Now it starts to get serious.

So we take a few days away. Barcelona, ruined by genuine, bed-limited, full-body-ache, flu.
On our return, they had seriously got on with things. Downstairs the tiling was almost complete. It would have been finished but for tiles being a mixture of 240mm square, and 238mm. Not much you might think, but over 10 tiles one row is an inch shorter than the other. All the other codes were the same and they were on the same palette. Fortunately for us, they decided to sort them and found they had enough for the bedroom in one size and the others would do the rest. Bonus points for the floor tilers. So, in a week, downstairs, screed to cover all the pipes and conduit; insulation, second leveling screed, and tiles. Whoop, whoopee!!! They will finish and grout on Monday, then we can start doing our things. The picture below looks from the kitchen area of the apartment  towards the front door. The box of tricks is the wiring for the whole flat and will contain its own fuse box and controls for the VMC.
VMC, ventilation mécanique contrôlée, is a requirement in France with a fan driven system stopping problems associated with humidity. We have a double system, recuperating any heat that may be lost. 

Upstairs, the first layer of screed has gone down. We are now waiting (again) for the plumber so that he can get on with the underfloor heating. He should have started last Wednesday, but plumbers work to a different timescale from everyone else.
To give an idea of what stage we are at the picture below shows the kitchen upstairs with the first screed down. No more pipes, no more conduits. As I think I mentioned before, the sticky-uppy things in the middle of the floor are the utilities for the island unit.