Find a Good Reliable Builder

DVardysShadow

the house we are procceeding to buy is in need of complete renovation. The conservatory around the kitchen is very old what we want to do is to include this space in the kitchen area to make an open living kitchen space then build a master insuite bedroom on the top . Adding to that redecorate the house

Split the job into separate projects. Redecorating the house is a job on its own, for which you need a decorator. If you do that job with your building work, you will have a builder choosing a decorator to suit him and not to suit you, and putting a mark up on top. Decorating is not part of a builders core expertise - except for newbuild - so you might get a decorator who prefers newbuild work, doing the job to keep with his builder, rather than because he really wants to do your job.

YDZ

hi every body

thank you for all of your helpfull tips and I will keep in mind all what you' ve said
i am starting my project soon after a long wait
so wish me luck

I 'll be in touch

thanks again

Reevesie76

I don't know if it helps, but i've just signed up to mybuilder.com as we want to insulate our garage. People can put feedback on the builder they hired so you can see if they did a good job or not.

I've got a couple of builders coming out this weekend to give me some quotes, so you never know.

baldelectrician

My builder- waste of time (jobs are reguarly unrealistically priced, low job cost, if you were doing the job right you would make more per hour in burger king / mcdonalds)

I would strongly suggest typing the traders name in to google and searching using post code. There are quite a few rating sites that don't make money from traders with a vested interest.

dander

I think you must have confused mybuilder with something else. Quotes are private so you wouldn't know if they are unrealistic.

I found excellent builders through mybuilder and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to others. All the other builders who quoted for the job I also found through mybuilder, and they seemed pleasant and competant and all the quotes I got in were very close to one another and they seemed to be a fair price for the job - for both parties. It wasn't cheapo cowboys jostling for work at all.

hethmar

mybuilder.com worked well for my son who had recently moved to an area of London. He put the job description on there and had 6 replies. he then checked out their ratings from other users on there and chose one bloke who did a very good and reasonably priced job.

YDZ

Hello everyone

Any one knows what are the usual terms to pay a builder ?

is it on completion of the job?

Do they charge according to the stage of work ?

Thanks

moneysavingvixen

Depends on the job. My current job is small and I am paying 90% on completion with 10% one month after completion for snags. Larger jobs seem to be usually paid in agreed stages - but other posters know much more about this than I do.

msv

latecomer

We've having an extension and loft conversion done and its been split into 9 stages (5 for extension and 4 for loft) all paid in arrears. Each stage has specified jobs so there are no arguments about when payments are due.

YDZ

Hi again
I was given a quote by a local builder and he seemed good at the beginning. then we asked him to proceed with plans and planning consent which he is done, but after the plans we asked him for a detailed estimate he gave us a price 25000 pounds higher then his first quote and he is saying that we should pay for skip and scaffolding and insurance and other over heads which he stated pliminaries and over heads
We said to him that we are not happy with this and we may not wish to go ahead with him. What do I need to do more we want to start as soon as possible especially that the planning consent is due on the 9/02/010

Any advice

Thanks YDZ