A guide to starting your project well, with some hints and tips on delivery.

Concept: Start Well

This is the fun bit when you come up with the idea to remodel and extend the kitchen or add a bedroom in the roof space. Sharing lots of exciting ideas with your partner, friends and family. However, this is a critical stage of planning as it is precisely this time when the biggest mistake is made by many in your position. Now is NOT the time to talk to ANY builders, EVEN if they offer a Design & Build service.

“But why not?” I hear you cry “I know exactly what I want”. Do you? You wouldn’t walk into a sweet shop and ask for a chocolate bar would you? You would ask for a Mars Bar, a Snickers, or a Twix. My point here is that if you don’t specify what you want you could end up with a Dairy Milk when you wanted a Topic. Construction is complicated and only someone with something to gain would tell you otherwise.

Now is the first of many times during your project to “take a step back”. Design variations are costly when a project is on site and cause delays, so now is the time to accept and understand that spending money up front to get the detail right before you take your project to market will save you thousands of pounds. Fact. No arguments. Feel tree to leave a comment or Tweet me if you want to challenge the point – but be warned, you are wrong.

Your first task is to find a good local Architect or Building Surveyor. They will be able to advise on budgets and all of the issues that you need to bottom out in order to obtain accurate and reliable costings and timings from the construction market. They will also be able to ensure that all statutory approvals, Building Control and Planning, along with Party Wall Awards are achieved whilst assisting you with putting in place an appropriate building contract with fair payment, defect management and dispute mechanisms.

OR… you can simply ask a builder to build what you THINK you want with no independent professional advice; the equivalent of giving a stranger access to your savings account, hoping that they won’t take any more money than they need… which would be MADNESS

So…. CONTROL or CHAOS?

An Architect is going to give you a creative design service, a Building Surveyor (BS) will give you a practical design service. As independent professional advisers they are both trained to look after your best interests throughout a construction project. It is important that they are Chartered by their respective professional bodies, the Royal Institute of British Architects or the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. To find a selection of either one you can visit the following web pages:

• Architect: https://find-an-architect.architecture.com/FAAHome.aspx
• Building Surveyor: https://www.ricsfirms.com/residential/improvements/

Ring up a few, meet one or two, find out what they charge. Select the one you think you are going to get on with the best. You are going to be working with them for quite some time.

Once appointed, discuss your aspirations with them and provide as much visual bench marks as possible. I often highlight to my colleagues that we all speak English – but we speak it in different languages. An Architect or BS will use informed design and constructions language – yours will be limited in this respect so pictures are essential here. Get on to Google images or buy some interior design magazines and search for examples of what you want achieve, what you like and what you don’t like.

When you are comfortable they understand what it is you want (a Topic) they will be able to advise you on budget (remember to add VAT!). Then formalise this information in a Client Brief Document so that there is a base line for both of you to refer back to later on.

On the subject of budget building, this is an area of discussion for another post in the future. For now, the two things I can suggest are to ask your Architect/BS for early indications of cost and always have a 5-10% contingency for unforeseen issues.

Design: Success is in the Detail

Risk, Risk, Risk. Boring but important. Key areas of risk are:

1. Planning – will your design be acceptable to the local planning authority?
2. Going into the ground – there are ALWAYS surprises
3. Structure – the design needs to be within the structural tolerances of the existing structure. If not then strengthening works may be required.

Time to take another step back. Thorough investigations for each of these elements need to be carried out and this is where further early expense will be incurred, however, again, this will save you money in the long run. Your Architect/BS will be able to advise on local Planning restrictions, however a Planning Consultant may be required for more ambitious projects.

For extensions, requesting a search from the water authority to confirm the location of mains water and sewer pipes is worth obtaining along with a drainage survey to locate existing drainage runs from your property.

Finally you will need to appoint a structural engineer to advise on the existing structure and what alterations or additional structural work may be required to meet your design requirements. This may entail the need to dig a trial pit to confirm the depth of existing foundations.

Now for the aesthetics. You will want to ensure you have input on heating, electrical distribution, lighting, joinery (e.g. kitchen units) and finishes (e.g. floor and wall finishes). Again, to get your vision across to your Architect/BS give them images of what you expect. Be clear about your requirements for power sockets (location and quantity) along with any data lines you may also require for media installations etc. Make sure you are happy about the lighting and the location of each fitting along with the switches.

Your Architect or BS will now have enough information to work up technical drawings (including lighting layouts) along with a specification for costing.

Procurement: Buying Well

YES! You are ready to go to the construction market with your fully designed project. Who should you approach to cost your project? Well one of the best source of this information are your mates and neighbours. Word of mouth referrals are arguably the best way to find a good builder. Your Architect/BS will also have some preferred Builders that they are used to working with – this is a big bonus; if they have done multiple projects together they will know how to effectively communicate with each other, which will reduce the risk of misunderstandings during the construction works. There will also be the commercial incentive of repeat business.

When you get your costs through, as a rule of thumb, if they are within 20% of each other then you have achieved a clear design package which has yielded a competitive tender. Your Architect/BS will be able to advise you on the pros and cons of each submission. Beware of Provisional Sums – they indicate a gap in the design information or the builders experience/knowledge and only ever go up in value. Get them fixed before you go into contract with a builder if possible.

When you have an idea of which builders have submitted the best submissions make sure you have met with them all and choose the one that you like the most. If they are not the lowest you can always negotiate.

A final note on due diligence, do run a credit check on them, you can also ask for their last three years accounts to make doubly sure they are running their business responsibly. Also request an up to date insurance certificate, check the renewal date and ensure you ask for the renewal note at the appropriate time.

On timing, your builder will have indicated how long it will take to carry out the project. With the in formation your Architect/BS can assemble a building contract for signature of both parties detailing the agreed cost of construction and completion date. This contract will be applied by the Architect/BS who will issue various certificates that trigger contractural events such as payments. It is very important that you comply with these certificates as non performance will mean you are in breach of contract.

Construction: Finally!

During construction it is worth while having progress meetings with your Architect/BS and Builder once a fortnight. This will give you the opportunity to fully understand what progress has been made and any unforeseen issues that have been identified.

Unforeseen issues are inevitable. The good news is that you have a good quality team in place who can resolve them. However, these issues are why you have a contingency pot. Note that any additional work MAY result in a delay in completing the project. So ask your team for the the following key pieces of information so you can maintain control of your project;

1. Additional cost
2. Impact on completion date

Design variations. Avoid them if you can. But if you do need to change something don’t expect it to be done for free or for it not to effect the completion date. So the same rules apply here as they do to unforeseen issues.

Snagging: Lets make sure it is right

At the end of the project you will need to inspect the work carried out before the builder leaves site. Only do this after the Architect/BS has done their inspection and issued their technical snagging sheet. When you do inspect the work it is important to remember you are looking for incomplete items and areas of poor workmanship. It is worth reviewing your list with your Architect/BS to ensure you are not being unreasonable.

Post Work Improvements & Defects

You may decide to make some alterations to your completed project. To my mind it is best to make a list of these and wait for the end of defects period before you action. There are two reasons for this;

1. You are giving yourself time to live in the finished product, and by the end of the defects period you may decide that you don’t need the changes made.
2. You are going to get a better response from your builder if he can tie in additional work with the recertification of any defects e.g. he is able to do all of the work in one go rather than repeated revisits. When the time comes agree a cost and a time period to get the works completed.

In Conclusion

The key piece of advice that I really wanted to get accross is that if you invest in independent professional advice at the earliest stage of your project, the greater control you will have over the cost and quality of the works carried out.

I hope this post has been useful – please do provide your feedback. I wish you the very best of luck with your project!