How to choose a builder - Newbie!

Maggie19

Hi all,

Please forgive me if this is a really silly question - but how do you choose the best builder?

It's just me and my mum (I'm female and disabled) at home and we have a really bad rising damp problem in our old farmhouse kitchen extension.

We have to apply for a council grant to pay for the work and have to get itemised quotes from 2 builders.

An occupational therapist has recommended that we demolish this extension and re-build to address the rising damp problem, plus construct a downstairs wheelchair accessible toilet.

The internal floor area would be 24.6m2.

Anyway, my question is - how do we choose the best builder?
We have 2 locals we could choose but one is notoriously grumpy but does a good job, and the other is easy to talk (and we being complete greenhorns, we need that!) to but notoriously late with everything! Being disabled and my mum being elderly, we need this job to be done correctly and quickly so that (a) they give us the maximum grant and (b) that we won't be living without a kitchen for too long.

What should we do? Also could anybody give me an idea of what an extension of this size might cost?

As for the itemised quote, what exactly should this be? Should the builder ring around for quotes for windows, doors, kitchen etc, and have an exact price for everything, or would that be up to us to arrange? We have one quote but he just seems to have taken a guess at the costs.

We also need a certificate of exemption for planning. What's the fastest way to get this? Can they just issue one if we go to the planning office?

We are afraid that the building will start and the costs will go up and the grant won't be enough.

Any help greatly appreciated. Anybody else out there applied for the House adaptation grant for disable persons?

Sorry for all the silly questions but this is a huge thing for us.

Viking House

I have a few questions;

If the damp problem could be sorted would that satisfy you without having to build the extension?

Have you looked for an Architect to do up drawings and specifications?

What part of the country are you in?

rayjdav

As far as I am aware, the chosen builder must be C2 registered, that fact that you are getting a grant to do this work. This basically means that all payments will have to be above board and registered for VAT. This will eliminate potential "cowboys".
Builders will have to provide an actual realistic breakdown of quotes, transparent costings.
From experience, some smaller builders dont like dealing with this sort of work because it is actually scrutinised from a costings point of view.
Agree with Viking House, you should get Arch/AT to do up drawings with specs. Very important imho. At least you will all know whats going on re works/timeframe etc. Also hard (Impossible) to get a realistic quote from discussion only.
Also, as its farmhouse, I assume rural and with a septic tank. Has anyone discussed possible additional foul loadings to the tank and what implications your new works may have on it. Just a point to confirm with your Arch/AT and Builder.
Sounds a lot but with a small bit of thought and guidance, it is a small job and should go smoothly enough for you.

Maggie19

thanks for the replies.

Viking House - this 'back kitchen' as we call it is about 30 years old, no insulation, 3 foot stone walls from the original 200 year old farmhouse, rising damp, condensation running down the walls - it needs to be demolished for health reasons we were advised. We enquired about dry lining but it would just be a stop gap measure.

We have had an engineer draw up a plan which we must forward to the council when we get quotes from the builders. But as I said, I suspect that the one we have has just been guessed at and will not reflect the true cost of the works. So I worry that if the grant is given, and this quote is inaccurate, then we will have to pay a heck of a lot more than we can affort. We are still waiting for the second quote.

Or that they won't do the work that the council have specified, and that the grant won't be given and we will be in a BIG mess!

And we are in south west cork.

I'm beginning to think that this project may be too much for us - we just don't know the questions to ask or what we should be doing at each stage.

Is there somebody we could hire to oversee all of this or if we chose the builder, should be just let him get on with it?
Will we be expected to get involved in a lot of decisions?
Should the builder get electrics, plumber, kitchen etc sorted out or would that be up to us?

So sorry to be stupid!!!!!

soldsold

If you get a builder to do the whole job, he will use his own tradesmen like plumbers and electricians but you will have the choice of finish to your own taste/ budget.

It will take a bit of time to get the extension built, and you wont need to make all the decisions at once, its not that daunting when you have a good builder.

If its just the two of you I wouldn't worry about any extra load on the septic tank even though you have a new bathroom, my understanding is that septic tank load is based on the number of bedrooms (ie for possible future use if you sold the house) rather than the number of bathrooms.

soldsold

If I had the choice, I'd go with the grumpy guy who does good work, rather than the friendly guy who is late and will make you grumpy.

Best to deal with grumpy tradesmen by having a clear plan of what you want, and keep the communication lines open, make sure you know what is planned and how it is progressing so there are no surprises, and be reasonable.

Best advice I ever heard to avoid conflict was:

"Focus on the issue, situation or problem, not on the person"

(apart from "always agree with your wife", of course)

Poor Uncle Tom

Maggie19 wrote: »

Hi all,

Please forgive me if this is a really silly question - but how do you choose the best builder?

It's just me and my mum (I'm female and disabled) at home and we have a really bad rising damp problem in our old farmhouse kitchen extension.

We have to apply for a council grant to pay for the work and have to get itemised quotes from 2 builders.

An occupational therapist has recommended that we demolish this extension and re-build to address the rising damp problem, plus construct a downstairs wheelchair accessible toilet.

The internal floor area would be 24.6m2.

I would advise that you get in contact with a good local Architectural Technician, sit down with him/her and explain what you want in your demolition/extension right down to the number and position of sockets and lights, tiling, paints, floor coverings, etc. The bigger items like room sizes, heights, door ope sizes, insulations, ventilation, etc., will be taken care of as part of the design under the Building Regulations.

Maggie19 wrote: »

Anyway, my question is - how do we choose the best builder?
We have 2 locals we could choose but one is notoriously grumpy but does a good job, and the other is easy to talk (and we being complete greenhorns, we need that!) to but notoriously late with everything! Being disabled and my mum being elderly, we need this job to be done correctly and quickly so that (a) they give us the maximum grant and (b) that we won't be living without a kitchen for too long.

What should we do?

Your AT will help you get the builders and quotations needed.

Maggie19 wrote: »

Also could anybody give me an idea of what an extension of this size might cost?

Your AT will give you an accurate costing for the all inclusive works. Nobody here can as the works include some demolition work and we know nothing of your site or house, we would be only guessing which isn't good enough.

Maggie19 wrote: »

As for the itemised quote, what exactly should this be? Should the builder ring around for quotes for windows, doors, kitchen etc, and have an exact price for everything, or would that be up to us to arrange? We have one quote but he just seems to have taken a guess at the costs.

A builder's quotation is a price tendered by a builder to do a specific job and is only as good as the information given to quote on. Your AT would prepare a pack for any builder to give a comprehensive quotation on. An itemised quote is just a quotation listing off the individual items included in the tender given and is entirely up to the builder to provide.

Maggie19 wrote: »

We also need a certificate of exemption for planning. What's the fastest way to get this? Can they just issue one if we go to the planning office?

Your AT can produce an opinion on exemption, which in most cases will suffice. If not, it is a formal application to the planning office.

Maggie19 wrote: »

We are afraid that the building will start and the costs will go up and the grant won't be enough.

This shouldn't happen if you have a professional representing you. A good local indemnified Architectural Technician. This is bread and butter stuff for us.....:)

Viking House

Hi Maggie

Correct me if I'm wrong here:
The main reason you are thinking of building is because you have rising damp and condensation in your kitchen. This is causing fungus and mould growth on your walls which can create health problems. So the only way to fix this is to knock it and build a new extension you're been told.

I think that you should first explore ways to solve the rising damp and condensation before you go down the extension route.
Condensation occurs on cold surfaces when you don't have enough ventilation, so make the surfaces warmer with insulation or ventilate more.
Rising damp can usually be seen above the skirtings and can be often fixed by digging a drain all around your house to lower the water table.

happyguy67

hi becareful what kinda builder u get i got a company called <SNIP> and doh they seemed professional at the start they never came back to fixed the leaks or problems that araised later on ...... so my advise is to get a builder with a few references u can check on possible experence in doing grant work would be good and whats really important is make sure u get a breakdown of what work there completing and the costs or it could end up more expensive cause they will say they charged for a basic door or cheap materials hope this helps

MOD EDIT: Do not name a specific company on-thread.

martinn123

Hi Maggie19,

I would agree with PUT on getting some professional advice, it will take away a lot of your concerns.

My question to the professionals reading this.........is it possible, or usual, to link the payments, to achieving the Grant, that is to say if the building does not meet the criteria, and the Grant is not paid, due to work not being up to scratch, then maggie19 does not have to meet the cost......as she appears nervous of being left with a large bill.

Poor Uncle Tom

martinn123 wrote: »

Hi Maggie19,

I would agree with PUT on getting some professional advice, it will take away a lot of your concerns.

My question to the professionals reading this.........is it possible, or usual, to link the payments, to achieving the Grant, that is to say if the building does not meet the criteria, and the Grant is not paid, due to work not being up to scratch, then maggie19 does not have to meet the cost......as she appears nervous of being left with a large bill.

Grants are usually only paid upon certification of the supervising professional, so if the works don't meet his/her approval there are no payments made anyway.

martinn123

Poor Uncle Tom wrote: »

Grants are usually only paid upon certification of the supervising professional, so if the works don't meet his/her approval there are no payments made anyway.

Thanks for clarifying that PUT, I hope it puts maggie19's mind at rest, as she seems concerned

Or that they won't do the work that the council have specified, and that the grant won't be given and we will be in a BIG mess!And we are in south west cork.

I am sure contributors to this Forum could recommend someone to help, by way of supervision/certification of this project.

Poor Uncle Tom

I could be wrong, but given that the OP was made on 21st July 2010 and the poster hasn't posted since the 22nd July 2010, I would think the point is mute.

martinn123

Poor Uncle Tom wrote: »

I could be wrong, but given that the OP was made on 21st July 2010 and the poster hasn't posted since the 22nd July 2010, I would think the point is mute.

Jaysus, I missed that completely.........who resurected this.......sorry

Poor Uncle Tom

martinn123 wrote: »

Jaysus,

.....thanks, but no, I am not He!

martinn123 wrote: »

..I missed that completely.........who resurected this.......sorry

I thought as much.....:p