on their merits. The result is that the stipulations of the contract are stultified, and the statement of account becomes not a plain question of fact, but of argument and wrangling of which the builder always has the best, for he has kept records of extras whilst the omissions, which might be set against them, have been forgotten.

For this reason it is well for the architect to notify the builder of extra work involved in his details, as well as of omissions. The builder has then no grounds for making claims at settlement which have not been agreed, and if he does so the architect can, with perfect fairness, refuse to consider them.

Our friend Spinlove, however, seems to have other ways of safeguarding extras. We shall perhaps see later on what his methods are and how far they succeed.

SPINLOVE TO GRIGBLAY

Dear Sir, 23.8.24.

I am at a loss to understand your foreman’s difficulty. The dimensions on the plan were all checked up, and as you do not say what the discrepancy is I am unable to arrange matters. It is impossible for me to go on to the site until next Tuesday. Will you please wire to your foreman and ask him what it is he wants to know?

Yours faithfully,

BRASH TO SPINLOVE

Dear Mr. Spinlove, 25.8.24.

I can assure you that I am the last person to order extras of any description, and you may place reliance in my refraining from doing so.

I note that you desire all communications with the builder should be transmitted through yourself. This may, I apprehend, prove somewhat an inconvenient arrangement, but I commend your purpose and will keep it in mind.

Yours sincerely,

SPINLOVE TO BRASH

Dear Sir Leslie Brash, 25.8.24.

Your letter was a shock to me because the alterations you propose involve a radical change in the design, a new set of contract drawings and, I am afraid, a supplementary bill of quantities to determine the amount of the variation in cost, if any.

There are many objections and difficulties in the way of your proposal, and you will notice that it would not be possible to get from the hall to the drawing-room without turning the stairs round and making them begin on the other side of the hall. This would involve making other modifications in the plans and spoil the effect aimed at and which I have, I think, been fortunate in achieving.

I may also point out to you that the pump-house chimney would, as a result of the alteration, be visible from the end of the drawing-room and from the bedroom over, as the trees will not screen it from that point of view.

The alterations would also hold up the work for many weeks and, all being well, the digging for foundations may be expected to begin in a few days. I hope, therefore, you will reconsider your suggestion.

I am sure, when you are aware of all that is involved in the change, you will prefer to leave things as they are. I will take no further action till I hear from you.

Yours sincerely,

Spinlove’s adroitness in himself making profit out of the pump house chimney is a master stroke. There is some advantage after all in having no sense of humour, for no one who had any would have dared such impudence.

SPINLOVE TO HOOCHKOFT

Dear Sirs, 26.8.24.

I like the samples of the bricks and the price is satisfactory. The very light-coloured brick seems soft and under-burnt, the red and purple brindled bricks will give all the variation in colour necessary. I have directed the builder, Mr. John Grigblay, to place the order with you.

Yours faithfully,

SPINLOVE TO GRIGBLAY

Dear Sir, 26.8.24.

Please order from Messrs. Hoochkoft & Co., facings of their multi-broken coloured red 2 ½ in. sand-faced slops to sample already approved by me, price 147s. per 1,000 on rail.

Yours faithfully,

Spinlove is looking well after his bricks, but it would have been wise, as he does not know them and has not ordered from a merchant known to him, to have seen the bricks in bulk at the brickyard.

GRIGBLAY TO SPINLOVE

Dear Sir, 27.8.24.

I enclose letter received from foreman Bloggs to-day. Shall be glad of instructions.

Yours faithfully,

(ENCLOSURE) BLOGGS TO GRIGBLAY

Sir, 26.8.24.

In reply to your wire
re
dimensions along main back front is figured 138 ft. 10 in., total of dimensions 138 ft. 6 ¼ in., error + 3 ¾ in. Where am I going to make it? Drawing-room right for window and fireplace cannot find where + is.

Yours humbly,

SPINLOVE TO GRIGBLAY

Dear Sir, 28.8.24.

In reply to your letter enclosing your foreman’s note, the discrepancy will work itself out. I really do not understand why this trivial matter has been given such importance and progress delayed.

Yours faithfully,

Spinlove’s experience must, indeed, be limited for him to write such a letter as this. He ought to be the first to know that the dimensions on a plan, like a bank ledger, must balance. Any error may be the difference between greater errors, but in any case errors of 3 ¾ in. do not readily “work themselves out.” 3 ¾ in. off the width of a narrow backstair makes all the difference between one that is narrow and one that is too narrow. 3 ¾ in. cannot be spared off a doorway, and the want of 3 ¾ in. may entail omission of a window, and single inches in the width of a moulding may mar the design of an important feature.

In the next place Spinlove is discouraging the builder from precision in observing instructions, whereas he ought to take every opportunity to make the builder understand that exact precision and minute conscientiousness are expected of him. It would suit the builder to go ahead and settle things for himself, and this letter will encourage him to shrug his shoulders and do so. It is, further, the special duty of the builder, under the terms of the contract, to call attention to all discrepancies, and it is folly on Spinlove’s part to deter him.

BRASH TO SPINLOVE

Dear Mr. Spinlove, 29.8.24.

I am at a loss to comprehend what the difficulties are in altering the plan, but as it appears to involve bringing the pump-house chimney into visuality, Lady Brash has decided against the proposition. As you know, we greatly admire the plans; we observe, however, that the kitchen window is on the right-hand of the range. Lady Brash informs me that you intimated you would have it located on the other side. I must ask you not to overlook this important matter—it is merely necessary, you will perceive, to put the fireplace at the reverse end of the kitchen.

Yours sincerely,

SPINLOVE TO BRASH

Dear Sir Leslie Brash, 30.8.24.

I have looked at Lady Brash’s letter to which you refer and find that it asks that the kitchen window should be arranged on the right side of the range, and this is what is shown on the plans.

I am very glad you have decided not to go on with the alteration to the drawing-room. I may point out—

Spinlove, with his fatal instinct for saying a great deal too much, here goes on to elaborate a number of reasons why it would be impossible or objectionable to put the drawing-room “the other way round.” He even goes so far as to say “perhaps your daughter may not care so much for ping-pong by the time the house is finished.” This is not only entirely unnecessary, but will be extremely irritating for Brash to be troubled to read, and as Spinlove is already engaged in another tussle with Brash on the subject of plan alterations, it is unfortunate he should write a letter that will only stiffen the obstinacy of the man he wishes to placate.

BRASH TO SPINLOVE

Dear Mr. Spinlove, 1.9.24.

I deeply regret that I must venture to differ from you in considering that the right-hand side of the range is the right side for the window. The left is the correct side for perfectly obvious reasons, although architects, as I am informed, always put the window on the right-hand side. Lady Brash wishes the window on the left, which is the right side, and I must request you to make the necessary emendation, which, as I have intimated to you, can be done by merely shifting the range to the other end of the apartment.

Yours sincerely,

SPINLOVE TO BRASH

Dear Sir Leslie Brash, 3.9.24.

I have again read Lady Brash’s letter and find that in one place the term “right side” is used in the sense of correct side, but I read it to mean the right-
hand
side.

It is quite true that it is best for the window to be on the left hand of the range, but this cannot always be managed without sacrificing more important considerations. If the range is put at the opposite end of the kitchen, as you suggest, the door from servery will have to be moved farther down the passage and the scullery and larder will be remote from the range instead of close at hand.

The range in the new position will require a chimney stack all to itself, and this will go very awkwardly in the external view of the house; and although the back bedroom can have its fireplace moved to the stack at its other end, the small bedroom will have no fireplace at all unless the stack for the present range is carried up for this purpose only. If so, you will have two chimneys each carrying only one flue, and unless they are extravagantly built they will be weedy and unsightly.

As now arranged, the kitchen has two large windows in the long side, and, as the walls and ceiling are to be painted with white enamel, the place will be flooded with light and there will be no shadows at the range. This I can promise you.

The plan provides for a very short course from kitchen to servery, and everything is compact and falls together well. It would, I assure you, be a great mistake to make the changes you propose and you would certainly regret it. Any such alterations will involve delay, and I hope to get the work on the trenches well forward by the end of the week. Unless, therefore, I hear from you to the contrary, I shall assume that the range is to be as shown on the plan.

Yours faithfully,

The last sentence assumes too much and is wanting in tact. It would be likely to provoke opposition. It would have been wiser if Spinlove had expressed himself as hoping he would be allowed to build according to the plan.

SPINLOVE TO GRIGBLAY

Dear Sir, 3.9.24.

When I was on the site yesterday I instructed your foreman to amend his adjustment of the error in the dimensions. In looking further into the matter, however, I find that I must alter the instructions I then gave him. The enclosed plan shows the dimensions to be followed. Please change the figures on your plan accordingly.