Clockers

That's the dream... not sure if my company would go for it though.

Thanks for all the replies so far, very helpful indeed. To clarify a few things: I don't think he wants the responsibility of lining up all the trades, taking on all the responsibility etc. He just wants to get on with things and would be happy to direct traffic on site and act as a kind of foreman. We've found non VAT registered trades in the past, for example a brilliant gas engineer who I'd look to get hire again. We're on the outskirts of North London, just inside the M25, so hoping there are more of them out our way. We'd assumed that to PM the job we'd need to be much more involved, i.e. I'd need to quit my job or seriously cut down hours. From the sounds of your advice and of others, that may not be the case. The flat that we're renting is 3 minutes walk away, so I can drop in on the way to/from work if required, and there may be scope to work from home, but this would not be on a regular basis. As a frustrated white collar worker who's always dreamed of building a house, this is highly appealing. My job isn't particularly interesting and I think i could get another one pretty quickly after the build is completed (bit risky though). Saying that, the limit of my skills would be as an unskilled labourer and tea/coffee maker so other than as PM, my value add is limited. Yes, we've looked in the area, and what we'll have when it's finished is better than similar priced properties and will be really unique. We're not 100% sure the value of the house would increase by £250K, but it wouldn't be miles above or below that mark and we're planning to live there for a long time. There seems to be a consistent opinion, just from the responses so far, that keeping the architects will be a waste. We'll be having a meeting with them soon to discuss how they would support us through self-build, so if anyone can advise us on what we should be pushing for, or expecting from them, please shout. We've enjoyed working with them so far, and they've come up with a great scheme and lots of great design ideas, so not ready to kick them off yet, but want to get value from them at the same time. Cheers

Looks amazing, congratulations and best of luck ?

Hi folks, We're about to start the complete renovation, remodelling and extension of our 1800's terraced workers cottage in North London and are struggling to decide whether to manage the project ourselves or hire in a building company to manage all or part (build the shell) of the build. We've used an architect throughout the whole process to date and plan to keep them on throughout the build whatever we do. The problem is that the quotes that have come back from their tender process for the full build are far more than we can afford. The key figure we're trying to understand is how much can you actually save by managing it all yourself, using local labourers and own labour, hiring in trades, avoiding VAT where possible etc? All of my research to date has been completely inconclusive on this so hoping the community can help. We can enlist the help of a local builder with 30 experience (he doesn't have a big team to call on but knows some trades and is incredibly resourceful and helpful) We're generally up for a challenge and have experience of renovations (not structural) but have a young child who one of us will need to look after full time (most likely my wife). I'm working full time currently and am yet to have a conversation about dropping hours or working flexibly in order to manage the build. We're going to move out for the duration to a flat nearby so luckily won't have to live through it. We now need to think about our options: - should we scale it back (either take expensive items like glass or internal structural changes out) - not ideal as we really like the scheme and don't want to have to go back to planning (took 18 months to get permission) - Should we phase it by getting a main contractor to get us to a water tight shell then manage the rest ourselves? - Should I just stay working full time and try and borrow more money to get it all done, to spec by a main building contractor? - Should we self build? There's obvious risks involved - we watch enough grand designs to know what can go wrong. How much would we save? Could it be the most rewarding experience of a lifetime? Bit of detail on the build itself... Upstairs - Adding a bedroom and bathroom while removing a thick external wall, moving the staircase and completely redecorating. Downstairs - Removing a lot of walls to create open plan kitchen/living/dining, extending out the back to add large dining room, utility and bathroom. complete redecoration. Also rewiring and re-plumbing throughout with the desired finish to a medium spec. For the sake of this discussion lets say the average tendered quote is £200K inc materials, not including VAT or the % increase in architect fees for additional build cost. I'm sure many of you have been through this process before, so really keen to hear your experience :-) Cheers Clockers

Hi Everyone, My wife and I are very excited to be starting our long awaited extension and refurb soon and look forward to sharing the ups and downs with this community :-). We've been lucky enough to buy an early-mid 1800's terraced workers cottage in far north London, got the planning permission to extend (took 18 months as it's in a conservation area) and are now ready to push the button. We're still considering whether to self-build or use a main contractor for all or part of the work, and this seems like the hardest decision we've ever had to make. I'll be posting up detailed questions and thoughts in other sections and look forward to hearing your thoughts. Cheers Clockers