Patridge bantam chicken poorly foot?

[dogs and chickens]

Has anyone any experiance of employing a builder? What sort of questions do you ask/should you ask?

 

We have had some huge quotes for the work we need doing, we can't afford to have the work done for the quotes we have had, and I can't understand why it's so much money!

 

We live in a small 2 bed cottage and have planning to do a loft extension, we have already done the pre work of moving the wall for the stair case, we don't want the whole job done just the structural bits:

 

Tile need taking off roof

steals need to go in

3 velux windows to go in

1 end wall window to go in

felt needs to go on (currently there in not any there)

slates need to go back on - I do except 2/3 you expect to replace

the support wood for velux's will also need doing

 

We do not require any insulation, stud walls putting up, electrics, plumbing, plastering, or any other normal building works as Hubby has done the rest of the house as we have slowly gutted it, the only reason he is unable to do the roof is due to him being afraid of heights - bless him!

 

Thanks

[missuscluck]

Builders ummmmm...

We have always had one man band builders as they are cheeper but only ever on a reccomendation from someone we know.

Never had any problems with them. I wouldnt employ anyone who hadnt been reccomended to me though.

[Goosey Lucy]

I'm not able to help much either.

 

My last builder sacked me

 

Good luck

[dogs and chickens]

I'm not able to help much either.

 

My last builder sacked me

 

Good luck

 

OMG Why? Sorry but had to ask!

[Egluntyne]

Claret is the one to speak to about loft extensions.

[Goosey Lucy]

Goosey Lucy wrote:

I'm not able to help much either.

 

My last builder sacked me

 

Good luck

 

 

OMG Why? Sorry but had to ask!

 

Apparantly I was unreasonable.

 

Our loft conversion had been dragging on for nearly 6 months and we were down to the last few snags, I'd waited in all the previous day for him to arrive and saw him as he drove past at 4pm, he promised to be with me first thing the next morning. He didn't show so I left several messages on his mobile.

 

I'd seen his wife on the school run that morning and she hadn't said anything, our children are in the same class, I can see his house from mine (even without the loft extension). I eventually asked his wife that afternoon whether there was a problem, she replied he'd been with the accountant all day.

 

So I was sacked for being unreasonable and hassling him. He did send an underling to finish the last few jobs though. And he had already been paid in full by OH (which I didn't agree with at the time). I would advise never handing over the final payment until the work is done.

 

Phew. It was several years ago and I still remember it as if it was yesterday.

[lizinsa]

There's a website called myhammer.co.uk where you can post a messgae outlining what job you want doing and local builders will give you an estimate given the outlined spec.

 

I haven't yet used it myself (it does come highly recommended though) and apparently it encourages builders to be competitive in their prices and people who have used them in the past rate them and you can read their recommendations. Even if you don't want to place a post, you can search for similar posts and see what quotes other people have been given to give you a rough estimate of cost.

 

Hope that makes sense I seemed to have rambled on a bit!

[dogs and chickens]

There's a website called myhammer.co.uk where you can post a messgae outlining what job you want doing and local builders will give you an estimate given the outlined spec.

 

I haven't yet used it myself (it does come highly recommended though) and apparently it encourages builders to be competitive in their prices and people who have used them in the past rate them and you can read their recommendations. Even if you don't want to place a post, you can search for similar posts and see what quotes other people have been given to give you a rough estimate of cost.

 

Hope that makes sense I seemed to have rambled on a bit!

 

That sounds really good, I will have a look see! Thanks

[clootie]

I don't know where you are d&c but if you are anywhere near me, I can highly recommend a brilliant builder. We've been through a few having bought an old house which needed (ongoing!) work. You have to kiss a lot of frogs I'm afraid that's why it's always best if possible to go via personal recommendation. I wish we had found our present builder years ago and it would have saved us so much time, money and aggravation.

 

Are the quotes you've been given so far miles apart or similar? Maybe they're overpricing because they don't want the job but just won't say so. Sadly we've had a few do that to us or worse, never get back to you. Do you have a local Jewsons or Ridgeons builders merchants around your neck of the woods? You can always speak to them, they could put you in touch with plenty. Perhaps you should consider two quotes from the same builder. A price for the job and a day rate price. For the latter you would cover materials separately. Sometimes when you agree a price for the job it can work out more expensive - seldom cheaper !!

 

Don't be downhearted - they're not all bad !! There are lots of really nice people out there, it's just finding them that's the difficult bit!

[MadMitch]

I would try and get them to give you a fixed price, still from my experience of doing up properties I can't see you geting much change out of £25k-£30k with all the recent changes to building regs etc theres alot more goes into it than you think. You may be lucky and find someone cheaper though.

[dogs and chickens]

I would try and get them to give you a fixed price, still from my experience of doing up properties I can't see you geting much change out of £25k-£30k with all the recent changes to building regs etc theres alot more goes into it than you think. You may be lucky and find someone cheaper though.

 

Golly 30k for what we want doing My goodness I would be really shocked.

 

The price we have had is 25k. We have asked a friend who is no longer a builder but only just stoped to come and give us a quote, he's coming tomorrow, so will be so pleased to see what he has to say. For what we want done we were expecting to pay between 10-15k Although we are prepared to except the 10k is unrealistic! We would expect it to cost 25k finished, but we can't afford to pay someone to do that.

 

We had a builder round this morning who is an independant so hopefully cheaper, he is the Dad of a chap I work with and meant to be good, so we will see!

 

We will have to wait to have it done if the price is 25k as it's not really the time to increase the mortgage any more than we had planned to already.

 

Thansk

 

Michelle

[BeckyBoo]

You can have a look at Checkatrade.com as well, they're good for honest reviews. It may be because you only want part of a job doing, sometimes it can be more awkward to take over half a job than do the whole thing from scratch. Also, maybe it's an awkward one and they're all pricing themselves out of the job - my OH is a builder / sparks / kitchen / bathroom fitter and always quotes high if he doesn't really want it. Then if he does get the job he's at least getting decent money for trekking up and down three flights of stairs with every bit of wood, hammer, nail, tool he needs as well as normally having to set up chop saws table saws etc outside in a gazebo normally in the pouring rain! Makes your heart bleed doesn't it? (as he scuttles off to the pub from work at 4.30 every day which means he's basically started clearing up at 4..... ) That said, my OH is ALWAYS on site by 8am unless the customer asks him not to be, he ALWAYS clears up at the end of EVERY day and gets rid of the rubbish at the end. That's why his Checkatrade reports are SO good!!

mrs B

[Cinnamon]

my OH is a builder / sparks / kitchen / bathroom fitter and always quotes high if he doesn't really want it.

 

I am married to our builder too

And we are forever over quoting for jobs we don't want/people we don't want to work for

All our work is by word of mouth.

 

Mine is a good 'un too Mrs B - leaves home at 6am to get an early start & is home to me by 6pm - ,his customers see more of him than I do sometimes

[dogs and chickens]

Just had another quote come at silly money ! I am looking forward to this chap who's totally impartial coming round this PM, Plus the chap who came over the weekend is a independant so could be cheaper.

 

The two companies who have been round have been loft specialists so don't see why they would have a problem working in a loft! Plus what we are really asking someone to do is re roof our house which is a perfectly normal request.

 

Beginnning to wish we had not decided to get quotes as feel really stressed about it now, but not really sure why !

[MadMitch]

You would think that with the current housing climate that builders would be desperate for jobs but they still keep charging ridiculous prices.

The ones I use still charege between £100-£150 per day and it soon adds up when you have several people on site.

[BeckyBoo]

You would think that with the current housing climate that builders would be desperate for jobs but they still keep charging ridiculous prices.

The ones I use still charege between £100-£150 per day and it soon adds up when you have several people on site.

 

Round here they charge nearly double that Although it's getting tough for builders, same as everyone else, also more and more people are staying put and not moving home, rather they're having to improve the one they've got. We had to - we couldn't afford to move so had to extend here, and now theres SO MANY rules and regs people are having to get professionals in for stuff they might previously have done themselves.

 

Mrs B

[dogs and chickens]

Hubby was called into a meeting at work today and told they would be making redundancies . Doubtful we will be doing the work now . Better we know now than after the work had started. Feel really sad though as last time they made redundancies he was told he would have to go. then they changed there mind and gave him a pay cut instead This time though I think it's curtains!

[Snowy]

Ooh, sorry to hear about that Never easy planning things with a potential redundancy looming is it?

[Olly]

Sorry to hear that.

[BeckyBoo]

God how awful, fingers crossed that something good turns up. I do believe that things happen for a reason but sometimes it's very hard to see why. Thinking of you, at least like you say, you haven't started the work.

 

Mrs B

[dogs and chickens]

You like me Mrs B believe things happen for a reason and I think we just have to try and stay possitive. I sat and wrote out our finances last night to try and see how we would be able to afford to live, needless to say we can't without hubby's income. Then I went online and looked at benifits amazing all the different benifits you can get If it all happens I will be off to the citizens advice to find out exactly what we are intitled too, as I did not understand all the different things

[whittlewitch]

If you are in the Lancashire area I know a very good builder.

 

From experience it is much cheaper to employ the different trades seperately. We extended our last house (2 storeys) for £15k finished after having a quote of £30k, admittedly a lot of work was undertaken by my husband, who's an electrician, but the quote we got (off a friend) was for the shell only!

 

My brother who the before mentioned builder (not the one who gave us a quote wasn't working for homself then), says he thinks people are worse on a fixed price as he has to add extra to allow for those things you can't predict, having said he grafts and would work just as quick on a day rate as a price.

 

I would ask around for tradesman, nearly all my husband work comes from word of mouth, sometimes people have to wait, but then apparantly he's worth waiting for! I might have to beg to differ on that but then I'm still waiting for my new extension!!

[MedusA]

Oh dear. This post has turned into a whole different kettle of fish! Fingers crossed for hubby's job, d&c.

[Tiggy]

we are having some general minor maintence done, the chap charges £100 day labour, it seems to be the standard rate around here, he does a good job but takes forever to finish anything - funny that