fast bloke

We have been planning to build a 2 room extension to our house for the past year. I got a building contractor to price the entire job and it came to 25k +VAT. One of my mates works in a builders suppliers and he reckoned I could save a few grand by organising the thing myself IE - Get a brickie, roofer, plasterer etc individually. I've just got all the prices back, and the entire job, materials and labour come to 9k. The work will take about 4 weeks. Now i want to start up asa building contractor. Based on these calculations he would be lifting 5k a week, just for organising it.

mik

OK FB ~ I'll do it for £23K.

How does that sound?

fast bloke

I think I'll settle for the 9 if you dont mind. Given that the bank has already loaned me 28 for the work - I would welcome any suggestion as to interesting ways to spend the 'spare' 19k. Why do the words P1 and Sti keeping rolling round my head?

ChrisB

Everyone round to FBs for the **** up of the year!

fast bloke

Better half thinks we should give the rest back to the bank and just have a smaller mortgage Wimmen

astraboy

get a cossie mate

mattstant

Watchout fast bloke be prepared for all kinds of cost over runs hidden costs plan changes etc.
I'm not saying that the price wasnt too high from the contractor just that he has experience of how these costs escalate.
wait till you start digging holes in the ground and it starts pissing it down and watch youre money go the same way.
best hang on to the money till the job is finnished.
oh and one last thing the cheapest quote nearly always ends up costing more in the end.

Silent Monkey

Hope it all turns out well for you, but agree with Mattstant that there are all sorts of pitfalls. Used to share an office with someone who did very similar although the price differential wasn't so high.

After a few weeks of hearing how much he was saving I then had many, many weeks of hearing the tales of woe. As an example the bricklayers were late finishing due to the weather this meant that the next contractor couldn't start on the expected date, they then said "Sorry guv, can't fit you in for at least another 6 weeks". He then had to get someone else at short notice and pay a premium for it, there was also a knock-on effect all down the chain. He also ended up using most of his annual leave to sort problems and do the "general labouring" that the tradesmen wouldn't do.

Sure that it's not always doom and gloom but go into it with your eyes open and don't only focus on the "potential" savings.

mattstant

nail on head by silent monkey

edited to say this is professional advice backed up with 3 years full time HNC in building construction.
and damn near 20 yrs experience

[Edited by mattstant - 3/30/2002 3:13:04 PM]

Chip

Had an extension built myself a few years ago. After getting the initial qoutes from three builders decided to see how much I could do the job for by organising it myself.

Cheapest quote from builder was 15000+vat.This did not include skips, insurance, and a few other bits and pieces.
Went up local Persimmon site and saw site agent. Aaked him for advice on getting brickies, chippies, plasterers etc. He gave me names ,numbers etc and away we went.

Started building work same time as two builders around the corner.
We finished in five weeks by just working evenings,weekends etc.
Local builders were still not finished in twice the time.

total cost to me was just under 7500. Quite a good saving in my books.

My brickie also cut into original brickwork to give nice finish.He also used the old bricks from the rear of the garage on the front of the house.Also used roof tiles from rear on new front which also looks good. The other builders didnt hence my extension isnt really noticable whilst the others arent.

Chip.

DAVE-W

I think Chip has shown that it CAN be done.....however.....

Many of my clients have similar ideas (I'm a technical architect), and probably 75% of the time it doesn't go as smoothly.

For starters, the price of sub-contractors is now higher than ever and they are generally in such demand that they can dictate any price they feel like.

As of tomorrow, watch the price of any aggregate based product rise. The Government (god bless em) have introduced an aggregate tax over and above the VAT you pay anyway!!!!!!

When you have a number of sub-contractors on site, working for you, not under the wing of a main contractor, it can be difficult should a problem arise on site. The brickies will say it's the ground workers fault, the roofer will say it's the brickies fault etc etc.

You may have difficulty in maintaining continuity on site...i.e. gettin a brickie as soon as the groundworks are done, gettin a roofer once the walls are done etc etc. This is a common problem for self build and can greatly increase the time to complete the project.

Like Chip said, it can be done, BUT you need to be aware and on your toes. The long and short of it is, you need to be a project manager and it's not always as easy as it sounds .

Dave

fast bloke

Chaps - I am not going in with my eyes closed. It is a first floor extension, so no founds or blind work to worry about. All the prices are fixed prices. The house is only 7 years old, so we are highly unlikely to run into any unforseen problems. The only problem I can forsee is the brickie getting held up by the weather and the roofer being on another job before the walls are up. Fortunately the roofer is married to wifeys best friend, so any problems will lead to severe bitching sessions and loss of priveledges for the guy, so he has promised to put the roof on at nights and weekends if there is a problem. It is a truss roof, so he reckons that if the **** hits the fan we could have it waterproof two days after the bricky finishes. I don't know the plasterer, plumber or spark, but as long as it is waterproof I don't care if it takes me 6 months


p.s - Chip - Cheers for the positive post. If it does actually go pear shapedcan I blame you?

DAVE-W

A FIRST FLOOR EXTENSION.....2 ROOMS......and the Contractor gave you an estimate of £25k???????

The guy is living in a world of his own

In my area you'd expect to get an estimate of around £15k for that.

Dave