Bloggs does not allow any on the site, and there is no one about would be the wiser if you let us do the work all in the ordinary course and get it finished out of hand. You will pardon me addressing you, but I thought best after I got home to-night as it will save a bit of trouble.
Yours faithfully,
This friendly letter reveals Grigblay to us as he is under his skin. He writes privately as he could not well question the order to work at night officially, since the reason is no business of his. He has already prevented Spinlove from hanging up the whole work while the solicitors negotiated permission for the builder to use the spring, and he has again come to the rescue. The letter displays the honest good-nature and practical wisdom of the writer; and we recognize in his kindly, dry, ironical humour the salt of sterling British national character. Spinlove ought long ago to have established friendly personal relations with such a man.
SPINLOVE TO GRIGBLAY
(Private)
Dear Mr. Grigblay,28.4.25.
I am very much obliged for your letter. Of course you are perfectly right. Please act as you suggest. I was on the site yesterday and I wish to tell you that I am entirely satisfied with the brick window cills that I saw. Please work the flat arch heads and weatherings in the same way. I appreciate the attention your foreman has given to this matter and also the way he has managed the gradation from the first lots of facings to those now being sent. This has been done extremely well; no one would notice the change unless his attention was called to it.
Yours truly,
This is a private unofficial letter, and it would not be amiss if Spinlove used it as a model for his official letters to the builder in place of those he is so ill-advised—and ill-mannered—as frequently to write. It is clear he understands that Grigblay takes a pride in his work and wishes to please the architect, and he ought always to keep it in mind.
BRASH TO SPINLOVE
Roselawn,
Dear Mr. Spinlove,Thaddington.
2.5.25.
You will perceive from the above address that we have now gone into residence here until the autumn. I visited the site last evening and am gratified to observe that progress is advancing, but there are several matters which I do not quite comprehend. Could you meet us on Saturday? I shall be travelling by the 12.27 from Cannon Street and we might go down together in concert and visit the site after luncheon.
Yours sincerely,
P.S.—Lady Brash requests me to say that our daughter is expecting some young friends to tennis in the afternoon, and it is desired that you will bring your bat, etc., if you like disporting yourself in that pastime.
We may conclude that Brash has never played lawn tennis.
SPINLOVE TO BRASH
Dear Sir Leslie Brash,4.5.25.
As the builder’s people will have left in the afternoon and I want to see the foreman, I will go down early on Saturday and come to the house at 1 o’clock.
Yours sincerely,
P.S.—Will you be so obliging as to inform Lady Brash that I shall be charmed to comply with her invitation to tennis.
I detect a touch of east wind here. Spinlove’s postscript—as recorded on the carbon file copy of his letter—is in autograph, as was that to which it replies, and as we know Spinlove well enough to judge that he would not so answer an invitation from a lady without being aware of a gaucherie, we may gather that he has deliberately retaliated on Brash by accepting in the same form and through the same channel as the invitation. His adoption of Brash’s stilted diction and condescending tone cannot possibly be accidental; in fact, we appear to have surprised a bit of the Old Adam in our friend James. It seems clear that he has come to resent the condescending self-sufficiency of Brash (discernible to us only in his letters) and has reasons for being wide awake to social slights. Lady Brash would have written her own invitation had she not felt it incompatible with her social eminence to so condescend to her architect—that, at any rate, is my sense of the matter—and, if I am correct, Spinlove has shown a very proper spirit, although, without knowing what lies in the background, it is impossible either to commend or condemn his manner of showing it.
SPINLOVE TO GRIGBLAY
Dear Sir,8.5.25.
I was on the site on Saturday and was greatly concerned to notice that two of the brighter of the red bricks in the facings are already beginning to decay. The surface is coming away in a powdery dust near the edges of the brick. I expressly prohibited the inclusion of these red, under-burnt bricks in facings; you promised that you would throw them out, and I selected and handed to your foreman samples of the bricks which only were to be used. It is really inexcusable that, after my particular and exact directions to the contrary, these soft bricks have been built into faces. Your foreman is going over the work and marking the doubtful bricks, and when I have checked over I must ask you to cut out and replace them with the bricks sent under the new arrangement with Hoochkoft.
It is a great disappointment to me that the frost spoilt so much of the jointing. It is a pity this work was not protected, as the top of the wall was, with sacking. It will be impossible to match the cut-off joint by pointing, so that the whole of the facings will now have to be raked and pointed. I have asked your foreman to have different samples of pointing done so that I can decide which to adopt.
I also had to call your foreman’s attention to the clearing of the battens in the hollow walls.
Yours faithfully,
The battens referred to are those which are hung in the 2 in. space of hollow walls and carried up with the brickwork to prevent mortar falling into the space and collecting at the bottom, where it might conduct damp from the outer to the inner wall and block the ventilation inlets which, by allowing air to circulate, keep the space dry. These battens have to be pulled out and cleared of accumulations of mortar at frequent intervals if they are to serve their purpose thoroughly.
GRIGBLAY TO SPINLOVE
Dear Sir,9.5.25.
Referring to your remarks re decay of facings, we cannot accept responsibility for same. If this matter had been left to us we should never have accepted such bricks as Hoochkoft first sent, but it was not in our hands as we acted on your orders and were told you had approved the bricks. We picked over the bricks to oblige you without charge, and Bloggs worked to your instructions and you saw what he was doing. It does not seem likely there can be many of the defective bricks and we will arrange to cut out and replace, but shall have to charge men’s time for same and shall be glad of order for extra.
The frost getting at joints is no fault of ours, as faces cannot be protected. We were obliged to take off top course and rebuild, as you know, although that work was protected.
Yours faithfully,
Grigblay is not to blame for frost attacking the green mortar joints; and he is not only entitled to disclaim responsibility for the decaying bricks, but is obliged to do so, for if he agreed, as part of his obligations under the contract, to remedy the defect in only one or two bricks, he would be accepting liability for the soundness of the whole of the facings.
SPINLOVE TO GRIGBLAY
Dear Sir,12.5.25.
As you are well aware I have all along objected to the red soft bricks and expressly forbidden their use. I actually selected samples of what I did approve, and your foreman had these to guide him. I asked you to pick over the bricks, but you said the bricklayers would throw out the soft bricks as they came to hand. This has not been done and I must call upon you to make good.
Yours faithfully,
Spinlove, we know, is responsible for the bricks supplied. But for his vigilance 15 percent or more of the whole of the facings would be defective; he would not be able to avoid direct responsibility to Brash, and it is very doubtful if he could by any means fix liability on Hoochkoft. Again we see how a small lapse from formal exactness in organization may lead to disastrous consequences.
Under-burnt facings have been known to decay before the roof of a new house was on, so th
at the whole had to be pulled down and rebuilt with the architect unable to fix responsibility on any one because the samples he had approved had not been marked and could not be identified.
GRIGBLAY TO SPINLOVE
Dear Sir,16.5.25.
We have to say that we accept no responsibility for defective bricks for reasons given. We note that the bricks delivered under the new arrangement with Hoochkoft meet your approval.
Bloggs tells us that bricklayers threw out all bricks that did not agree with samples. He did not keep samples after work completed as no reason to. He writes that about forty bricks had ought to come out.
Yours faithfully,
It will be noticed that in his first paragraph Grigblay repeats that he accepts no responsibility for the facing bricks, and then records that Spinlove has approved present deliveries. He does this in order to consolidate his position—so to speak—and put on record that he has always disclaimed responsibility.
GRIGBLAY TO SPINLOVE
Dear Sir,19.5.25.
We shall be glad if you will pass us a further certificate for £2,500.
Yours faithfully,
SPINLOVE TO BRASH
Dear Sir Leslie Brash,25.5.25.
The builder has asked for a further payment on account, and I have to-day sent him certificate No. 2 for £2,500.
Would it be convenient to you, I wonder, to let me have, say, £400 on account of my own fees?
Yours faithfully,
It would have been just as well if Spinlove had not asked for any fees at this time.
In dealing with business firms, public companies, corporations, Government offices, and so forth, it is well for an architect to send in claims for fees on account according to the letter of the custom (see R.I.B.A. scale of charges), for it is no one’s business to ask the architect whether he wants any fees, and later on he may be called on to explain why the claim was not made earlier. The case is different, however, when the architect’s employer is a private person. There is an etiquette which directs that, when employed by the nobility and gentry, the architect waits until invited to send in an account. This etiquette, which is linked with the past, flatters the architect by dissociating him from commercial activities, and it is a pity for the architect to discourage the sentiment.
In a certain high social plane it would be a gaucherie for the architect to ask for his fees; it would not so particularly mark a man in sore straits for money, as one who did not know what was what.
GRIGBLAY TO SPINLOVE
Dear Sir,28.5.25.
Bloggs reports that he finds that the heads of window-frames come 1 ½ in. too high to allow top of brick-on-edge head to line with horizontal joint of facings. The frames are made as figured on your detail No. 11, but we think you overlooked that ground floor is now 1 ¼ in. below bench mark datum from which the height of brick cills was figured. We might have saved it out of the joints, but we are up twenty courses now. Shall be glad of your early instructions.
Yours faithfully,
SPINLOVE TO GRIGBLAY
Dear Sir,30.5.25.
I am annoyed to hear of the mistake with the frames. If the detail had been checked with the actual work this would not have happened. I shall be going on to the site next Tuesday and will see what can be done.
Yours faithfully,
It is difficult to see what exactly has happened, but the mistake has arisen from Spinlove having confused the ground-floor line with the bench datum with which it was originally identified. The builder is here at fault. All joiner’s details are—or should be— sent on to the site so that they may be checked and figured up to agree with the actual work. It is likely that Spinlove’s blunder trapped Bloggs; and it is also likely that the detail of the brick cills was prepared after the detail of the window-frames which had to be made early for building in. There are plenty of openings for slips and mistakes, but the builder who allows any joinery to be prepared which will not fit the building is to blame.
SPINLOVE TO BRASH
Dear Sir Leslie Brash,30.5.25.
I have received report of the analyst, Sir Geoffrey Whittle, and enclose his account. The report is quite satisfactory, but it will be necessary to use specially lined pipes and lead tanks; and a water softener, at least for drinking and special purposes, is recommended. I should like to discuss this with you at an early opportunity. I shall be on the site on Tuesday.
Yours sincerely,
P.S.—Since dictating the above I rang you up and have now received your message and will arrange to meet you on site at 5.30 on Tuesday and stay to dinner. I will bring analyst’s report with me.
SPINLOVE TO GRIGBLAY
Dear Sir,3.6.25.
I was on site yesterday and arranged with your foreman to adjust error in height of window-frames by building a 6 ½ in. brick-on-end flat arch in place of 4 ½ in. brick-on-edge, so that the top of flat arch will now come one course higher than originally intended and shown on ½ in. detail.
I approved the bricks in facings marked by your foreman as to be cut out. I agree to an extra (day-work) for this work.
I also approved sample of pointing. A flat joint makes the joint appear too wide, and the irregularity of the bricks makes it untidy. The mortar is, therefore, to be slightly pressed back into the joint with a rounded piece of wood. This is to be done as the work proceeds. Facings already built to be raked and pointed to match.
The work looks very well and Sir Leslie Brash, you will be glad to hear, expressed himself as delighted with all that has been done and with the progress being made.
Yours faithfully,
There is a healthy change of tone in this letter. “The band has come.” Probably the Brashes, now first able to see the house taking understandable shape, are appreciative, and Spinlove’s heart is lightened. It will be noticed that he has admitted his responsibility for the faulty bricks by allowing Grigblay an extra for replacing, and has found a satisfactory way of getting over the undue height of window-frames without the loud lamentations and complaints we have learnt to expect from him.
SPINLOVE TO THUMPER & CO.
Dear Sirs,5.6.25.
I enclose analyst’s report and recommendations, and shall be glad to receive an amended specification and estimate for ram installation and piping to storage tank, all in accordance with the recommendations of the report. I should also be glad to receive proposal from you, later on, for water softener. This is to serve one bath and bib cocks in pantry and scullery and H.M. closet.
Yours faithfully,
THE LAST OF THE SPRING
GRIGBLAY TO SPINLOVE
(Private)
Sir,11.6.25.
Rather an awkward thing happened to-day, but no harm done, I believe, and lucky for us. Just before I got on to site Mr. Witspanner, tenant of Honeywood farm, came on to our ground and wanted to know whether we had right to hay in meadow below, and then he noticed our water tank. “Hullo, you’ve a nice lot of water,” he says. “Yes, and we wants a nice lot, too,” Bloggs told him. “That’s my water,” he says, “and you’ve no right to take it.” Well, I suppose Bloggs gave him a bit back, and off he goes saying he’d complain to Mr. Rallingbourne.
When I drove up he was just getting over the gate at the bottom, but Bloggs sent a whistle after, and he saw me and waited while I went down. Well, to make a short story I took him to the hotel, and it’s like this. He will not interfere with us taking the water, but he wants that bit of grass which is not of much account, anyway, after horses have been on it, so the business can be put right if Sir Leslie Brash will agree. But I was asking him about his landlord, Mr. Rallingbourne, and he says he’s the sort that has got to be cock of his own dunghill. If you’re polite, and not unreasonable, and don’t presume, he will agree to near anything, but if he thinks you’re trying to better him or steal an advantage he gets all his hackles up and nothing will move him. He does not care for money; it’s bossing up he values.
Now, Witspanner knows we are using the wa
ter and if the ram is put in your client will be at his mercy, and he’s a sour-tempered fellow and no mistake. What I suggest is that Sir Leslie should get Rallingbourne’s consent to the ram by offering to pipe the spring on to his land. More water is lost travelling the ditch than the ram will pump.
With apologies for troubling you.
Yours faithfully,
The remarkable lucidity and completeness of Grigblay’s presentment of the position will be noticed. Not only do we get the facts, but Bloggs, Witspanner, and Rallingbourne stand before us as actual persons, and we have an intimate and minute understanding of the state of affairs. Brash could not do it; the whole forces of Russ & Co. could not attempt it, nor could Spinlove. Grigblay has no educated knowledge of the use of words; but he has humour, practical insight, and the habit of single-minded frankness.
SPINLOVE TO BRASH
Dear Sir Leslie Brash,12.6.25.
The letter of which the enclosed is a copy is marked private, but I have Mr. Grigblay’s permission to show it to you. It seems important to open negotiations with Mr. Witspanner at once and get in touch with Mr. Rallingbourne. I estimate cost of piping ditch, which is 320 yds. long, at £20.
Yours faithfully,
Oh, do you, Mr. Spinlove!
This estimate is wildly at sea. One can only suppose that Spinlove has light-heartedly mixed up yards with feet and made no allowance for consolidating and levelling ditch and filling in with earth, wheeled or carted, and making good to ram waste and spring-head. Assuming that a 4 in. pipe will serve, a reasonable estimate is from £60 to £100.
Spinlove has here airily tossed a trifle from his richly-stored bins of knowledge to Brash as he might throw a scrap from his plate to a dog; but Brash will make the figure the basis of his negotiations with Rallingbourne. Facile, off-hand estimates ought not to be given. Spinlove would do well to notice the stolid ignorance of Bloggs, who, in common with every other foreman, never has any idea of the value of any kind of work and, when rallied, merely grins wisely. Spinlove’s lapse is here quite inexcusable; he has not been confronted by a sudden demand for an estimate, but offers it gratuitously; he does not describe his figure as a rough approximation and he has not paused to visualize the work involved or even to scrutinize his absurd figure.
The Honeywood Files Page 12
