Arranging builders and self managing

[jayroc2k]

I have come to the conclusion that the renovation works carried out in full by a main builder or contractor would be too expensive. 

 

I have now hired a seperate electrician, looking to get a plumber/ gas engineer but have hit a sticky point on the renovation. 

 

How to i organise individual trades for the remaining works which includes:

- remove existing steels in extension

- put in more steels (getting steels costed, includes 'goal post', and supports for two additional openings)

- add extra 3x3 bathroom on top of existing 2nd storey bathroom)

 

flooring and kitchens can be done by individual trades

 

any ideas?

 

many builders are not interested in pricing just the 'shell' as the money to be made is in the finish (although they keep saying they lose money on the finish)

 

[Steptoe]

The only thing I would advise is to be very careful of your timescales between trades, or you may end up getting billed for standing time,

is, if a trade turns up and job isn't ready for him, you can't expect him to go unpaid for his time waiting, 

That is one of the main advantages of having a main contractor to liase all the trades together. 

[Mikey_1980]

We used a builder, and his preferred trades to fininish and fit out or timber frame shell, with the exception of the Kitchen and Heating which we sorted oursleves.  All the individual Trades invoiced us directly and we paid the builder a 10% management fee based on the final invoice.  It worked really well for us, all the trades our builder worked with were 2nd to none in terms of finish and cleanliness and he organised when they needed to be onsite, and the materials that they needed. 

 

There were a couple of delays but the other trades were able to go and do other jobs and then come back to ours when required.  Our architecht couldn't believe how well between us and the builder we managed to get everyone in at the right time, our timber frame started going up on 18th Jan 2016, and we moved in with just painting to finish off on 27th June.

[Lesgrandepotato]

On 10/6/2016 at 11:15, Mikey_1980 said:

We used a builder, and his preferred trades to fininish and fit out or timber frame shell, with the exception of the Kitchen and Heating which we sorted oursleves.  All the individual Trades invoiced us directly and we paid the builder a 10% management fee based on the final invoice.  It worked really well for us, all the trades our builder worked with were 2nd to none in terms of finish and cleanliness and he organised when they needed to be onsite, and the materials that they needed. 

 

 

That's broadly what we are doing using one main builder and his 'associated trades / mates' and they are a broadly self organising bunch. That said its not the fastest approach, but it is a cheaper approach. Its the classic project management adage - Cost / Quality / Time pick any two to control... 

 

[curlewhouse]

Electrical and plumbing is being done by us, but we also went for using the builders recommended roofer and contractor to do the site prep and foundation trenches - and we couldn't be more pleased with the work. I have tried hard to get anyone involved to talk to each other rather than going via me as middle man when it comes to technical questions beyond what the finished result is that we want to see. For example the SIPs designer kept asking me things where sometimes I could not even understand what it was he was actually asking me! So I'd refer him to our architect (curiously he was extremely reluctant to speak to our architect for an answer to these things) when it came to dimensions of various parts etc. - it seemed to me that as a layman in the middle passing messages back and forth about measurements etc. and things I didn't always understand myself would be a recipe for error. 

Similarly I get the roofer and builder to talk to each other about their areas of intersection - since they've worked together before it makes life a lot easier.

Edited October 3, 2017 by curlewhouse