Daydream thread continues.....

lostinrates

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

Congrats Mr & mrs Rhiwie on your on the news:beer: have they named the day?

Sorry Alfie about the chook....

Well architect sp? went to measure the house and start doing plans etc ( step father organised it so didnt know he was there) we had arranged for a local well known builder to give us a quote etc so the sort of crossed over...

Anyway... the builder would give me a price, and said that he didnt there was subsidence, he said it could be the walls being so wet that they were just weaking and crumbling... When i said i wanted to keep the stone work in the rooms etc.. he then started saying that this and that needed doing, and hten came out with the corker of... you are better off knocking it down and building a new house:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

Sooooooooooooo he is NOT getting the work... that all he kept saying, you can rebuild this wall and it will be straight....well maybe i dont want all my walls straight:mad:

I need to find a sympathetic builder or stone mason/worker..

I know this might sound silly, but is there such a thing... as a collage etc that do old style building/restoration coarsees/apprentices, that would do the work on the house and a discounted price for the practical experience?

Might phone st fagans tomorrow and ask... but i dont want to sound silly, or for them to think i am going over board on trying to keep the house as authentic as possible...

right going to have a nice long soak in the bath, with ooober amount of bubble bath:D

Sensitive builders exist. I am finding rhough, that they are more expensive than straight wall types. Your architect might be able to suggest some stmpathetic builders to meet there.

Also, rebuilding IS cheaper sometimes. . We are not choosing this option either, but it is worth pricing the option, because then you know the worth of your choice to you.

Re students.......well, we are having student architects here in the summer and there are students learning trades but they seem to work on nt type projects (english heritage, stately home etc).

Itismehonest

The problem is that old vernacular buildings are not what modern, young builders are taught to handle. They tend to work on new builds where they slap a few blocks or bricks together.

The other extreme are the real artisans used on historic buildings & that isn't what is needed.

Each area has its' own idiosyncrasies - the materials used, the methods involved. It nearly always pays to use builders who are well-versed in dealing with all the possibilities that your particular house & area can throw up. It's through the many years of working in one area that they can recognise what problems are, what may be causing them & how best to overcome them.
Unfortunately, that still tends to come at a price because the good builders are usually busy & can turn work away even in times when economically you'd think they would be short of jobs.

I, too, would get prices for both renovation & rebuild, CTC - having, of course, checked with Planning that they'd let you pull down & start again, of course.

rozeepozee

I'm still in shock about how much renovating costs. You see these programmes where people buy an old building to renovate and they have a £5K budget and, well....

I've "renovated" before which has involved rewiring, remodelling rooms, putting in new kitchens and bathrooms... This has been for rental properties and refurbing is an ongoing project. You might redo the bathrooms every 5 years because as a general rule tenants don't take too much care with them, so you need to refresh. This is like Tesco's Value refurbing.

When I'm doing it for my own place and I'm wanting it to last, it's a different ball game. (Waitrose or John Lewis refurbing?) Plus what I don't think we really appreciated with this property is that if we are going to keep just the shell and remodel, we need new wiring, new plumbing, new heating system, new drainage, new insulation, new windows, new walls, new flooring and on and on and on. It's a big place and few of these items come in at less than £10K.... It soon mounts up and may well be cheaper to rebuild - if it wasn't for the demolishing costs :eek:

The rethink that this has led to means that we are now asking ourselves: what can we keep as it is? Not swapping the location of the bedrooms and bathrooms around at least means we won't have to replumb or knock down too many walls. Not trying to move the bedrooms upstairs by raising the roof means a big reduction in potential costs. However, we can't skimp on the insulation, new windows, warm roof, heating system. These will all cost us in higher running expenses if we do.

With the benefit of our experience, I wonder if it's worth getting annoyed at people's suggestions, CTC. They are just coming at it from a different perspective to your own. (A brutal commercial one, possibly). In our case, I got annoyed or frustrated by quite a few people and only six months down the line we are already looking back and saying "Ah... he had a point" or "I see where he was coming from now". It's a learning curve. Plus, they are more pragmatic than we are as property owners who have an emotional investment in this property that we've longed for for years.

It's so hard to find professionals that you can trust. The best we're hoping for is a reasonably competent architect who has a good working relationship with the builder or builders he recommends as skilled tradespeople who can get on and do a good job. And to a quote. We'll be having plans drawn for building regs which the architect tells us means the builder will have to take less risk in pricing because he can be clearer about what the job entails and not put in too big a margin for risk.

I'd be interested to hear what others experiences are. It hurts my head thinking about it.

rozeepozee

Sorry for not responding to the personals BTW. I do take an interest. It's just I'm always typing at breakneck speed in case the babies wake up that I tend to stick to business in these posts

Itismehonest

rozeepozee wrote: »

IWith the benefit of our experience, I wonder if it's worth getting annoyed at people's suggestions, CTC.

I just say "Take any quote & double it at least" ......... & then I scarper. :rotfl:
Nobody believes me until they actually do it themselves but, sadly, it's true.

rozeepozee

Itismehonest wrote: »

I just say "Take any quote & double it at least" ......... & then I scarper. :rotfl:
Nobody believes me until they actually do it themselves but, sadly, it's true.

I believe you - now!

Itismehonest

rozeepozee wrote: »

I believe you - now!

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:
You haven't started on the work yet! It's doubling the quotes you accept I meant _pale_
For instance ....... digging a hole for footings seems simple enough. Then you find that lurking beneath the surface is a surprise you knew nothing about which means spending twice what you'd budgeted for to end up with the same result.
Next to nothing is as straightforward as it seems on the surface.
These joys still lay before you so factor them in as best you can.

alfie_1

BEFORE....


DURING.....


AFTER !!!!

alfie_1

THIS WAS 5 O CLOCK TONIGHT ....5 MINUTE GAP !!!!

they are all now in the balcony bit under my window sill of the bay window in my bedroom..... :eek: :eek:

choille

Sorry about your hen Alfie.

Congratulations rhiwfield on you going to be gaining a daughter.

Often it is cheaper to start from scratch - & build new than major renovation, especially if you're not doing any of the work yourself.

Always get three quotes for work and try to go on recommendations for trades.

We have to pay a fortune for materials here - It's ridiculous - at least down your way you should be able to get materials a load cheaper.