Finding a builder

[Selfbuildsarah]

This is way harder than we imagined. We are (at the moment) working on the assumption that the external work will be carried out by individual trades, rendering, timber cladding, brick plinth and roof.
Looking for a builder/contractor for internal work. Good ones seem to be thin on the ground in Huntingdonshire/Cambridgeshire and those we’ve approached either don’t respond to calls/emails or say no, too busy, can’t do it until August/Sept or not interested.
We are currently preparing the site for MBC to start at the end of April and here we are unable to look forward ………

Edited 6 hours ago by Selfbuildsarah
Typo

[Russell griffiths]

I don’t think you need one. 
if you are handling outside trades yourself then why do you need a builder inside, what you need is project management. 
so either yourself or get a project manager or find one of the trades you are talking to now and see if they are interested. 
once you have your MBC frame up you need a roof on it, after this you can have a breather. 

[G and J]

It depend on your timescales, but building on the above, if you get a good starting trade (in our case groundworker) they can then recommend follow on trades and /or go round local building sites (individual projects) look at the work, get recommendations. Both have worked for us  (apart from a decorating "hiccup"!) Eg our screeder came about because our groundworker introduced us to a builder working on a single build nearby, the screeder recommended the plasterer, the plasterer recommended the tackers and so on. We chose to wait for good people, but in practice we were't waiting long as we tried to be identifying the 'next in line' as early as possible.

 

@Benpointer may be able to share how he went about it.

[Nickfromwales]

1 hour ago, Selfbuildsarah said:

This is way harder than we imagined. We are (at the moment) working on the assumption that the external work will be carried out by individual trades, rendering, timber cladding, brick plinth and roof.
Looking for a builder/contractor for internal work. Good ones seem to be thin on the ground in Huntingdonshire/Cambridgeshire and those we’ve approached either don’t respond to calls/emails or say no, too busy, can’t do it until August/Sept or not interested.
We are currently preparing the site for MBC to start at the end of April and here we are unable to look forward ………

You need to get materials for the roof and fenestration sequenced, or you'll have the scaffolding up for a heck of a lot longer than you'd want. I'm doing all this on another members MBC build atm, and it's keeping me and the client V busy; largely making sure we've not missed anything and trying to value-engineer / bulk pre-purchasing etc.

 

MBC have torn through the foundation and frame erection like super-hero's, they are just next level in what they do; the caveat is, that you cannot stand in their way / slow them down.

[Nickfromwales]

4 minutes ago, G and J said:

@Benpointer may be able to share how he went about it.

Was he not retired?

 

I guess if you're time rich then things run much smoother vs anyone where one or both halves are still in employment.