They Totally Screwed Us Over

[@marthinus.x]

The fact that your friends pulled through when supposed professionals who wanted money for their work couldn't is really uplifting. In the short term I guess it sucked a bit, but now you've got a really cool story to go with that amazing place you guys are putting together!

[@coolHawk_]

And I’m really questioning the intelligence of the moving companies too. The friends he called looked like they had absolutely no issues carrying the boards up the stairs 😂

[@mgtworld]

@@coolHawk_ well professionals are responsible for any damage made to the building and drywall so they wont take any chances

[@HerculesGimenes]

@@mgtworld I mean, are they? usually when they damage stuff they blame all sorts of reasons for the item being damaged or simply not mention it, leaving for the customers to discover after they already left

[@jjjacer]

@@mgtworld and also any injuries, some of that twisting might have been bad for the backs, and they thought they couldn't do it without risking injury, although i dont know how workman injuries and insurance work outside the US, so dont know how discouraged doing stuff that could injure yourself is were alexandre is.

[@j.p.h.8126]

@@jjjacer Norway has paid sick leave and universal helthcare. A professional moving company should be able to handle a job like that. I would leave a bad review on them to the site if possible.

[@joelcordier6762]

🤗🤗🤗🤗 Huge hug to the real FRIENDS you could count on. That is pure magic of love. ❤❤❤ But also, congratulations on asking your friends for help.

[@bjorngitter]

I had to move my workshop in the US. The only heavy and large machine I had left was a 2x2m CNC machine, which weight about 300kg. I told the moving company several times that this needs to be lifted off a table and crated to be shipped. This was a moving company specialized on moving heavy equipment and they said 'yeah, no problem, we come with tools and a lifter". They showed up with 4 guys - no tools, no equipment. These guys had no idea what they were supposed to do and how. In the end, they loaded the machine on its table into the moving truck. When it arrived at it's destination in Germany, it was still on the table and in a huge shipping crate. Absolutely bonkers. It's great to see that your friends jumped in to help.

[@anders4674]

There is a "contraption" that lets you flip a whole pallet on the crane, so you can get it into windows. Not sure if the tramlines are in the way of that, but if not you could have taken it the same time as the new window was installed

[@kschleic9053]

I thought the same thing, but with the multi-KV overhead lines probably precluded using them. There are also strap lifts I've seen used in Chicago ( I expect they are also used in other US cities) designed to lift sheet material up the narrow air gap within the stairwell.

[@akmuobate]

I feel you bro! Got 8.5 tons dropped off for me this summer, having never worked with drywall before and imagining I’ll be able to carry them in myself alone. After carrying two plates in and sweating rivers I decided to call my dad for help. God bless dads! And friends!

[@firemarshal1bill]

Love the video. Very disappointing that these companies put you in such a hard spot. Anything happening to that drywall could have cost you so much money. It's great to see you have a great group of understanding friends who can get you out of a hard spot.

[@WhackyCast]

What a heartwarming story! Love friends like that, and you seem to have a whole heap of them! :)

[@skFriberg]

Seeing all your friends help out and stepping up to the plate when you need them made me very emotional. You're very lucky do have such good people around you, Alexandre!

[@droopyjosep8530]

I don't know if you are already planning to do it, but you should apply some kind of varnish to those brick-walls or you will have to face a continuous amount of dirt falling from them. Also, great job on the apartment, and invite your friends to dinner once the apartment is done, that kind of friendship is priceless.

[@andash123]

As someone who has worked for shitty companies that send you somewhere to do really shitty jobs for really shitty pay... And always tells the workers it's not a very heavy job until you get there and realize what he has promised some poor customer... I can see both sides of this mess. It's one thing to do such a job one time every few years or whatever, but when you do this shit everyday you sometimes just have to put your foot down and say no. But I'm glad you have such good friends, take care of them

[@GoogleAreDumb]

Yeah, this is what I figured happened too. I haven't worked for one but had it happen when I hired a company to move my stuff from storage into my new flat. I was very explicit about the fact it needed to go up a flight of stairs, and sent photos of everything that needed moving. Boss said no problem. Poor workers showed up having been told it was only a few bits and it was going into a garage. Luckily they were good sports about it (after a lot of very deserved bitching about their boss), but if they'd walked off I wouldn't have blamed them. Bosses of these small moving companies seem to royally suck.

[@LykeArgy]

was gonna comment the similar thing but decided to read comments first, 12:15 someone who does it all day everyday breaking their backs and knees and a group of friends that's gonna do it maybe twice in their lives is not at all comparable, i mean yeah the guys probably could've gotten it in, but bending your knees, hunching and doing that 60 times up 3 flights of stairs , yeah idk

[@ge2719]

you should set up your own company then, get a bunch of the people who work with you who are also getting screwed, and share the money equally for yourselves then. so theres no manager a hole stealing a cut for doing fa.

[@Pablo-so1df]

Even what you say is absolutely true and you've seen both sides of the coins, he makes it clear several times from the start of the video that he sent the dimensions, weight and layout where the sheets need to be moved from and to, so there was by no means any lack of details, aside from the fact that the workers said no (twice) when they realized how the job was gonna be, all the info was there beforehand to take adquate decision making on how to solve the customer needs. Is not about putting your foot down and say no, is about being professional and estimate and plan properly before doing the job imo. Now I am curious on which those companies are.

[@ProtesttheAntagonist]

@@Pablo-so1df the boss knows all the info. The boss then lies to the workers, the workers show up and see the real job, say no.

[@trailkrum]

Ha! You gotta love the work ethic in Norway.

[@slothandturtle8036]

When I got my drywall panels delivered, the driver lifted them with the crane of his truck up to my Appartement in the 3rd floor, where I pulled them through the window one by one 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@claudelefebvre3076]

That's what good friendship is all about , cheers to all the friends that help you out 🍻

[@Engineerd3d]

This reminds me of renovating my first house. Had a similar experience with an overloaded truck full of concrete and no one to unload it. Took me 4 hours to unload 150 bags of concrete in 80lb size per bag. I was out for over a week with back issues.

[@ConstantinEckhardt]

And that's the reason why the pro's didn't touch it. They knew what comes after such an job. I guess that what's happening when you renovate on your own.You don't have solutions for all the problems and worst of all you don't see all the problems, because you lack experience. Happy he was able to solve it with his friends, but next time he should open the bricked window first and rent a lift to move the materials... well you're always smarter after the fact 😆

[@Engineerd3d]

@@ConstantinEckhardt experience is something that gives you the test first and the then you get the lesson after. My next concrete need I hired a truck with premixed concrete and a pump and two guys who knew what to do with it. They were done in 1 day and I was not nearly as worn out as after carrying tons of concrete.

[@martin544]

​@@ConstantinEckhardt bit hard to do that when the building is Culture marked like this one.

[@ConstantinEckhardt]

@@martin544 Check his last video, he removed the bricked window and restored it. So it was more or less a matter of arranging the tasks on site in a different order. A good contractor would have taken advantage of that to save time and workforce.

[@michellefuentes8024]

I watched this happen to a couple of channels here on YT doing DIY building or renovation and the ending is the same as yours: not only did the end up doing it themselves (with help from friends/family) but most importantly, the did it better and more efficient! Kudos to you, your awesome girlfriend, and your friends!

[@wherekengo]

This is what it means when they say it takes a village. Glad so many people showed up to help.

[@samc5898]

Just out of curiosity, do you know the floor loading capacity of that apartment? 5 tonnes of drywall is quite a bit to have sat on the living room floor. I'm sure it's still sitting there, but some quick napkin calculations seem like a stack of just 20 of the large sheets exceed the current code weight for floor loading of an elevated floor( 40 lbs/sqft (psf)) in my area. I know older buildings are basically impossible to tell without drawings and other structural information, and some can have floor load ratings of well over 1000psf. Probably nothing to worry about but yknow...5 tonnes is a lot of weight

[@larryhampton9069]

Was thinking the same thing....

[@cs2181]

You could have gotten the drywall through the new window when you took that wall down! But in the end, lesson learnt; you have amazing friends!

[@mststgt]

A seriously professional company would probably have used a furniture lift.😑 But great to hear your friends saved you.🤩 I hope you'll be throwing a massive party for them 😄

[@bleedulus]

I love that you left some exposed brick!

[@mariannegaetanopulma4077]

That is a bunch of great friends you both have!

[@bensonboys6609]

No need to apologize for the renovation. This has been my favorite series you’ve done! I always get excited every time a new video comes out! I’m sure you’ve thought of this, and there’s probably a good reason that prevented you from doing this, but I think it would have been cool if you had a hoist going out the window that was able to hoist the drywall up and through the window, as well as being able to hoist waste out and to the ground. Anyway, Love the series! There aren’t a lot of videos of apartment renovations because very few people in the US own their own apartment, so it’s really cool to see how it’s done in Norway!

[@rrkmac635]

Joys of construction. Nothing ever goes to plan! Great video

[@xispaki]

Friends are like screws! You only see the quality in tight situations!! although, that is going to cost you a good dinner a good wine and a good laught! Great video Alex, keep up the good work!

[@jonmoore1614]

Maybe it wasn't possible because the power lines you mentioned, but I would have pulled that window out early and used a crane to bring them in.

[@szilardvincze]

It's surprising. The pieces don't look wider than the gap between your staircase hand rails. Bring in the sheet, place on edge, have one person one each flight of stairs and hand it up between the rails without ever needing to be climbing the stairs, just as if it would be a vertical tunnel. It seemed also more work than taking your new window out. Well done though.

[@beaker2k]

I had a similar thought. Go vertical between the flights

[@ge2719]

or build a set of ropes that can hang down the whole way, and hook onto the corners, and pull them straight up the whole way. make shift plasterboard elevator.

[@snwbrdn777]

Yeah. I thought a more appropriate company to hire here would’ve been contractors vs moving companies.

[@lesumsi]

Shoutout to Alex's friends! Real heros!

[@neelamharia4225]

What an uplifting story about friends that can support you. Keep on building.

[@USM247]

I will never underestimate your perseverance. Super great job and my "hat's off" to your corps of friends. Bless them all!!

[@genericpenguin]

Agreed. Alexandre is industrious AF. No wonder the pros balked at helping him out. :)

[@stevenspmd]

I hope you sent a link to the professionals showing them how it's done!

[@llejk]

Having similar experience all the time on Fiverr. The old saying, „If you want a job done right, you have to do it by yourself“… with contractors found online, it seems you can even delete the „right“ from this saying.

[@bobbonham4823]

Friends are the best! I'm so glad they were able to help. I remember jumping in for my friends. Thanks for the videos. I always look forward to them.

[@HamiltonDilbeck]

Following this series has been really fun, thanks so much for documenting it all. I liked this episode the most of all, loved story-time. Looking forward to the next one!!

[@DEtchells]

Wow, what an *insane* amount of work. Huge props to your friends, they’re amazing!

[@TY1979KA]

I had the same issue only carring stuff down, noone willing to show up on the job. I had a whole appartment packed with pastic bags full of old material, dirt and wood. In the end I did everything by myself. It went like this: I took a bag with 15-20kg in each arm and carried them down 5 floors. After the fifth trip I told myself only one more, which I then told myself only 48 additional times. When I was finished I was finished and didn't move for like 3 or 4 days. It felt like that scene from fight club when Edward Nortan says: “I ran. I ran until my muscles burned and my veins pumped battery acid. Then I ran some more. ”

[@KaidoLP]

We nearly had the same situation a couple of years ago. We were supposed to get a combined power and heating unit as part of a field trial by the local energy provider. The problem was that our central heating unit is in the basement. The old one was a light weight oil burner but the new one was bulky and heavy. About 250kg and it had to go down a narrow residential staircase. It fit but just barely. After a couple of moving companies denied because of the large weight, we were told to contact piano moving companies. They specialize in moving bulky and heavy boxes up and down narrow staircases, exactly what we needed. We found a company that agreed to the conditions and they carried the thing downstairs. After the trail with the incredibly buggy unit (the installation engineer had a key for some time) the local energy provider dismantled the unit for removal so we didn't need a specialized moving company again.

[@davidkay1386]

I’ve used a moving company once, every other time I have used my friends. I have helped all of them move too, so it works out good.

[@morenogentile8274]

You should call out the compnaies who failed to deliver. Great job and great friends

[@stevejohnson1685]

If only on Yelp for Oslo.

[@MCsCreations]

I'm happy everything was solved in the end, Alexandre! The apartment is looking fantastic! 😃 Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊

[@Hypnotech3]

The problem with a lot of these "professional" companies they sub-hire general labour. They tend to ask hourly and throw as many crew at it as possible. The friends you got seem like more logical and intelligent people making it easier to figure out how to get the sheets up the stairs. But such a humble story and glad you got the task done. And you know what, probably a lot more enjoyable experience with that team there.

[@h3ad5p4c3]

I worked for a moving company for about a year and I gotta say, I was highly skeptical towards the job based on your description, the sizes of the sheets and the fact that two companies outright refused to do it after showing up. But then I saw your friends carrying the boards... Those are some OUTRIGHT shitty movers man, I feel sorry for you! Good to have nice friends!

[@marcus_w0]

I really cracked at the part of how many steps this were.... you did your math and I thought "wow, that's almost walking up the empire state building" - and then you added "...with a full sheet of drywall!" Tears! Well done.

[@MystLily]

I love when friends pull together to help out a build because it benefits in so many different ways. Friends get an insight into what your doing and also the difficulties plus you might inspire them to take on a building project themselves one day. But throughout history, we have had our houses built by friends and family and it's just such a wonderful feeling to help your loved ones and build on friendships. It doesn't surprise me that workers didn't want to take on the job, they seem to always only be there for a quick easy dollar. There are a lot of people in Australia that won't even bother to come around to give a quote for work and if they see it is something not to big then they just don't even respond. It's such a waist of time to give all the details and still have someone not do the job and just walk off

[@freggae]

Nice story ! Love it ! ❤

[@ikrokarna7036]

Dont you have a window towards the road? We often lift drywall straight up to the windows with special drywall lifting tools with crane mounted on our trucks! But I guess the space on the road was very limited... Oh well, friends are better than paid hands! Good work to the team!

[@red26rocker]

That was my thought, especially since he just installed a window. Remove it and in comes the drywall. The delivery truck that brought it had a crane, but yes, the wires and other obstructions may not have permitted that method.

[@fromaflafl2198]

when you already had the Crane truck out way not get the drywall in through the new window opening from the last video.

[@samponette3306]

Third floor ;-) the crane can only put stuff on and off the truck.

[@alfworks]

Third floor is quite high especially in these old buildings with heigh ceilings. Those cranes cannot reach that

[@fromaflafl2198]

is it really that high. The third floor is like 15m high right? and the crane can do 20m+ model looks to be PK 26002 EH

[@mochouinard]

Next time you make a big hole in your building, use it to get the sheet in there this way ! The truck had the crane and all the equipement for it.

[@widmndie]

Great job. We are used to the same problem here in Spain in historic buildings and drywall sheets and what we usually do is to use 200x120 sheets, and later deal with butt joins. We have even 200x60 sheets when no other option is valid.

[@RobbZinn]

I started watching your videos because I was interested in your projects and I was hoping to do similar things one day soon. Now I watch your videos because your energy is just amazing and your story telling makes the whole video. I am so glad that you have amazing friends like that to step up and help out when needed! Keep up the good work!

[@somyRed]

I have to deal with that type of transport companies on a daily basis for my work... And it's really frustrating... You have amazing friends ❤️ your house is getting really nice!

[@LykeArgy]

it's a work no one wants to do, i assemble furniture for 3 years now and for first 2 years my boss would take so many jobs just to get started (now he's working on us just assembling and not delivering) and 99% of the time we deliver the furniture we assemble, and you know being young first year you're ok with it, but after that you realize how shitty it is and how shitty it gets paid and you really really start hating it

[@LykeArgy]

not only that, but you have to count in that sometimes you're driving for 30-60 minutes to get to the job, and then after sitting that long in a terrible position you have to carry stuff up floors

[@LEVEL5Tools]

Stoked to see how this turns out!

[@SeanHodgins]

To me it would have been one of those moments in home renovation where you just go "what was I thinking?" and contemplate selling the house. I've had a few of those, usually when I'm crawling around in my 3ft attic for a few hours.

[@michaeldobeck7261]

This is a wonderful story.

[@rafezetter8003]

I have to ask Alex - why did you specify large sheets like that? - you can buy (or be givien) smaller sheets of drywall (we call it plasterboard in UK) for doing things like ceilings as they are lighter to lift and importantly SMALLER thus easier to manouver when access is limited. "Carrying drywall is a great workout" as soemone who does it a LOT, yeah understatement of the year.

[@Tenshivoodoo]

I'm so happy you managed to get the dry wall up! Amazing help from friends. We would have definitely helped if we lived in Norway. But we will be moving there in a couple years!

[@mrfrogth5283]

I used to work as a removalist in Australia. We would have done it. I carried kitchen cupboards by myself up 10 flights of stairs. This would have been a piece of cake.

[@Z3ROR]

Good family and friends are worth a fortune. Glad for you they could help you out.

[@lllBAMlll]

Thanks for the memory jog. 300 sheets 3/4 osb up 3 flights 😁I was a lot younger back then. They removed the windows and boomed in carpet the next day 🤨.

[@kevinthomson6324]

Here in Canada. The truck with the crane would have just lifted 20 or so sheets at a time and held them just outside one of the windows and you would have just had to drag them in and stack them up. The biggest drywall jog I’ve done (as a diyer) was 184 Sheets between 8 and 14’ . When my brother-in-law had them delivered to his house he said when they delivered the drywall 2 guys carried them all in and dispersed them around the house and were carrying them all 4 sheets at a time. I couldn’t believe it. We were struggling to move the 14’ sheets onto the drywall lift one at a time.

[@AngeEinstein]

Have you considered the weight on the floor and if it would hold 5 tons before bringing everything up there?

[@nicktasios1862]

How did you actually do the planning of the cables/plumbing? That always seems like the most daunting part for me.

[@piccoleitor]

What a shame for those companies. I can't really understand why they refused to do the job even though you gave them all the info about the job and the difficulty of it. It's nice to have good friends who are willing to help!

[@RemcoBloemen]

It cost them nothing to say yes, and they just walked out when it turned out they didn't like it.

[@Noxonomus]

The "company" (an office worker) said yes, people (faced with a brutal task) said no.

[@BeansBuilds64]

i see that when your isolating that the isolation goes straight towards the brick walls. In the netherlands we have something called a air wall, which is actually a spacer between the inner and outer wall. I know, when this building was build it wasn't a technique applied in those days. But how do you prevent the isolation getting wet, and as a result of gravity in ends up in the lower parts of the walls. This is a huge problem in older construction builds.

[@aaronalquiza9680]

i like the fabulous guy in yellow shirt. very enthusiastic and seems like a good friend!

[@frrapp2366]

good friends are worth their weight in drywall OOOPS GOLD!!!!! good luck Alexandre

[@SockPuppetParody]

They didn't help you move, but they gave you a great story. I loved this episode and have been keeping up with the whole series! Haha

[@JoseNunez-sr1cp]

Cherish those friends! You are a lucky guy!

[@rafaelmorales6736]

Hello. I live in Mexico. I've been following you for a while. With this department remodeling videos I've learned how the things are done in Norway. Such a blessing to have such friends. Silly question: I noticed that in some parts of the video the third window didn't exist, it could be easier to fly up the drywall sheets thru his big hole before to install the window? Suggestion: your girlfriend has worked so hard, she deserves a special place for her in the apartment. Have you considered one? You don't need one there, you have an splendid workshop. I wish both of you the best of the success on your project. Merry Christmas.

[@SwimBikeRunFastest]

I know your pain. I carried 80 sheets of 3m (30kg each) drywall from the road into my house. After 10 boards my grip muscles were shot but I managed it. 10 years ago and I still remember how hard it was!

[@DJmorch]

The finish of your work is really great. :D I love to see your builds..

[@pakiw2]

Couple of times I had to carry drywall up to fifth floor and osb, that's how a injured my back. It's hell of a job.

[@julioortega8188]

It's really impressive how much weight those Floors can handle

[@TmanUtube]

This is a love letter to your friends & family. ❤ That yellow shirt dude looking at the camera walking down stairs, that's something I'd do!! 🤣

[@Thamli]

Seriously, keep it metric 👍

[@scottlnrd]

I completely understand your pain. You're doing great and thank goodness for awesome friends! Keep it up! The end result will be awesome knowing your creativity.

[@prestonlane6253]

Hate to hear that happened to you. Here in Alabama (US), a lot of the time we will just go ahead and call our friends. Usually the offer of beer and pizza (or steaks) will get the job done. It's a shame that the crane truck wasn't able to get the materials to a window. That might have made things a little easier.

[@lilckisaac2697]

I'm only using what I saw, but even if the crane guy said yes, I don't think it would fit into the window for alexander's apartment... Or it's just that the crane wasn't tall enough

[@mrljvb]

@@lilckisaac2697 it would have fit through before he installed that window in the last episode. Perfect time to get large items in to the apartment

[@lilckisaac2697]

@@mrljvb if only the dry walls arrived before the installation and that's just straight up unfortunate

[@prestonlane6253]

@@lilckisaac2697 I was actually thinking if they could have lifted the drywall up to the window so that it could be pulled through.

[@al1sa920]

Oh my god. I'm in a building business in Russia and moving companies and movers are a pain to deal with. There are a lot of unprofessional workers, hidden costs, etc. Literally we're ready to pay more but management of these companies doesn't understand anything in their field. Surprised that's the case in Norway too

[@TechnologistAtWork]

At least you have friends to help. I'd be absolutely screwed dealing with this. But I certainly wouldn't do this renovation myself.

[@granthopper3603]

I like your friends. They really made the video fun to watch!

[@petermiddo]

You're blessed to have friends who would do that at the drop of the hat. I;m not sure mine would. And I'd be in all sorts of troubles.

[@nasaspacemanwho6711]

Man, I love your energy and vibes., it its been good watching your videos while I do my own DYI renovations - mind you, I did do my back taking off all the radiators. I don't know how people can do this day in and day out, hats off to them!

[@TheRealBobHickman]

It's looking really great, you two are going to be so happy when it's all done.

[@ItsDaPlumber]

Tell your friends they are great people and they did a great job

[@Fs3i]

I'm so stoked when you upload. I dunno what it is, but following you along is so satisfying!

[@jmoss1980]

You have some really awesome friends to have helped you do that. Still can’t wait to see what the finished apartment looks like

[@abrarmohamed3351]

Title of this video should have been 'The infinity drywalls'

[@Stoney_Eagle]

I just love that shot of you breaking through the wall, it cracks me up every time 🤣

[@JeronimoStilton14]

God I wish leaving was an option. I worked a summer at a moving company and then one at Lowe’s and both times I had delivery jobs that were absolutely horrendous but I just had to keep bucking stuff into those houses.

[@tdimccullough]

another way of getting the sheets up the stairs, there's a gap between the flights of stairs and you could slip a sheet up between the stairs and hand them up with a couple of people on each flight passing the sheet up, i heard of a floor tiler having to do this on a penthouse flat 6 floors up and the tiles were 2.8m x 1.2m the whole of the apartment floors were tiled with these tiles, it cost the owner a lot of money just to get them up there to start with £1500.00 to be exact

[@veronica5896]

Hats off to you and your friends! Well done!

[@ManOfTrades]

Wow incredible work, cant believe how big the apartment actually is!

[@Julia68yt]

5:00 Have you ever read Douglas Adams' "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency" where a sofa got stuck on the sstaircase? 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@jurjen83]

Why didn’t you hire a outside lift to go trough the windows?

[@achappel]

power lines for the tram and timing unfortunately.

[@alsanova]

I lol'ed when you said you got bored and start counting steps 😂 Your friends are real hero in that situation 👍 Also I like what you did with exposed brick walls, look nice! 👍

[@alfworks]

So, what is the reason to put two layers of drywall? Especially on the ceiling? For sound insulation?

[@achappel]

Jeah, mostly sound :)

[@fredericapanon207]

@@achappel two layers will also increase fire resistance time.

[@thomaselbojensen8465]

A thumbs up, for all the friends helping out. :)

[@willianbell3464]

Work + Gym , perfect 👍

[@pulkis21]

I do hope your friends feel honored to be able do the job. This is the reason why I like to do stuff alone, cause asking and paying professionals can be frustrated, unfortunately you learned that in hard way. Just imagine what you could have done, if you asked your friends at the beginning.

[@older-wiser-better]

That’s what friends are for 😊

[@buildingnfixing7348]

thank you for always having a great outlook and sharing. My advice if you should ever have this happen again. take the window out and have them boom it through the window. All you need to do is slide it off and stack it.