How to choose a builder?

stardoman

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica]I have planning permission for a 2 storey extension to the back of my house plus a garage conversion. I have had 4 quotes, 3 of which are around the £40k mark and one is £44500. All of these include VAT.

How do we decide which builder to go for? Two of them (including the most expensive) have given very comprehensive quotes and 2 of them are basically just a figure with no real detail behind it. Three of the builders were recommended from friends who have had work done by them. All were happy with the work and 2 of them are incredibly fussy people.

Both my husband and I have a very good feel about the most expensive one. But £4500 is a lot of money. But as the quote is detailled perhaps there is less chance of expensive add ons later?

Not sure how to resolve this - just spent the last hour going round in circles.

Help!.

Thanks, Mandy.
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Architectural_Ant

If you arent 100% happy with a builder, as in havent used that builder before, you should get as much information as possible via the tender process (which it sounds like you have done), did the person who did the drawings for you prepare more detailed drawings for pricing? (Building Regs. or similar) and what exactly was it that was given to the builder to price from?

To make sure your covered in this situation you are best off going to an Architectural Practice where by the works can be done within the boundaries of a contract that all parties sign up to (standard JCT contract) this way the boundaries of what is and is not included is far better defined.

I would not even consider accepting a quote that was a lump sum not broken down to show itemised costings, as how do you know what this allows for, it will all become very hazy further down the line.

Obviously there will be a cost implication to get someone (Architectural Professional) to act as "Contract Administrator" but if you don't have first hand experience of a specific builder then you could save a lot in the long run.

If you need more advice, feel free to PM me.

Ant

dander

You definitely need to get a detailed breakdown, otherwise you simply don't know if you're comparing like for like. I had a much smaller extension than that done and the differences in quotes were often down to one builder saying they could connect the waste water to an existing soakaway and another saying they'd have to dig a new one and that kind of thing.

The more expensive quote is not neccessarily going to include more than the other quotes - it may just be a quote for exactly the same stuff but slightly more expensive - without breakdowns, you can't know. And any price can go up during the build as unexpected things arise - that's just how building works.

a_j_mair

If you have 2 detailed quotes i would sit down and compare them for differences. I would also recomend discussing it with both to make sure both yourself and the builder are on the same page so to speak with regards to exact finishes and the finer details you want/expect that might not be on the plans

It is also an idea to try and have a look at previos work carried out by both to see the standard of finish

Jeannine

We have exactly the same problem at the moment. Out of 5 written quotes, we easily narrowed it down to three builders, all of which are competitive and highly recommended etc. Difficulty is, they have all used different PC sums for different aspects of the job (eg plumbing, electrics)on top of the basic build cost and it's really hard to compare like with like. (It's quite a complex build.) So, we decided to have a second meeting with them all, but have actually gone with the first one we talked to as we couldn't find a reason not to have him!

It's really scary when there are such huge sums of money involved - I really don't want to get it wrong, OR have huge extra costs...:eek:

macman

Once you know you are comparing like with like, why not ask the one you prefer to match the lower price or to reduce to your target?

converse

Have you tried looking at the reviews and builders at: http://www.mybuilder.com/ ? I'd rather choose someone with good references than the cheapest quotation personally.

clockworks_2

i would go with a friends recommendation all the way, go for the fussy one's recommendation !

stardoman

Thanks everyone.

We gave everyone the detailled buildings regulation pack which the architect provided. We did also get two quotes from builders from MyBuilder.com but we were not impressed with either of them. One turned out to be a joinery firm who wanted to move into extensions (actually had little / no building experience) and the other tried to get money out of us right at the start, which put us off.

I think we are both leaning to the more expensive one. My husband is going to chat to his very fussy friend today, then we'll ring the builder and get him to come round for another chat. I have a good feeling about him, but its a lot of money to risk on a feeling. The builder is happy to provide references, so we'll take him up on these.

Thanks again, Mandy.