We had a very large bathroom with a sunken bath. A real WOW factor, totally impractical, a large space that was difficult to heat, despite underfloor heating. Decision made 8 weeks ago to split it into a family bathroom and en-suite. A builder came to have look, asked our budget and basically got on with it, predicitng a 4 week job. He was recommended to us by close friends one of whom is in the "trade" and lives next door to him and another former customer of his.
It's been a journey - but he's more or less finished now (awaiting a vanity unit which is being delivered in the new year) more or less on budget and a mere day over his projected time frame.
No compaints at all. A real family firm of father, son and grand-son - the father and son are bikers (which always helps), the old man is a coach-builder and some of his joinery work is very well done. Every trade was in-house apart from the electrics.
What’s surprising is that availabiltity of "stuff" was good, but expensive compared to 2019. Nice bit of work that has enhanced our home and made it safer for any future changes.
They drank their way through my tea stock though !
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I am unfortunate in that my trusted builders of choice have now effectively retired, thro age and various disabilities. Personal friends, and works have always been estimated, but paid on a time and materials basis. My view is that fixed price contracts will always be achieved on budget by hidden shortcuts if and when necessary.
Dreading the thought of having to to employ a new builder on a commercial basis. Looking to convert esisting 3 car garage space into a downstairs office/ bedroom with en-suite. But planners are being difficult, citing over development in green belt/ conservation area. I only want 3mx3m to make best use of existing space - and the foundations were done at garage build time.
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Fine if you are friends, but if paying on a time basis there is surely no encouragement to go at pace?
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>>My view is that fixed price contracts will always be achieved on budget by hidden shortcuts if and when necessary.
Or the quote will be padded to make sure it's high enough.
In general we paid time and materials on the house. The exceptions were electrical and plumbing, roof, decoration. The tiler gave me quotes room by room as we went through. It comes down to having decent tradespeople and a bit of trust. That's why I used a project manager, I knew I wouldn't have time or knowledge to find all the trades I needed or for that matter to get all the quotes. And what do you do when you have the quotes? Employ the cheapest who is quite possibly a dud? Good people who have work waiting aren't really interested in spending time on speculative quotes.
A builder is often a project manager in that sense, they know who to rely on and there is no substitute for a good one you can trust. I wouldn't proceed unless I had recommendations for the builder.
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Rule of thumb has always be wary of trades that have immediate availability. In this case that would appear not to be so. :)
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The biggest problem with Time and Materials can be over staffing. However, if there is mutual trust then T&M will generally provide better value. Quotes are bordering on impossible because there's almost never enough info.
I have my own building business established in 1977. I also project manage for others. In those cases the first thing I generally do is to dispose of the nose picking youth who struggles to find sufficient things of value to do. That's not only confined to youth sadly. In most general low to mid value projects it's quite clear that two decent men can get through as much work as more. It also means less opportunity for mindless chat which is where most time disappears.
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The builder did a recce and we told him what we knew (there were some mysteries) and there were some surprises but he overcame most of the problems. One of the surprises was a portable battery lamp under the suspended floor.....it still worked, must have been there 17 years ! Duracells !
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B****y Builders. - Bobby
