Post and beam Posted December 10, 2023 Share Posted December 10, 2023 Good afternoon guys As per the title really, i am thinking of using one of these companies. As a bit of a sanity check on my estimates. Is there a standout 'go to' company, are they all a much of a muchness or a total waste of time? All opinions gratefully receieved as always Personal recommendations of course are great 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nod Posted December 10, 2023 Share Posted December 10, 2023 Things are settling down with Tge materials But labour quotes are still governed by how busy the contractor is most builders merchants offer a materials whole House estimate and are probably using the same software as the online estimators Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Post and beam Posted December 10, 2023 Author Share Posted December 10, 2023 I was seduced by the ' from £250' headline banner on the ad in Build it. When i actually went on the site just now the price is £560+vat for a 200 square metre house. So i think i will give them a miss and investigate you builders merchant option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blooda Posted December 11, 2023 Share Posted December 11, 2023 We used estimator's online, gave us enough information in a spreadsheet form that we could use as base and tweak as necessary. Buildbase [or whatever they are called now] use [or did] them. We also used the Homebuilder's bible which gave information on options. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
torre Posted December 11, 2023 Share Posted December 11, 2023 We also used estimators online. I thought they were good value at £200 for a single detached property. You get costs broken down various ways - materials, labour, what you'll need when, broken down by build stage that you can view online. All the information can be downloaded as a spreadsheet so you can tweak it later too. 22 hours ago, Post and beam said: sanity check on my estimates Yes, 'sanity check' is probably a good way to put it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saveasteading Posted December 11, 2023 Share Posted December 11, 2023 50 minutes ago, torre said: £200 for a single detached property Agreed that this is worthwhile for a novice before committing. More accurate than simply allowing , say, £2,000/m2. But all the rates are generic so they are +/- 10% or so. They could balance out or all be one way. Unknowns an peculiarities of the site remain so, and uncosted. A big contractor will employ their own estimator who will spend days on a site visit and getting their quote right. Otherwise they will lose the job or make a loss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NandM Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 I've just used estimators online and am reasonably happy with the amount of detail I got. It's all very tweakable and you can export to Excel....although annoyingly you don't get any of the formulas. Estimators has come our cheaper than the two estimates I've had so far (more pending)....which is making me think about managing the extension myself and save some more pennies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LiamJones Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 I’ve just gone ahead with Build aviator as I’ve been getting most materials from Jewsons (parent of build aviator). £309+vat for renovation, extension and loft conversion, in all about 200m2. Told me 2 day turn around, will report back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flanagaj Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 I too am interested in this. Does anyone have any experience of using estimators online, and if so, how accurate were the figures that they calculated. I was going to upload the drawings that were used for the planning application, as I need to get an idea as to what the expected spend will be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saveasteading Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 5 hours ago, flanagaj said: how accurate were the figures that they calculated There is no way of knowing. 3 estimating services will probably provide 3 fairly similar estimates. But 4 builders will provide 4 quite different quotations. Big contractors employ full time professional estimators who know exactly how efficient their employer is in certain areas, and what the on-costs are. Yet 3 contractors will submit 3 different prices. I know all this because i was an estimator for 3 companies. Each one was very different. and it took a long time properly to reflect their way of working. Plus, the estimating services don't include for external works or ground conditions, or any site peculiarities, and will only apply to standard house construction. I could put together a generic house costing spreadsheet and it would have a certain amount of accuracy, better than just guessing £2,000/m2 or whatever. It would allow for major differences such as lots of windows. Windows 26m2 @ £310/m2 sort of thing. I would still add 5 or 10% risk. Maybe they do too. A friend showed me one recently and it was thorough and all on the right lines and I think was good value for his purposes. How accurate were the figures that they calculated? You might of course end up getting it done for the estimated price....but perhaps it could have been less. So if you are not in the industry I would say that yes, you should commit the surprisingly small sum for a costing (which reflects how little thought is required to the specific project.) BUT don't assume it will be accurate. What is accurate anyway? +/-10%? Then remember that you have to allow for site access, drainage, external works, site specifics, inflation and weather. And a contingency sum for what we don't know to allow for until it happens. If it was all simple and certain then there would be no Buildhub. Oh dear that sounds negative. I'm just saying be careful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flanagaj Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 49 minutes ago, saveasteading said: There is no way of knowing. 3 estimating services will probably provide 3 fairly similar estimates. But 4 builders will provide 4 quite different quotations. Big contractors employ full time professional estimators who know exactly how efficient their employer is in certain areas, and what the on-costs are. Yet 3 contractors will submit 3 different prices. I know all this because i was an estimator for 3 companies. Each one was very different. and it took a long time properly to reflect their way of working. Plus, the estimating services don't include for external works or ground conditions, or any site peculiarities, and will only apply to standard house construction. I could put together a generic house costing spreadsheet and it would have a certain amount of accuracy, better than just guessing £2,000/m2 or whatever. It would allow for major differences such as lots of windows. Windows 26m2 @ £310/m2 sort of thing. I would still add 5 or 10% risk. Maybe they do too. A friend showed me one recently and it was thorough and all on the right lines and I think was good value for his purposes. How accurate were the figures that they calculated? You might of course end up getting it done for the estimated price....but perhaps it could have been less. So if you are not in the industry I would say that yes, you should commit the surprisingly small sum for a costing (which reflects how little thought is required to the specific project.) BUT don't assume it will be accurate. What is accurate anyway? +/-10%? Then remember that you have to allow for site access, drainage, external works, site specifics, inflation and weather. And a contingency sum for what we don't know to allow for until it happens. If it was all simple and certain then there would be no Buildhub. Oh dear that sounds negative. I'm just saying be careful. Any idea is better than no idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Post and beam Posted February 15 Author Share Posted February 15 13 hours ago, saveasteading said: What is accurate anyway? +/-10%? I would be very happy with that level of accuracy. But that is wishful thinking if my recent experience is anything to go by. Example: Groundworks for my 200 sq metre project. I have accepted in principle a figure of £42k. All the usual risk mitigations rolled in. Trying to be thorough and as a sanity check on the above figure i have looked at another company. After a long delay they provided a very detailed, itemised breakdown. At £92k + VAT I have no doubt, looking at the way their figures are laid out that they used some software package to prepare the response. What does that tell us? Just to add insult to injury their brickworks figure was also about £100k. For 10000 bricks. Thats £10/brick. The other 3 figures i have been given are £10k, £16.4k and £19.5k I have settled on the middle figure largely becuase the guy is very used to working on the brand of house i have chosen and has experience of loads of them. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saveasteading Posted February 15 Share Posted February 15 15 hours ago, flanagaj said: Any idea is better than no idea I'm not so sure. An over optimistic figure could lead people into over-committing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Post and beam Posted February 15 Author Share Posted February 15 Agree with the above. double the price for example is no use whatsoever Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NandM Posted February 19 Share Posted February 19 My estimators online report is a little hit and miss. I'm finding some elements have been over quantified so I'm going through and double checking everything. So far have reduced number of rafters for flat and pitched roofs, and the OSB sheets. I also found the blocks in the founds were much than what I've calculated: 585 blocks vs 135 blocks....although the bricks were slightly under. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NandM Posted February 19 Share Posted February 19 This is a cool site to help with brick/block and sand/cement calls: https://www.awbsltd.com/brick-and-block-calculator Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flanagaj Posted March 5 Share Posted March 5 I have just received my quote back from them. There were a few things to factor out from the quote. Builders profit, Site Manager cost ... I also noticed that I could get the 100mm sheets of Celotex at about £15 cheaper than they were quoting. Still going through the numbers, but it gives you an idea, and if you are requiring a mortgage to fund the build then it will most likely be required as part of the "I know what I am doing" check, rather than a finger in the air estimate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russell griffiths Posted March 5 Share Posted March 5 42 minutes ago, flanagaj said: I have just received my quote back from them. There were a few things to factor out from the quote. Builders profit, Site Manager cost ... I also noticed that I could get the 100mm sheets of Celotex at about £15 cheaper than they were quoting. Still going through the numbers, but it gives you an idea, and if you are requiring a mortgage to fund the build then it will most likely be required as part of the "I know what I am doing" check, rather than a finger in the air estimate. Did it scare the crap out of you ?? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flanagaj Posted March 5 Share Posted March 5 5 hours ago, Russell griffiths said: Did it scare the crap out of you ?? Yes. Slightly. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russell griffiths Posted March 5 Share Posted March 5 4 hours ago, flanagaj said: Yes. Slightly. I don’t think building a cheap house exists anymore, materials and labour have gone through the roof. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flanagaj Posted March 5 Share Posted March 5 2 hours ago, Russell griffiths said: I don’t think building a cheap house exists anymore, materials and labour have gone through the roof. It was around 1500/m2, and I am planning to do a fair amount myself too. The biggest cost is the planned clay tile roof. Labour and material are around 35k. Bungalow is 157m2 floor space. I am wondering whether there are other options as it’s currently working out at ~ £130/m2 i personally much prefer the seam sealed look Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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