Builders in the Midlands, builders advice

[spackrackman]

Hi, I am trying to get a builder to build me a workshop, firstly trying to find a good builder that can build it this year is proving tricky, secondly getting a quote on time seems impossible and finally once I got a quote, how do I know its good value and how do I understand what may or may not be included etc.. When this much money is involved this is just scary. Do I got for a larger builder that can throw men at the job, get a fixed price and sit back.. Do I get a Father, son team and work with them, paying them an hourly rate and sourcing materials myself but risk having an open cheque book and time dragging on.... The quote I have received today, can I push it or try and get more thrown in and haggle the price?

Basically are there any builders out there to offer me a little advice, quite happy show you the quote and what I want building, I am worried I may accept the quote and then realise I have missed a huge "something" out..

Plus anyone know any good builders around the midlands, Ashbourne area that may be interested.

Are there larger construction companies that I can get quotes from? Someone that just appears, hits it hard and disappears with the job completed or is this just for bigger jobs with far bigger budgets.

Bloody mine field!

Any land cruiser owning builders out there?

Jonnie

 

[Shayne]

What does this workshop include and what dimensions ?

 

[Chris]

Landcruiser owning builders in the Midlands. Hang one, let me see, uhm, well there is one..

I'll PM you.

Chris

 

[Ben]

I think for what your building Johnie, youd be best getting a small local builder with a good reputation.

Ask family/friends/neighbours if they can recommend anyone.

If you do call people out of the local paper etc. Ask if you can see any of the jobs theyve done previously. A good builder with a good reputation will be only to happy to take you to previous clients houses to show you work theyve done.

My old boss got most of his work by people coming to him saying they need a builder and him then taking them to, or arranging for them to visit previous clients houses to inspect work we had previously done. This also gave the new client the opportunity to speak to the previous client and ask if they were happy with the work etc.

Normally you will pay in staged payments, and this should all be agreed in writing before the work starts. So you might pay X amount when the work starts, and then when the footings are in and the foundations are up to damp proof course you pay the next amount. Then when the walls are up to wall plate height, you pay again, and then once the roof is on and the building is weather tight you pay again.

Personally I wouldnt pay people hourly and source the materials myself, it might work out cheaper, but it it could also end up costing more and would obviously be a lot more hassle and stress for you.

Good luck with it all mate. Having seen the plans, what you are going to have built is what most of us on here can only dream of!

A 6 car garage, one end being double height for a proper ramp. Then living accommodation above!

 

[Lorin]

I've had good success sourcing trades through Checkatrade. I look for those with good recent feedback but not so much that a bad one wouldn't have a big impact on their score. I've had a range of work done and all the tradesman/companies used have stuck to their original estimates and given good customer service. Might be worth a look.... http://www.checkatrade.com/

 

[froggy Steve]

Never Ever pay an hourly rate - for anything, even grass cutting! Get a quote for the entire job, and get recomondations, view what they have done and get a list of clients so you can talk to them. Dont give them any money to buy materials either, if they are any good they will have accounts at the merchants. Watch the big guy on cowboy builders!
Steve

 

[Trevor]

I would ask any builder to provide a "statement of works" to be provided with the quote, this should detail each stage of the build with what materials and time taken. This gives you something to fall back on and strengthen your case if things don't appear to be going to plan. Also agree that the final 15% of payment will be paid 1 month after completion, this gives you a bargaining tool if there is any snagging to be done which you discover in those 4 weeks.

This is a great way of sorting the men from the boys as the cowboys don't like providing this, as Froggy Steve says, never ever pay a day rate. A fixed price quote means potentially more risk for the builder and he will of course factor some of this risk into the price but you get piece of mind.

Definately ask for references and take them up by visiting the client and speaking to them, it's very easy for a builder to take photos of other peoples work and pass it off as their own and this does happen.

 

[spackrackman]

Thanks guys!! Some damn good advice. I have a chap in mind, the quote is a little unclear and a little more than I wanted to pay but I am going to contact him today with a list of what I expect and see of it is already or can be included in the price he quoted.

Jonnie

 

[Shayne]

It may take a little longer but you could probably save 50% by doing most of it yourself get a plan and most of it is just like following instructions . Dig a trench , phone a concrete company and tell them how long ,wide and deep it is and they will calculate exactly how much concrete you need to turn the trench into a footing . Any fool can lay a block pro's just do it quicker . Most roofs are just made up of wooden trusses built to order and dropped into place . Again any fool can knock a nail in .

I will probably get a few tradesmen shouting at me for this but in reply i will say this -

On every building site there are Architects , Quantity Surveyors , Bricklayers , Sparks , Plumbers , Carpenter's and many many more qualified individuals . But 99% of the time the man in charge has no written qualification at all . He is a labourer who has worked his way up gaining experience in all aspects of the job through years of experience . He's the man that gets things done , a foreman he probably left school at 14 years of age and has nothing but his reputation to keep him employed .

 

[Roger Fairclough]

I worked as a buyer in the construction industry for many years. Most contracts had a penalty clause for late finish. This could run into thousands of pounds per day.

Basically you need some form of guarantee as to how long the job will take.

Roger

 

[Shayne]

Theres always a clause and a counter clause wrote into contracts on big jobs like building a whole estate , but usually the legal fees involved in claim and counter claim would simply bankrupt both builder and customer . Depending on how big a job it is paper contracts are usually worthless .

We still don't know what you want building , a "workshop" could be a 10ft x 10ft shed or an aircraft hanger ?

Without knowing what it is i'd say your best bet if your determined to use pro's is divide the job up .

You want a price for groundswork = drainage , footings and floors .
Employ a single bricklayer who will bring the footing up to damp course height then leave the job for a week so floors can be backfilled and concreted (by the groundsmen) before coming back to continue .
Then hire a roofer .
Once the roofs on you can hire a spark , window fitter , plumber etc to finish off .

This way your paying individually for each step of the build , if you hire a builder to do it all he will simply hire all the above individuals at the same rate you can , then charge you as much again for his efforts .

 

[Gary820]

I'm in process of having an extension built at the mo, my builder is a mate so he was happy for me to help out, had 2 weeks off work and it saved me quite a bit. If a small business doing yours they may be ok with you being a labourer?

Doing it on a building notice with a fairly basic plan and under permitted development so didn't need planning permission, just have to get building control out to inspect at certain stages. Building inspector a nice bloke too.

Even tho it's a mate doing mine (he's a small business with his dad) and I've known him years we still have a statement of works and an agreed price, I pay him at the end of each week as agreed and it's the same amount each week, if he goes over on quoted time i don't pay any extra either.

It'd be worth getting a few quotes and comparing them to work out if price is right. Whoever you get tho having something in writing Is a must, like already said genuine people will be happy to do this and order materials on accounts not ask for all your money up front. We'd all like melinder round but it's a lot of hassle to go through first!!

 

[spackrackman]

Its just a screen shot,

I have considered packing my job in and doing it myself, I know it would take a long time but its tempting.. only slightly though.

 

[Shayne]

Hire a digger and you could dig the footings on day 1 and pour the concrete on day 2 saving yourself probably 2 grand in the process .

 

[Ben]

You started moving the 200+ tonnes of hill side where its going yet?

 

[spackrackman]

You started moving the 200+ tonnes of hill side where its going yet?

2 and a half thousand unfortunately

 

[Paddler Ed]

2 and a half thousand unfortunately

Thousand trips to the dump then with a trailer!

We've had work done on the house here over the last 6 years, as a result we have a variety of builders/tradies that we use... we've got a general builder who is good at groundwork and putting things up, there's 2 who are more carpenters than builders, but have a real attention to detail and can second guess what needs doing next and are very neat and tidy, then there's the sparky, plumber and flooring people, 2 decorators (one doesn't do heights... so you have to get the other to do the staircase...)

Most of these came via recommendations; first it was the 2 builders who then brought in the guys who they work well with (they know that if they say it'll take that long it will take that long, so everything dovetails around one another) and then it's gone from there!

A lot of guys have picked up work as a result of what they've done here with other people in the village, so I'd say that the word of mouth thing is much better.

Our only problem is it can be a bit Shropshire time... it can be urgent though and they'll be there straight away, but it can also be a bit slower... quotes though are often valid for much longer than the paper says! I think our record was a quote in September, and the work completed in January, when the quote was only valid for 28 days.

 

[Shayne]

Yikes , forget builders i'd be looking for a farm with land well off the beaten track so i could cut a deal for tipping . Then i'd buy myself a digger and a tipper truck and employ someone who could drive both on an hourly rate to get the site flat . I imagine by the time you've sold the digger and truck the cost will work out less than a third of your cheapest quote .

 

[Paddler Ed]

We ended up disposing of our last patio to our next door neighbours as hardcore for their extension (that will one day get started...)

FreeCycle the soil?

 

[yogi]

Just to give you an idea, i'm building an 30ft by 20 ft shed in the yard near the house at the moment, basically 3 sides built of 9inch cavity block and a back sloping single pitch roof. Blocks, about 650 euro, groundworks about 300 euro (bit of levelling and footings dug), cement 250 euro, roof timber 180 neuro (second hand), cladding (tin) to be got tomorrow or friday. Paid a couple mates 400 euro to throw up the blocks (800 odd blocks) and put in the footings and putting on the roof will cost about another 200 or 250. So all in less doors and a floor 2500 euro. Call it 2750 with the floor down and about 3g if i wanted to put an inspection pit in too. Gives you an idea of how these things can be done cheap enough if you want too.